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We still can’t find the chord for the camera so I can’t upload any pictures so I suppose I need to actually write something. It won’t be interesting, just an FYI.
Courtney and I are having a good time here in CT. I have to admit, I miss living here. I miss being close to my family. I may have looked at real estate online last night for at least an hour. Maybe. Possibly. Most definitely.
On Sunday, my brother, his wife, their new baby, C and I all walked into the town center for some lunch. And just to walk. It was a beautiful day here. I really envied their cute little home, excellent backyard, and the ability to walk to the Center for some good food, exercise, shopping or coffee. They’re only 1/2 mile from the Center, and spitting distance from the park where I fed the ducks as a kid. (One time, I was feeding the ducks and forgot to let go of the bread. I’m pretty sure we were all surprised when I ended up in the little pond.) My trip has been bringing back lots of memories of growing up here and what a great place this was to be a kid. I don’t know that I’m really ready to move back, and it would take a TON of convincing to get Paul to even think about it, but there would definitely be some benefits.
Anyway… Courtney has been having a great time with her grandparents. My dad took her out walking on Monday and Courtney discovered her shadow for the first time. I missed it but apparently she was confused as to why it was following her and then she kept trying to step on it. I was very fortunate to have my dad come home a little early from work on Monday so I could get to the gym. He’s really awesome, he didn’t want me to lose my gym momentum!! I’m glad I went because I then had pizza for dinner (with a salad, whatever) and ice cream for dessert (low fat, whatever) and then leftover pizza for lunch on Tuesday and potato chips. Hmmm, healthy.
Courtney met her new cousin for the second time on Monday and the encounter went a little better. I’m pretty sure Courtney was a bit more with it that time. She kept waving to Payton and seemed a little miffed that she wouldn’t wave back. That may take a while, I hope she’s patient.
We had a crazy busy day on Monday and a not so busy day on Tuesday. I haven’t been sleeping that well so I napped both Monday and Tuesday. The good news about that is that Courtney also napped, so we both got some sleep. The bad news: because I was napping, I wasn’t bathing. Good hygiene has really gone by the wayside lately. I’m hoping to take Courtney to the new, super fabulous science museum tomorrow, the super fabulous museum that doesn’t allow strollers. Well, they allow them but would prefer you not bring them. Whatever, I can’t lug my kid all over some museum. I may be working out and in decent shape but she’s heavy, yo.
Well, this post is clearly going nowhere. If you’re still with me, feel free to leave now. I’m sure you’re bored silly. I know I am.
Courtney and I boarded a plane on Saturday to make the journey to the frozen tundra. Or Connecticut. Which isn’t so tundra or so frozen but isn’t warm. Although, it’s not warm in Atlanta. Except for right now, when I’m not there.
Sorry, this is not a post about the weather.
We boarded yet another flight, I think that was Courtney’s 10th or something like that. She was awesome but a handful for sure. Our flight was more tightly packed than a sardine can, so it was very intimate. And uncomfortable. Courtney was up and down and up and down and up and down and holy crap please stop!! We had taken Courtney to swim class on Saturday morning also so by the time we landed at 2:30, she’d napped not a minute all day and was exhausted. Now, because I’m cheap and airfare is out of control, we flew into White Plains so still had to drive the 1 1/2 hours to our final destination. Courtney rocked the nap in the car but with 15 minutes to go, she woke up and decided she was done with the travel and the car seat and the confinement. I have to say, traveling with a toddler is exhausting. I think I was ready for bed by 6 on Saturday.
I’ve been exhausted since we got here. The 24 hour parenting is exhausting. Not sleeping in my bed is exhausting. I keep waking up at 6 or in the middle of the night. It’s all exhausting. Being out of our element makes for no naps and long days. It’s more work for me to be on the road without Paul. I signed up for this trip on my own, so it’s not like Paul didn’t want to come, he’s coming later. But I’m pretty sure by the time he gets here, I’m going to be a blubbering fool. You know, more so than normal.
