Friends

We can all agree that moving to a new area is difficult as we get older. It’s not like school where a bunch of strangers are thrown together. It’s easier to make friends then as everyone is new. I haven’t switched jobs and none of my coworkers have suddenly gotten younger. But, there are lots of opportunities for me to make some new friends with a much larger town.

I now present to you my 10-point plan to make friends in my new area:

1. Put a post on Craigslist asking if anyone is interested in starting up a book club. I have already done this, but no one has responded (the CL board here is a little slow). But….I did find another girl who posted in a different section and we are going to join forces. Now if we could just find a few more ladies….

2. Join my town’s “Newcomer Club.” It’s a non-profit social organization that holds book clubs, new mom events, Bunco* and other activities for people new to town. I’m hoping that it is not a snobby Stepford Wife-type club where I won’t meet anyone fun, but I have already sent in my $40 and am hoping for the best.

3. Join Meetup.com and head to some events.

4. Try to get a happy hour going of all of the relative newbies to my job. There are a few of us under 40 so why not see if they are interested in hanging out after work? Now that I don’t have an hour commute home I am more interested in hanging out.

5. Get out and about as much as possible. Moving is difficult as you are unpacking for a while and thus inside your house, not enjoying the neighborhood. I have been trying to take Fuzzy Britches on nightly walks around our neighborhood (so far I have gotten a few waves from people driving by). I also went to a nearby park this past weekend. Fuzzy Britches and I ended up run/walking 4 miles and she got a lot of compliments (of course). :-) Because it is so close to our house I would love to become a regular there.

Okay so it’s not a 10-point plan, but I’m halfway there!

Anything else I should be doing?


*What the heck is Bunco anyway? I have only ever heard of it on the Real Housewives of the OC.

Book signing

You guys get TWO posts today since I wasn’t able to give you all of the gossip from the book signing that I went to on Wednesday night. Yes, despite CP’s rolled eyes after I told him who I was going to see at Borders, I went to see Teresa from RHONJ. It turns out, I’m glad that I went!

I knew it was a bad sign when I pulled into the parking lot and it was PACKED. People were rushing into the store so my thought was OMG. There are this many RHONJ fans????

People were lined up to get their book signed so I hustled over to the corner of the room so that I could at least get a glimpse of Teresa. I started talking with the person next me and we traded stories about how our husbands were embarrassed that we watched the show and that we were coming to the event. I admitted that I was a bit embarrassed to be there in general- almost like I’m egging these women on with their bad behavior. I mean, what woman with any sort of class flips a table at a restaurant? Or has a shouting match in a public place?

Anyway, I justified being there by saying that I wasn’t financially helping her because I didn't buy a book (despite the fact that she desperately needs it, what with being $10 million in debt). I was just there for entertainment value.

Here is the line that I am SO GLAD I didn’t have to wait in:

That was only PART of the line too. A couple girls arrived at 2PM (!!!!) for the 7pm signing. Okay, I like the show and all but REALLY???

Surprisingly enough, Teresa sauntered in 15 minutes late, sat down and started signing books. I thought that usually they read a passage or something from the book? At least thank everyone for coming???

She has lost the baby weight from this past season (they stopped filming in February) and looks great:

People crowded around, trying to take pictures of her. The book line was going very slow because every.single.person wanted to ask her a question, take a picture of her, etc.

I went to leave when in my left ear I heard a guy talking about the reunion show. Hmmm. He seems to have inside knowledge of the show. I better move closer to him and get some gossip. And boy did I. Turns out Daniel works for Sirens Media, the production company for RHONJ (every city has a different production company). He is Teresa’s makeup artist for the book tour.

For your reading pleasure, this is what I remember from our interaction:

*Teresa will be coming out with a makeup line soon (in partnership with Daniel). They aren’t worried about the makeup lines from other housewives (like Gretchen) because Gretchen’s fans will buy her makeup and Teresa’s fans will buy her makeup.

*Most of the book tour events are one day trips so she was headed back to NJ that night.

*The last time Teresa came to CT for a book signing they had to close the store down at MIDNIGHT. People were still waiting in line. She does stay until the last book is signed.

