The bell blues

I have been feeling kind of blue lately. Perhaps it is the post-wedding "back to reality" phase. The Hubs mentioned that when we were on our honeymoon and did not have to think about work and the stresses of being home, some things that we have been pushing aside have re-surfaced. Things that will affect our future that you do think about during the engagement process but it gets shelved. They are not bad but they are practical questions that we, frankly, have to consider and talk about. Things that freak me out and cause me to worry and consider the options (Kids, career, wills etc)

On top of this I am feeling somewhat bitter. I don't want to get into why I am bitter about a few things because it would be feeding into it and I just don't want to do it. I should be happy but part of me is still hurt and upset about a few things. Bitter and blue make for a not-so-fun combo!

So while this is swirling in my head, my issues with self esteem have re-surfaced as well and let's just say, I am not too happy with a few things (things that I can't change and things I can). I have to start my gym routine again (I decided to start in September) and slowly get rid of clothes and shoes to de-clutter and save for some better outfits. But in the meantime, I am still having my issues and I can't pass the hump.

I am really missing my friends and family who made the trek for our wedding. It is hard knowing that I will not be seeing them for the rest of the year and may not be able to see them until late next year.

I feel stuck in a rut so to speak, I have all this pent up energy that gets wasted since I used it all to work on favors, seating cards etc. Now I just go home, cook (sometimes) and vet out in front of the TV or read. The Hubs mentioned that he is feeling the same way. So we have decided to look at taking a few classes independently me beading and painting and for him classes in digital photography. Well we plan on this once the coffers fill up again.

I just don't know what to do with myself in the meantime.

Water logged

So it has been raining off and on here in Chicago. It has been very annoying and the ground is waterlogged (but the trees are starting to bloom).

But we did not expect our condo to get waterlogged. Yesterday afternoon I was coming back from a trip to the store and went to the bathroom to wash my hands. I heard the whirlpool tub noise from our upstairs neighbors and thought nothing of it. I closed the door* and went to the kitchen. Then not more than 30 seconds later the dog was licking the floor in front of the bathroom and this dripping sound was getting louder. So I opened the door and saw water pouring from our vent and our light fixture. So I ran upstairs and knocked but the did not answer the door.

I went back down and started to place towels around and frantically called the BF who happened to be walking through the door at that exact moment. He ran upstairs and the neighbors came down with him. Apparently they** were taking a bath and had a "little" spillage. The developer also came by and took a few fixtures down.

The neighbors were very helpful and offered to do what they could. We just have to let things dry to ensure that the drywall is ok and that there is no mold issues.

So that is how we met the neighbors (officially) and why I had a straight daiquiri last night.

Ahh the joys of home ownership!

* the beasts love the bathroom and cause all sorts of havoc so we close the door to prevent them from being annoying

**The neighbors are a married couple with a very petite wife and a medium buid husband. So based on the ideas of physics and displacement we suspect that she was bathing and he joined her or they filled the tub and one of them got in cause the water to overflow.

Moment of Zen

We've been to the new gym two days in a row. On Tuesday we just did our typical work out to get a feel for the gym and the flow. Yesterday, I talked the BF into taking a basic yoga class with me. I used to take yoga classes about 6 years ago with my mom. I loved it, I felt so refreshed, relaxed and streach-y (I know it is not a word in the technical sense). when I stopped going, my body missed it. But life went on and I have not really taken a class in years until yesterday.

My body totally remembered the flow and some of the movements. It was like my body was saying "About bloody time". Some of it was challenging but the other part was just relaxing. I had a great time

The BF though it was OK and did like some of it. the instructor had a heavy accent so it was hard to understand her at some points and that made it harder for him. But he gave it a shot and I was glad that he did.

So I plan to take at least one yoga class a week in addition to the other stuff to get my Zen on.
However the annoying cat woke me up at 2 this morning being his normal abnormal self. It was hard for me to get back to sleep. Of course I fall asleep at around 4:30 only to wake up for work an hour and half later! I also had this killer stomach ache this morning. Maybe all the movement and flow caused a mini freak out in the system.

On Saturday I will be taking a book camp class with D and CBN. I plan on sweating and swearing a lot!

In a big red bow

So my birthday is coming up and people near and dear to me are asking what I want for my birthday. To be perfectly honest, I have no freaking clue. There are things that I need like a few million dollars but that seems to be a big stretch. I have it narrowed it down to one thing...a puppy.

