On To The Next Chapter

I don't know when it happened but it seems like The Toddler Chapter is officially over as the little people in our family mature into slightly bigger people. Not really much bigger, if we're being honest. Just older in their heads. Think 3 going on 15 and 6 going on 16. And yes, the little girl's number is moving at a more rapid pace.

My phone is one alarm clock after another between tai kwon do, gymnastics, and the play dates I've managed to avoid until now. I have nothing against play dates, really, but with the different school hours and our kids having an early bed time (read: early wine time for the parents, just kidding, although maybe I'm not kidding), we just haven't really pursued additional friend time before. Benny has also put in a request to start doing Tater Tots again. He meant Torah Tots but it's name shall forever be changed now. We'll see if that can be worked into the equation, no promises little man.

Last year, Benny had a friend he really wanted a play date with. When they were placed in the same class this year, we made an effort to get to know his parents so Benny could get his chance before we move. Tomorrow is our big Play Date Day.

And of course, now that we are moving in about three months(!!!!!), Bella has a new girl in her class this year and they are attached at the hip, beyond besties, princess twins, frozen fanatics, matching braids and tutu skirts kind of friends. It's absolutely adorable and we are three play dates in with her already!

The nice thing is both of these friends have really nice parents. Score! (That was for you, Bubby.)

And now let's move the spotlight to me. I am on Week 2, Day 2 of my workout and I am still actively enjoying it and doing it. The run time is getting easier to handle, even though it is getting longer. My diet is going well, too! Considering the fact that we are in Food Country over here with all the holidays, I have not lost a significant amount at all but I am still lower than my starting weight instead of over. My hope was to at least stay balanced through the holidays, so the odds are ever in my favor at this moment!

Treated myself to a nice pair of running shoes after my first week, got them during a great sale!

Slightly more intense than last week.

My legs' best friend right now. Note to all you non-workouters out there, don't let your body become fudge. Or just never become active. 

Back For a Run

There's no way I'm covering all that's happened in the last eight months of my blogging silence but all you need to know is this:

1. Shuky was offered a full-time position at Amazon and we are moving to Seattle at the end of December.

2. We have three months until graduation as of this past Friday.

3. Our company sponsored move does not require my packing or much else. I've been organizing slowly but no pressure. So the panic attacks should be under control. :)

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Ok, all caught up. Welcome back. Both of us, truly. I've both enjoyed my sabbatical and missed my posting. Considering I've been getting gentle nudges from a few people over the last few months to sit back down with my computer, I'm assuming I'm not the only one that's missed it. If I'm wrong, leave me be with my ignorance!!

This past week, I joined weight watchers with a family member -- stress, baby weight (just go with me on that one), crazy past year, and so on and so forth, have all pushed the need for this. I'm in it to win it and really hope to see results! Paying for a program makes it so much more real and serious!! I also downloaded a 'Couch to 5K' app on my phone and started my first workout today. Not as bad as I expected it to be at all! It's an 8 week fitness system, 30 minutes a day, 3 days a week. Each week gets a bit more intense until you should be able to run a 5k. I'm not planning on running in any 5k. I just need something to whip me into shape! This should definitely do it.

 

Honestly, knowing that I'm not intensely planning a move and packing like crazy, I am choosing to put aside some of my time to start down our new path in Seattle as a better me. That's all. The same way I'm clearing out excess belongings we don't need to take with us in our move, I'm saying goodbye to my own excess.

This has been a super unexciting 'welcome back' post but it's what I've got right now!!

 

Hope you all have nice and meaningful holidays, if this is the season of yours. If not, enjoy hearing about all the food we consume over the next couple weeks!!! 

Happy Rosh Hashana from ours to yours!

Snow Business

I would like to formally take a moment and thank all of New York and its surrounding areas for being a team player. Someone  had to have the gross weather today and I appreciate all of you taking one for the team!!

Here, where the fear of freezing your butt off was first discovered (I just made that fact up), it is a beautiful 41 degrees, the sun is shining, the snow is melting, there was a huge line as I waited to get my car washed, we are all wearing sweaters and they are unzipped (**gasp**).

I'm sure this means that our city will be one slick sheet of ice tonight, but IT WILL NOT HAVE BEEN FOR NAUGHT!

In other news, I fear this winter, in whatever capacity we are suffering through it, may never end so I have taken the initiative to go ahead and order myself a new beanie. A girl's gotta stay warm somehow.

Today is a rambly sort of post so I'll continue as such. Our in-the-same-building-but-one-floor-down move is coming along. Still have more to transfer over and I'm organizing as we go through it all, adding some to our storage and just getting rid of others. My trusty red wagon is definitely getting its exercise! We had to slow down this week because our little family decided to throw a sick party -- Bella's got the pediatric version of walking pneumonia, Benny's got bronchitis, and Shuky's got something in between the two. All three of them are on meds, Benny is in school and Bella and I have just been chilling. Between the doctor appointments we've had on Monday, Tuesday, Wednesday and the follow up today for Bella. And the first three obviously had corresponding pharmacy visits!