*Gia (her oldest child) is the only kid that will travel with her to an event. She is the only kid that can stand sitting around while her mother signs books. He admitted that Milania would be running around the store trying to throw every book on the floor.

*Danielle is DEFINITELY off the show. Teresa announced it early on in the signing and Daniel confirmed it.

*They are currently looking for three more housewives for the NJ cast. One to replace Dina, one to replace Danielle and then an extra person.

*Kim G is still in the running for one of the slots, but Daniel hopes that she doesn’t get it. He said that she was trying too hard to get on the show (which I agree with).

*There is no word on whether Danielle will get her own show.

*He said the reunion show is going to be great. He was at the taping and there were FOUR bodyguards off stage. At one point, he had to run in to break a fight up (he said that he is actually in the previews for the reunion show).

*Teresa makes all of her own recipes and she is a great cook.

*All of the housewives from the different cities know each other.

*It is written into their contracts that all of the housewives must have at least one interaction with each other each season. That is why Dina meet with Danielle before she left the show and why Caroline had a meeting with Danielle before the season ended.

*That is also why Danielle ended up showing up to the fashion show. She was wavering, but producers reminded her that she had to get it over with at some point.

*In their contract they must have interaction, but they are just required to say hi. That’s it. No matter that the production company feeds them lots of alcohol and lord knows nothing odd happens when there is alcohol involved!! ;-)

*He said that Danielle is actually very nice and sweet in person. He used to do her make up last season.

*Bravo pays for all of the trips on the shows. Ramona’s girls weekend in St Barts or wherever they want? Paid for by Bravo. Teresa, Caroline and Jacqueline going to Italy with their families? Paid for by Bravo. Which is why I don't understand why Joe was complaining about the cost of the hotel room??

*When a lady first becomes a housewife, Bravo tells them to live it up. They explain that if they have a talent (singing, making jewelry, etc.) that they don’t have long in the spotlight and that they need to use the show as a promotional tool.

*The pizza place that Joe (Teresa’s husband) was putting together in one of the episodes is up and running. It is doing okay so far.

*When Danielle talks about her bodyguards packing guns and whatever, Daniel just laughed that off as big talk. He said that Danielle likes to be a bit overdramatic. (I’d say!)

*He agreed that he is amazed that Danielle’s kids are as grounded as they are. He said that they are super sweet and very polite. Almost parenting Danielle at times.

I wanted to ask about the whole bankruptcy stuff, but really? That would have been rude. Daniel says that he and Teresa are good friends (he goes down to the Jersey shore with her family all the time). It’s kind of an embarrassing thing for her. So I left it alone. (Despite the fact that my coworker and I were talking about it and she said that I totally could have taken Teresa down if she came after me. HA!)

After about an hour, I left the event. Feeling a bit dirtier, but oh well. My Facebook status that night was, "just got back from a book signing for Teresa from the Real Housewives of NJ. I spoke with her makeup artist for a while and displayed WAY too much knowledge to just be a casual fan." One of my friends from junior high commented that didn't I know that the show makes me dumber every time I watch it? But OF COURSE. :-)

There was even a story in the paper about the event. (when they took that picture I was standing just to the left of the old woman with the camera!)

What else should I have asked Daniel about?

House

Yikes! I missed posting yet again yesterday because I was so busy with work! And guess what? I’m not going to complain because I have actually been BUSY at work. YAY! Here’s hoping this continues…and that CP puts our home computer together today before he leaves on a work trip for the next week. :-)

Thanks for all of the nice comments on our living room. We are really happy with the way that it turned out. Fuzzy Britches LOVES the new rug and wants to spend as much time in the room as possible. Speaking of the rug, a bunch of you asked where we got it. We found it at Bassett with the rest of our living room furniture, but we also found it at Lay-Z Boy (for the same price).

I hope to post more pictures of our house as the rooms come together a bit more. If you are interested in home tours, this lady has been posting them on her site and they are fun to check out!

In other house news, CP’s mom got us a fantastic (and way too expensive) housewarming gift. It is this rack from William Sonoma.