However my request for a bulldog or shih tuz or rescue puppy has been vetoed. I tried to cajole my beloved that the puppy is because Yukon wants to have a dog. (she does she told me when I was rubbing her belly) Somehow he is not buying it. In the past two months five people that I know got puppies and I so want another dog. I have been asking for a dog since we met and he is surprised that I still ask for one.

I ask daily, right now he is reading this and if you listen carefully you can hear BF's eyes roll to the top of his head. Shhhh....see told ya.

So besides needing a dog that I will not get nor the million that will not appear in a birthday card help me figure out what I want for my birthday?

And now she is back....

I am back from my happy fun reunion weekend. It was good to see some people that I have not seen in years! It is interesting to see what people are doing and how things have changed. There was an air of familiar but changed surroundings. But all things change or so I suppose.

It was also great to be in the upstate region of NY. I forgot how beautiful it is to have mountains and hills. But at least I have the lake.

Of course the drama was with the actual getting to and fro. O'Hare was having serious issues (as always) my flight going was delayed about an hour and half and my flight coming back home was delayed by at least 3 hours. Plus they stop selling food at the airport that I was stuck in at 6 PM. I felt bad for the crowds (yep there were crowds) at O'Hare when I landed at around 10 pm, the gates were flooded with people and every food and Hudson news was open. However, as my plane landed in a thunderstorm, I suspect that many of the passengers were going to be stranded.

O'Hare sucks, it is the hands down worst airport ever!

The BF managed the house hold without me. He is awesome because while I was gone he:
-got my car detailed
-filled the gas tank
-took the dog to the groomer (she is sooo soft)
-unpacked boxes and bins
-put said bins in the storage room

All while the AC was out. Thankfully, we still had the AC and he was able to sleep one night. The HVAC guy came on Sunday and fixed the problem.

Yesterday, I was home catching up on the news, email, blogs oh and got a pair of tickets...for these guys. Well the BF did actually on my behalf.

He's got the right stuff and kept reminding me.

Get ready, get set....

So tonight begins the first round of "the move".

We have our walk through with our real estate agent and the inspector. Tomorrow we are both off so we will pack, drop of items at the salvation army, run errands and hit the bank for the all important check!

Friday is the closing. (I just read that again, I need to take a breath)

Whew!

On the decorating side I think that I found the sofa. We are looking for a new sofa for the new condo because mine has seen some better days. The BF's requirement is that it is leather and would prefer a sectional. I want a sleeper sofa. Well after searching web sites I think that I found one that fits both of our needs and is on sale which makes it fall way under our budget.

I can't wait to see the place tonight with the painting done and the granite countertops installed!

The fun has just begun!

Ugh!

So we went out for sliders last night. We got home at around 6 pm, I was in my pjs at 6;03 and by 6:34 I was falling asleep watching Family Guy. Around 7:40 I got up and then "it" began.

The rumble in the tummy that YOU know is not a good sign. It is your body screaming "Girl what the Hell! did you eat?!" So then the pain and discomfort began, I went back to the couch and then when it subsided a bit went to take a shower. The it was back on the couch to watch some TV and then to bed still in a wee bit of discomfort. At about 3 something this morning. The BF's tummy began to rumble and off he went to the loo or "reading room".

The last time we both had the stomach issue was New Year's day 2007 when we had some Chinese food at his sister's house in the boondock burbs. We both were so sick after that event. We both had to race to the bathroom at the same time, the next day we were so miserable. After that episode I swore off Chinese food and have not had a morsel since then. Once a food item cause stomach issues it is off my list.

That is why I do not eat any sea food. An episode at 7 years of age and scallops caused them to be first off my list. But I still ate tuna until 7th grade biology dissection class. That is when I officially swore off fish or any living thing that once spent a good portion of their life living in water.