But, we’ve gotten to see the new baby a couple of times. And she’s adorable. And tiny. Really tiny. She’s actually the same size as Courtney was but it’s amazing how quickly you forget. I picked up the baby and practically chucked her over my shoulder, I wasn’t expecting her to be as light as a feather. We watch our kids grow and change every day so the incremental changes go almost unnoticed. They gain 2 or 3 pounds and you can’t even tell because you pick them up all the time. The 15 months it’s taken Courtney to go from 6lbs 11oz to 21 pounds has happened in the blink of an eye and in some ways, you can’t even tell. Sure she’s bigger and heavier and taller and all over but I don’t really know when it all happened. Where the time went.
I have pictures but they’re trapped on my camera. I’m pretty sure this will be a picture heavy week, you know, if I can get the images onto the computer…
We’ve been trying to figure out where to go on vacation this spring. I really, really, really wanted to go to that place in Jamaica. You know, the place with the cook and the nanny and the pool and the beach and someone who would pick up the Cheerios off the floor and cut up all the food into bite size pieces. So heavenly. But, we’re not going there. We’re being responsible and adult about our choices. Stupid adult. As a result, we’ve looked at 8000 websites, pictures, read reviews, hemmed and hawed and have done nothing to confirm anything. Although, we did spend over $300 to get our passports and have them expedited.
One of our dilemmas is finding a place that has 1 bedroom and a living area so that all three of us aren’t in the same room together. Courtney goes to bed at 7:30, 8 is pushing it. I don’t want to go on vacation and go to bed at 8:00. But finding places with suites is hard. And really expensive. We also want an all-inclusive because I’m not cooking or grocery shopping or making a bed. I’m just saying.
So we finally found a place that we liked, has a kids club, good reviews, and wasn’t going to make us poor. The sleeping situation isn’t ideal but we can make it work. And really, with a toddler, we’re not staying up all night partying and drinking and living the high life because she’s going to get up at 7:30 no matter what. But then I was all, eh, and uh, and later and didn’t put in my credit card and was all, “Oooh, I’ll do it tomorrow” and now it’s 4 tomorrow’s later and the place is BOOKED!! UGHGAHKICKMEWHILEI’MDOWN!!! We were looking at 2 different weeks in April, mostly because Paul has the worlds worst allergies and there’s snot and hacking and blowing and man-misery and we were trying to avoid the pollen here to save my his life.
It’s not like it’s the end of the world or anything, we’re going to go but just a little later than planned. I’m going to pull the trigger. Seriously. And we’re going to go on vacation and it’s going to be wonderful and we’ll have a great time. Really, I just wanted to go to that place in Jamaica. They can get a masseuse to come to the house and give me a massage on the beach while someone feeds me grapes and someone else plays with Courtney. OK, not really to the grapes part. Part of my irritation with all of this is the lack of money we have. We can afford a vacation, that’s not the problem. But we have to be smart about how and where we spend it. But when we were both working, we could do almost anything we wanted. We could have rented the house on the beach in Jamaica and I would have booked it 3 weeks ago and I’d be in “I’m too fat to put on bathing suit mode.” But then, if I were working, I wouldn’t get to watch Courtney all day. There’s nothing I love more than watching Courtney dance. And I can’t wait to see her do it on the beach, to the beat of the steel drums.
It occurred to me last night while I was doing my dreaded level 2 Shred, that I hadn’t posted about it in a while and it had been a month since I’d posted my 30/45 day results.
I’ve been doing well with the working out and the eating. I’m trying to work out 5 days a week, sometimes 6 days and one week, I only hit 3. But that was sinus infection week and, well, sometimes your health comes first. Or your head. And the ability to breathe. Anyway, I haven’t been doing the Shred every day, I’ve been mixing it up with No More Trouble Zones, Banish Fat Boost Metabolism, running and a few other things that I find on ExerciseTv (which I’m always disappointed with after I try them). I’ve been eating better, trying to eat more fruits and veggies and staying away from stupid snacks – more apples, less cookies. Oh, and the mindless eating, none of that. And the cookies and the muffins. Oh, and the scones. Hmmm, scooones. I love me some scones.
Do you remember that commercial where they’d tape the donuts to your ass? Yeah, that’s me with the scones and the muffins.
The awesome news is I’ve seen more results since the end of my serious shredding. I can really tell a difference in my legs and my face. I went shopping a couple of weeks ago and bought size 6 jeans. SIX!! WOOT WOOT!! In total I’ve lost 11 pounds and am 5 pounds from my wedding weight of almost 3 years ago. SA-WEET!!