We have a few copper pots from wedding gifts and some other things that we can display, so we are going to put it in the corner of our kitchen. I haven’t taken a picture of our kitchen with my oh-so-amazing Blackberry camera (ha!), but here is the picture from the MLS. The kitchen won’t change much from the picture as we are not spending the money updating a kitchen that is already AH-MAZING. (I'm a little biased)

So many cabinets! Very cool blue and white tile for the backsplash! Stainless steel appliances! Gas burners! Cherry cabinets! Granite island! Needless to say, we are in love with the kitchen.

And because we are not planning on changing the first floor bathroom, here is the MLS picture of that too:

Currently the bathroom is a bit bare. We really only have white towels in it (nothing on the walls yet), but I like the clean look of it. It is also REALLY nice to have a second full bathroom. Any guests we have will have their own bathroom (the guest bedroom is right next door).

Once in a lifetime event

Sorry for the Real Housewives of NJ-heavy coverage recently, but this morning I saw this. Danielle “singing” her “hit” song with wannabe Jersey Shore backup dancers. One of their moves seems to be very similar to the lift from Dirty Dancing. It’s hilarious. And by hilarious I mean awful. And fantastic at the same time. Why do all of the housewives believe that they can sing?

Secondly, I just found out from a coworker that Teresa is going to be doing a book signing one town over from us tonight. I have never been to a book signing before, but I am currently checking with CP to see if he is okay if I go. I am definitely not going to buy her book (Can you do that? Go to a book signing without buying the book, but more to check her out as you would a car accident on the side of the road?). But think that it would be hilarious if she wears as much makeup as she does on the show. And her voice/accent. If I use the word GRATING I am being nice. CP and I had planned on eating dinner and then tackling the boxes in the office tonight, but this is a once in a lifetime event, right? ;-)

Feeling more like home

This weekend CP’s mom came down from NH to help us clean out the MA rental house and unpack boxes in our CT house. Her presence was INVALUABLE. Not only do I feel more at home now, but more stuff has been put away and more boxes broken down.

CP and I rushed to paint the living room as our new furniture from Bassett was going to be delivered yesterday (btw, we would totally use them again). Before we bought the house, the living room was a pale yellow color. Not a bad color, but once we bought the new furniture, we knew that we had to repaint the walls.

We painted the walls a mocha color. After putting in recessed lighting, we also had to repaint the ceiling so we went with a very light gray.

The stripes are because we were painting over wood paneling and the roller couldn't get into the cracks. The large painted spot above the fireplace is where CP put a ridonkulously large flat screen tv.

Our new couch and rug. I LOVE our new rug!!!!

Our new chair (there are two).

After the furniture was delivered, we headed over to Crate & Barrel to find a coffee table and end tables. We had over $200 in gift certificates so we thought it would be silly to go anywhere else for the furniture. We ended up buying this coffee table (Basque java):

And two side tables in the same style:

(Pictures from Crate & Barrel website)

The coffee table and end tables won't be in for two weeks, but after a long weekend of working hard, CP and I relaxed on our new furniture, while Fuzzy Britches enjoyed laying on the new rug instead of a wood floor.

After this weekend I feel a bit more settled in our new house. What did you do this weekend?

Not the crazy lady!

Danielle Staub may not be back next season for the RH of NJ.

What will the other ladies talk about? As much as Danielle= crazy, the show will be really boring without her. Bravo better find a new crazy lady for the cast (maybe one that will interact with the other ladies?) or ratings will drop significantly. While I don’t want to egg the crazy lady on, I do want to watch some drama.

And the RH of DC is really not that exciting.

I guess I better hope for time to pass quickly until the OC ladies or NYC (probably minus Bethanny though- BOOO) to come back on the air.

Will you watch if Danielle is kicked off the show?

Welcome to the neighborhood

Last Friday CP arrived at our new house a few minutes before me. He called me and asked if I knew anything about the fallen trees in our backyard. "Huh?"

I walked into the backyard to find this:

The two downed trees.

I decided to call our realtor to find out if she knew of any reason that a tree would have been cut down in our COMPLETELY FENCED IN backyard. She suggested a utility company or maybe the city's public works department. However, there is no utility line anywhere near where the trees stood and the city would have notified us in some way that they were coming in. Not to mention that they would have hauled the trees away.