And with that, I can say enjoy your snow day if you are having one, as I am ABSOLUTELY enjoying not needing one!!

That Just Happened.

Do you ever feel like you work so hard to avoid something specific and find it still follows you around every corner? 

Moving is my kryptonite. I hate it with a passion like you wouldn't believe and, yet, I just can't get away from it. Even as a kid, my family moved. A. Lot. By the time I got married and was ready to start my own home, I had somewhere between ten to fifteen moves under my belt. And I was only 21.

Not able to avoid it, our sixth anniversary was matched with six moves, not including the time we spent bunking with family in between (not insignificant amounts of time there either). I really had myself convinced that this last one, a little over two years ago, would be the last move until we were ready to leave Iowa. I was so sure! And yet, I hesitated to decorate our apartment, as is my M.O. Why put time and emotion into making a place mine when we might just pick up and move on soon! 

After getting back from Seattle, I was on this intense 'get our apartment organized' kick and part of that included a little bit of functional decorating. And making the kids' rooms a little more exciting.

We moved to Ames in the summer of 2010 and it took until post-summer of 2013 for me to be interested in decorating, just so you understand completely.

The past few weeks have been a little intense in our apartment. We've had some major heating issues, keeping our apartment very cold. It also happens to be that this winter has been EXTREMELY harsh in terms of low temps and windchills in the 'never should get there' zone. Our building manager and maintenance guy exhausted every effort, trying to get our heat to a comfortable level but this past week, they realized there was nothing that could be done until the end of winter, when the entire building could have the system turned off for work to be done.

Simultaneously, we have been having small electrical issues here and there that the maintenance guy had been able to fix each time, more or less.

When they realized the heating couldn't be fixed, they provided us with a space heater for each bedroom and a nice, larger one for the living room area.

Within a minute of turning them all on, the breaker tripped and the power went out. A new breaker went in, the heaters were turned back on, and the same thing happened. Within a minute, it was all off.

Out came an electrician.

The diagnosis was our apartment would need rewiring and it wouldn't be a quick fix.

I'll spare you the details of the emotional train wreck I was at this point. 

At this point, it was noon-time on Friday. We had just picked Bella up from school and had a couple hours until it was time to get Benny. 

Our manager offered us a vacant unit of comparable size with very generous terms of how long we could take to move in (she even offered to allow us to use it just for the winter if we wanted our apartment for the long run, after the work would all be finished), and went above and beyond to make sure we could make it all work.

At which point, we started moving our belongings. 

We opted to just permanently move to the other unit, as we will be moving within the year (GOD WILLINGGGGGGG) and it didn't make sense to come back for a few months.

Remember how I said this was Friday, around noon? By the time Shabbos came in that evening, we had all three bedrooms mostly set up, a semi-functioning kitchen, a living room, and our table and chairs. How? I have no freaking clue. A friend came to help with the couch and table, another friend watched Bella until it was time to pick up Benny and We. Just. Trekked.

We are slowly working our way into the apartment and I honestly debated just pretending this never happened. But what's a blog without a post or two every so often so here I am, spilling the beans.

335 Days.

We are officially one week in to our second to last semester here which means in less than a year we will be D-O-N-E over here!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Did I use enough exclamation marks there?

Eleven months left. And three of those will be spent elsewhere for Shuky's summer internship.

While I was talking a friend about that number earlier this week, she showed a better way to look at it - four months left here, go spend three months somewhere awesome, and come back for another four months to pack and move. Just writing that helps me breathe easier.

Those who know me personally are probably aware of the fact that I am a planner. I like to have things figured out in advance and, while I can definitely roll with it, spontaneity is not my favorite thing. During the first few years of school, the unknown was easier to deal with. It was completely out of our control and our future was not even tangible. Now, things are so close but we won't know for sure where we will be moving until next September. NEXT. SEPTEMBER.

Don't worry, we are still planning. I've been researching galore. Trying to weed through all the hypothetical cities that could be potentially be home for us. Knocking some areas off the list, moving others higher up in priority. At the end of the day, we can not decide until job offers come in but it doesn't hurt to have an idea of what's out there instead of scrambling around last minute to make the decision!

And again, for those who REALLY know me personally, you are probably aware that I spend every free second on Zillow. I have my houses picked out in our top cities already. Hopefully the new tenants will get transferred to the Midwest when it's time for us to come. And I say the Midwest because that sure as hell would not affect our housing situation, if you catch my drift. My cold and icy drift.

Hope everyone enjoyed their New Years and is back in the grind of things in this amazing year of 2014. {December of 2014. That's been floating around in my head like that old screen saver on Windows. You know which one I'm talking about. The one that used to say Yournamehere Rox!!!, and would bounce off each side of the screen while doing flips and twists. Yeah, that one.}