I think for me, half the battle is sticking with the routine. I’ve been having a few bumps here and there as Courtney’s nap schedule has been hell this week. I had been getting my workouts in during her naps but that doesn’t seem to be the case anymore. I just need to find something that’s going to work with our schedule, I may end up joining the Y so I can workout and leave C in the daycare. I don’t know, I’m clearly thinking out loud. But, I have to stick with it. It helps me to talk about it with people, keep writing about it here, praise from the Shredheads and smaller clothes!
I feel so much better when I work out. Everything about me feels better when I work up a serious sweat. I’m going to keep with it. I still want to find a 5k for the end of March or so. Of course, if it doesn’t warm up, I’ll never, ever run outside.
I want to thank all the folks that have been encouraging me and sending words of encouragement. This journey is so much easier with support and help from friends.
For fun the other day, we went to the post office as a family to try and apply for passports. Now I’ve been married for 2 1/2 years and my passport is still in my maiden name which is 1000% pathetic. That means that I haven’t left the country at all in the past 2 1/2 years. Not once. So lame. Courtney needs a passport as we’re hoping to take a trip next month and little people need passports.
I filled out all the paperwork online. I filled out her app and mine. I filled out the fields online that the form told me were required. I mean, if the government doesn’t need to know my phone number, I’m sure as hell not going to tell them. I mean, what if they want to call me and interrogate me about my shopping habits at Target and why am I spending so much time on Twitter. No way, they can’t have my number. Hell, I got called for jury duty the other day. I don’t think so. Damn government conspiracies.
Anyway, I did what I was supposed to with the forms. I totally missed the part about being able to make an appointment online because I was only half paying attention to what the website said. REQUIRED fields people, that’s all I cared about.
So we get to the post office at 11:45 on Monday, I’m supposed to meet Paul there at noon. For a minor, both parents need to be present so this is considered a family outing. I figure I can get the ball rolling with the pictures and whatnot while I wait for Paul. I’m standing at the passport office and the lady barks across the room, “Do you have an appointment?” I say I don’t and she points to this line that’s at least 15 people deep. So I get in line and I wait. At precisely noon, Paul shows up and there are now only 2 people in front of me.
Now, it’s noon on a Monday and there are only two people working behind the counter. I understand that the USPS is suffering and all and they’re having cutbacks and I’m pretty sure I know why…
With 1 person in front of us left to go to the counter, one of the employees disappears. The passport lady. We go up to the counter and are then told to wait to the side. Passport lady comes back, does some crap, leaves again, comes back again, leaves again and then waves us over. Immediately she’s barking at me for not completing the form. But according to the Internet, I’ve completed the forms. And she waves me aside. And then we have to make photo copies. The copy machine doesn’t work.
We finally get to go back and take pictures. Courtney is a champ and is her usual adorable self with her hair all sticking up and looking at the lady like, “Who are you and what is this nonsense all about?” I sit to have my pictures taken and like all other pictures I’ve had taken in my life, I smiled. “Don’t smile.” Which of course makes me laugh and smile even more. I can’t help it, this extremely unpleasant woman doesn’t want me to smile, I think, because there’s no smiling in this building at all. There’s to be no happiness, no smiling, no joy under the roof of the US Postal Service. I’m most definitely, clearly smirking in my pictures. Instead of a happy face, I have a full on shit-eating grin and dirty hair. Fortunately the passport is only good for 10 years.
I know we don’t all love our jobs. I have to imagine that working in the post office has some really miserable moments. The line was never less than 10 people long while we were there. They’re understaffed. I’m sure underpaid. A couple of customers didn’t speak English. One guy was really rude. But isn’t happy customer service somewhat of a two way street? If you’re happy as an employee, smile at them, say hello and maybe your customer will be pleasant back. Being nice to them won’t solve the language barrier but perhaps you should have at least one employee that speaks Spanish (yes, I know, speak English in America and all that but if you know that customers are going to come in that don’t speak the language, maybe you should plan for that). If we could have gone anywhere else to get our passports done, you know we would but the USPS has that market cornered. Things could be better there. They’re talking about going to a 5 day a week delivery schedule, closing office, raising rates, putting kiosks in grocery stores. They need it. They need to do something. I think in addition to all that they want to cut and change, they should add customer service to their list of things to work on.
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