ah, order restored.

The last few weeks have been pretty chaotic in our house, what with adding a dog to the household, going out of town for a weekend, and me injuring myself. As a result, things (and by things, I mean laundry, junk mail, picking up the everyday clutter, bill-paying, grocery-shopping) were just starting to pile up. I don't think I realized until yesterday just how much if was affecting me and my mood. Getting ready in the morning when I didn't have much left to wear, trying to plan my food for the day when we didn't have good options in the fridge, and coming home each evening to a house that looked like a bomb had gone off was all leaving me feeling somewhat unempowered, if that makes any sense. Yesterday morning was really the tipping point, and the morning was so rough and disorganized that I got to work nearly in tears with frustration.

So anyway, as of yesterday, my back has taken a turn for the better. It still hurts, but it is much more easily managed with advil. I decided last night to start taking control of the things in our house. As soon as the girls were in bed, I got a load of laundry in the washer and began folding some of the enormous mound of clean clothes that has sat on the folding table for weeks. Having made a significant dent in the folding, I then attacked our bedroom. Generally, I am kind of freaky about our bedroom being neat. Even though it is the one room that no one but us really sees, I just need it to be tidy, organized and peaceful when I get into bed each night. So, it hadn't been that way since we returned from Maryland. First order of business was to finally unpack. Then, all of the clothes that were scattered around the room were picked up and put away. The sheets were changed and the bed was made (first time in over a week). A little dusting and straightening up over the things on my dresser and voila! my peaceful haven of nocturnal nirvana was back.

So, at this point, it was almost 10pm (my normal bedtime), but I couldn't stop there. I moved on to the kitchen, where I sorted through the pile of mail and chucked out what was junk and filed what was bills. I then cleared off all the counters entirely and bleached them down. At this point, the dishwasher was done and I went ahead and emptied it (I normally do that while I'm waiting for my coffee in the morning, but I figured I'd get a leg up and do it at night). Two more loads of laundry got washed, dried and folded during the course of all this. Finally, at 11:30pm, I felt my batteries dying, so to speak, and I headed to bed.

This morning, I woke up and in spite of having less sleep than normal, I felt much more refreshed. I'm certain it has to do with my environment. I felt sort of back in control and back on track...I put together a small grocery list--enough to tide us over until we can do our big weekend shop--and Evan is going to hit the store today.

My goal for tonight is to finish the laundry, have Evan take the dog out and give him a good brushing while I vacuum, and pay bills. I think once those things are taken care of, I'll really feel like all is right in the universe.

5 Things

I've been tagged by Kim on this meme...so here goes

What I was doing 10 years ago - 1998
1. I was getting ready for my wedding in June
2. Busting my hump with a full load of grad school classes and an unpaid internship
3. Working two jobs (waitress and in the instructional media lab at school) to fund the lavish and exciting lifestyle noted above ;)
4. Taking a honeymoon to Martha's Vineyard
5. I started my first job on my current career path, at what was then known as Learning Sciences Corp. (now known as CognitiveArts).

Five things on my to-do list today
1. Clean up our bedroom
2. Vacuum
3. Menu plan for the rest of the week
4. Get to Wegmans for groceries
5. Indulge in my guilty pleasure and watch "Biggest Loser" tonight.

Snacks I enjoy
1. chips and salsa
2. potato chips and onion dip
3. olives, bread and cheese
4. fruit
5. nuts

Things I would do if I were a billionaire
1. buy a house on the beach
2. take my kids out of public school and pay for the alternative school that I wish I could afford to send them to
3. set our extended family up financially
4. Donate to the charities that mean a lot to me (cancer research, children's causes, environmental advocacy groups)
5. Stop worrying about the future!