So the long and short of it is...No more White Castle for me

Bum

The title of my post has two reasons:

1-My ass hurts (no get your dirty minds out of the gutter!!) It is because I increased the weight of the weights that I am using at the gym and my legs are sore because of it. I went to 40lb on the leg press for one exercise and went from 5 lbs to 10 lbs on some arm exercise and 10 to 12 lbs some other weight exercies. For some reason my butt is sore. I blame the leg work out but that is all good right? (Sorry Jessica, my ass can't crack walnuts just yet)

2-the dog barked at 2:34 am (nope this is not some secret code where you respond that the cow moo'ed at 4.) But after last week's second hobo visit, I am a little on edge when I hear a strange noise. Last week the dog started to act up at 5:30 or so and we told her to stop and shut up, she was reacting to the fact that their was a stranger outside our door on the steps. So we now pay attention when she barks. She is not much of a barker but she does bark when there is something amiss. So I was up every hour after that, at 3:20 I woke up because I had a dream I wrestled with said hobo over a bat I wanted to use to defend myself. After that I just could not fall asleep. There was no hobo today!

So hence the reason I titled this blog "bum".

I.HATE.SNOW

Well let me clear that up a bit I hate driving in snow. I don't mind it when I am safe at home and have no place to be.

Yesterday it took me 2 1/2 hours to get home. But that is not the record the record was set a few years ago when it tooke me 4 hours to get home. Although I did stop at a friend's house to use the bathroom!

There was between 3-5 inches depending on where I was. Today it was about 7 inches and I got up early to clean and dig out my car. I was only a few minutes late surprisingly.

I think this is a case of the least amount of inches is preferred!

Bongos, a baseball bat and two pineapples

Well this weekend for class no less, we went to Swap-O-Rama.

What is Swap O Rama you ask, well it is this huge flea market. In fact there are three in Chicago land and they are huge. We went there for my negations class. We (my team and the BF came because it was not in the safest of areas) had to spend ten dollars and not pay full price. So i started off and got a baseball bat that the BF wanted for $3.00, then we as a team were on this musical theme, got the bongos for $2.00 and two pineapples for $5.00. So then we had to each lug our purchases back to school and discuss.

I got the weirdest looks on the EL heading home...I wonder why!

Dressing in the dark

Don't ya love how it is pitch black in the morning so you can't really see how you look?

Don't you love how you grab your white sweater and light blue bra?

Don't you love it when at 10 am you find out that your light blue bra can been seen under your white sweater!

What a fun day at work I am having!

Ice water

I am freezing here at work today.

By nature I am almost always cold except when I am in direct sun in the summer and entering a hot car. Lately it seems to have gotten worse and I am cold more often then not. I know that the weather is partly to blame because one day it is in the 80s and the next it dropped 30 degrees. So that may have something to do with it.

The BF is the complete opposite of me. He is warm and toasty. I guess that means we are the perfect match. During the course of an evening he will have his share of covers and by the time I wake up I have most of them as he is sleeping sans sheets!

But he does let me warm myself sometimes, just as long as I don't put my cold nose on his belly. apparently that is not cool...no pun intended.

Anyway, I am going to drink my tea...hopefully that will warm me up...with my gloves and scarf and sweater. No I am not joking

The Jetsons had it right!

I want my own space car like George had!

I work near O'Hare airport which is one of the busiest airports in the world. Well the esteemed mayor has decided to expand this airport to make it bigger. (which means more delays, congestion and noise but I digress) So in the effort to make it bigger the government bought (aka evicted) businesses and residents from near the airport. The next step is to close one major road.

Why is this an issue, well with the moved my commute time has gone from an average of 40 to 1 hour in the morning and 50 minutes to 1 hour and 30 minutes in the afternoon. Now granted, I have yet to explore all my options but the one that I prefer will be dramatically impacted once the road is closed.

One thing about working near an airport is the access to the toll expressway. Which itself is not that bad but, that means that around 4-7 pm it is a glorified parking lot. There are taxis everywhere, those who are back from a long trip and are cranky so they cut you off, people who have no idea where they are going and suburbanites going to Chicago for one event. See these are the people who should take mass transit. Now most of the drivers on the Kennedy are decent but the few that piss me off make for one hell of a commute. I've been very cranky lately about it because it is time away from things that I need to get done like, finish unpacking. When the weather gets bad, which it will, my commute will be God knows how long. One time it took me about 4 hours to get home in the snow!

The reason that I don't take the train or the bus is because my commute would them be 3 hours each way as there is no direct route. And there is no way that I am going to get up at 4 to make the train to get to work by 8 I am not a morning person.

So I need a space car...or a new job in the loop. Ohhh should I be greedy and ask for both?

Car commuting sucks!