Five of my bad habits
1. I bite my nails
2. I eat out of boredom
3. I procrastinate
4. I hold grudges
5. I rub my eyes (a bad habit when you wear mascara)

Five places I have lived
1. Monmouth County, NJ
2. Lexington, KY
3. Albany, NY
4. Eugene, OR
5. Metro Boston, MA

Five jobs I've had
1. camp counselor
2. produce stand cashier
3. waitress
4. WIC nutrition educator
5. Instructional Designer

Five bloggers I tag
I don't mean to be a meme killer, but the only other bloggers I know all seem to have already been tagged...

ouch.

ok, so the other day (Thursday), I was walking Buddy and he lurched at something and basically wrenched my arm like you wouldn't believe. It is now Monday, and the pain is pretty miserable. I'm pretty sure I have a pinched nerve. Sitting, standing, walking, lying down...all pretty uncomfortable. I have been swallowing advil like they are tic tacs and that is taking the edge off of the neck pain, but not touching the burning/tingling that is radiating down my arm. Needless to say, I haven't been sleeping well, so I'm altogether miserable.

The first available appointment I could get with the orthopedist that my doctor recommended is not until Friday, so I think it is going to be a rough week.

Family

It is nearly impossible to get any sort of group photo of our family that has everyone looking good. In fact, I wasn't able to get a good shot of the girls this weekend, so I had to resort to cropping out and combining the best of each. The result is a pretty obvious photoshop job, but a sweet picture nonetheless.





And here is a rare shot of the four of us (uh, yeah, six of us, I guess, if you count those other people sitting on the bench...but let's just focus on us, ok?)

how is it possible?

to need to go to a colorist to cover up the grays to avoid looking like and old hag and also need to use an acne treatment to avoid looking like a fifteen year old?!?!? I swear, my body has a split personality. It doesn't know if I'm an old woman or a teenager. It isn't fair...if the universe was a kind and balanced place, then the onset of gray hairs and saggy boobs really SHOULD give one immunity from zit outbreaks, don't you think?

Paid for the Hotel.

I wrote a check out the other day to pay for our accommodations when we go to Disney. My goal is to have everything possible already paid for by the time we go so that the expense of the trip is slowly bled out of us over a number of months, rather than hitting us like a big, gaping stab wound in October. I put the airline tix on a credit card, but have already paid off half of the amount, so the rest will get taken care of in the next billing cycle or two. We will buy our park tickets in advance (hoping to use my IL's AAA membership to get those discounted rates). I have earmarked part of our tax rebate for this. The rental car, of course, can't be paid for in advance, but that shouldn't be too big of an expense. the only reason we are able to pay for the accommodations in advance is because we are 'renting points' for our trip, which basically means we are getting to stay in very wonderful and expensive Disney timeshare accommodations at a fraction of the cost, because we are buying the time from the owner.

At first, I was looking for the cheapest accommodations possible (within reason, of course), but I did a little research and changed my mind about this. There are two schools of thought with regard to where you stay when you visit WDW. On the one hand, there are those people who feel that the hotel room is just a bed to sleep in for the short amount of time that you are not out at the parks. Think of it as sort of a cheap hotel Las Vegas style...just a place to rest your weary head and get out of the 'action.' Then, there are those who believe that the resort is very much a part of the experience of the trip, and should be as nice as you can afford. I've done it both ways, and see merits to both arguments, but for this one, when we will be traveling with small kids, and who knows if we'll ever make it back there again, I decided to go all out. I have big plans for us to be out and about for much of the trip, but truthfully, with two small children, it is nice to know that there will be a nice place for us to have down time when it becomes apparent that they need it.

Each part of the trip that gets paid off gets me that much more excited for the trip, so taking care of the accommodations is a biggie.

zzzzzz......................

Six days.

That's how long it has been since I have slept completely uninterrupted for an 8 hour stretch.

What has been depriving me of my much-needed beauty rest? The kids waking or not waking but coughing anyway. The dog shifting position and jangling his tags. The wind. The wind setting off our neighbor's car alarm. Evan snoring. Evan tossing and turning (I'm starting to think we need those his and hers adjustable beds if I'm to get any darn sleep with him in the bed). The sump pump coming on.

Basically, you name it, and it is waking me. I guess I'm just not sleeping as soundly or something, but this is really starting to wear on me. I don't know how I survived having newborns in the house, because I so don't function well without eight straight. I haven't been exercising as regularly as I should, so I'm guessing that this is contributing to my sleeping lightly. So, I'm going to the gym today to try and at least do what I can to sleep well. The rest (noises, interruptions, restless bedfellows) is out of my control.

Wish me some good zzzzzz's tonight - I need it!

Life with Buddy

I have to say, I'm amazed at how easily we have adjusted to life with a new (and very large) member of the household. Buddy is such a sweetheart, and it is no heartwarming to see him start to settle in and feel like we are 'home.' He and Sadie are really bonding, too, which is adorable. She just has such a nice, calm way about herself with regard to him, which he really appreciates. She'll just go over to him and lay down next to him and pet him absentmindedly while watching TV. He, in turn, is so sweet with her. I love it.

As for Eden, well, those two are still sorting each other out. I think Buddy sees her as his last chance to establish himself higher up in rank in the pecking order, and she sees him as competition for my attention. So, there is a good bit of chaos when they are together at the end of the day (what we refer to as the suicide hour--5pm until 7pm--in our house).

But, overall, the transition has gone really smoothly, and I'm so glad we took the plunge.

What I've been working on

I have been doing my best to get Evan's website (www.evancotler.com) up and running. It has been a pretty fun project, and given that I have gotten a few requests to do freelance web development, it was a good, safe project for me to practice on. I'm fairly fascile with Dreamweaver, but the whole process of registering domains, selecting a hosting model and such was new to me.

Plus, given that many of the photos that we had were not of the best quality, it challenged me to sharpen my design skills a bit and learn Fireworks. So, the site is not completely constructed yet, but feel free to check it out and give me feedback. Once I get this baby to bed, I'm going to start focusing on designing some high-quality, imprinted promotional products (brochures, flipbooks, and better quality business cards) for him. Who knows? Maybe one day he'll be so successful, I'll be able to quit my 'day job' and become his full time marketing specialist.

Party of Five

Introducing the newest member of our family...Buddy :)

changes

Even though I grew up less than five miles from Fort Monmouth (known to locals as The Fort), and driven past it almost any and everytime I left the house to go anywhere outside of our town, I have never really thought much about it. However, it has been on my (and many people around here) mind a lot lately, as it is slated to close. I'm trying to imagine the impact the massive military relocation will have on the real estate market around here as well as the job market (The Fort is the largest civilian employer in the county. The towns that receive tax revenue from the Fort are struggling to figure out how to make that up. And, of course, there is going to be a major land grab for the actual physical property, as undeveloped land is such a sought after commodity here (because we just *need* more McMansions, don't you know?). It should be interesting to see how things unfold over the next couple of years.

I survived

Evan spent the weekend up in Boston, delivering a piece to a customer, and attending an alum event at his school. I was a bit nervous about being on my own all weekend with the kids. Not nervous as in I couldn't handle anything that came up, but just not looking forward to being 'on duty' all weekend. Normally, weekends are my time to sleep in one morning, hit the gym, and run any errands I need to without the kids. The thought of an entire weekend 'on' was not super appealing. Luckily, I have wonderful parents and in-laws who pitched in and kept us entertained and fed for much of the weekend.

So, I did a good job of filling the weekend with lots of visiting and activity. I was even clever enough to send Sadie on a playdate during Eden's naptime so I had a few hours of complete down time. Anyway, Evan rolled back into town yesterday afternoon and informed me that there was a ton of snow up there, and as nice as it was to visit, he still had no regrets about moving away. So, that was good to hear. The girls were ecstatic that he was back and by dinnertime, all was back to normal at our house.