CP circled around our fence and happened to bump into our side neighbor. She said that she heard a loud crash earlier that day and saw the backyard neighbor's head pop over the fence. She also said that there was a feud between the seller and our backyard neighbor. AWESOME.

Our realtor suggested that we call the police. While I agreed that we SHOULD, CP and I discussed it and decided not to. We didn't want to be those people.

CP decided to head over to talk to the backyard neighbors. The wife answered the door and said that she didn't know anything about it. That they didn't even own a chainsaw. CP thought that was odd because he didn't say anything about a chainsaw....

On Sunday my father-in-law and his brother (my uncle-in-law?) came over with their electric chainsaw to cut the trees into manageable pieces while we figured out what to do with them. While he was cutting, the backyard neighbor came over and admitted that he cut down the tree. My UIL's response? "If it were my house, I would have punched you." My FIL's response, "I would have called the police." Ha ha.

The neighbor gave a myriad of reasons as to why he cut it down- "the seller had been asking me to for a year and I finally got around to it." None of them made sense to my FIL and UIL. The trees were not on his property, nor were they hanging over his property so he had no reason whatsoever to cut them down. The neighbor then told them that he would like to speak to CP at some point.

So far, we haven't made the time to go over to talk to them. We are too busy unpacking, painting, etc. I'm annoyed that the neighbor only wants to speak to CP- what kind of sexist sh*t is that? I have already instructed CP to tell him that I am an attorney (he doesn't need to know that I am inactive and not licensed in the state of CT) and that he is really lucky that we didn't call the police. Coworkers suggested that we make him take away the remnants of his trespass himself. I like that idea. We were going to take the trees down anyway, but we were going to wait until we had some time. Not when we were still moving boxes and furniture into the house.

It's quite an interesting "welcome to the neighborhood" event. And even after we finally speak to the neighbors, we will have to keep our eye on them....

What is your best crazy neighbor story?

University

Stolen from Nilsa….

1. Where did you go to college?
A smaller private university on the east coast (but still D1 for sports).

2. What did you study?
Sociology. Minor in Health and Human Development and another minor in Communications.

3. Was college really all that it was cracked up to be?
Definitely. I was a bit naïve when coming to college….but had the most amazing time. Friends, parties, sports, etc. I don’t think that my liver could handle college again, but it was a fantastic time in my life.

4. How far were you from home?
A two-hour flight or a 12 hour drive. I wanted to get out of the Midwest and I’m glad that I did.

5. Did you have the same roommates all four years?
No. My roommate first year was another member of the tennis team. We were complete opposites though- she was a smoker (disgusting!) and also had a problem with coke. So that situation didn’t work out so well. Second and third years I lived in my sorority and had two different roommates. My last year I moved off campus into a house with three girls from my freshman year hall (next door we had four other girls from our freshman hall).

6. Where did you order food from at 2AM?
Freshman year we would make nachos in our dorm rooms. There was also a Wawa off campus which had delicious subs after hours. Mainly I ate at my boyfriend’s fraternity. They would make all kinds of unhealthy things late night (grilled cheese, mozzarella sticks, fries, onion rings, etc.).

7. Did you date in college or were you tied down?
I dated one boy for 3.5 years. I met him second semester of our freshman year.

8. Funniest drunk college moment?
I’m supposed to remember this? There are way too many. Nights spent drinking in the freshman dorms playing “a**hole” with our special a**hole hat. Formals. Date parties. Bid night because my best friend and I were too busy playing sports to learn the pledge dance and thus just drank through the song. Track parties as us throwers would easily beat the runners at Beirut. Etc.

9. Did you make it to class on time?
Freshman year I wasn’t so great at going to class. But when I did go to class, I would be on time. If I knew that I wouldn’t be on time then I just wouldn’t go!

10. What was your favorite class in college?
One of my favorite classes was nicknamed (by the students) “Rocks for Jocks” but was a Geology 101 (or something like that) class. It was a fun class and the professor was great.


Do you have fond memories of college?

Making green choices for our new house

Today we will be getting an energy audit done on our new home. I am so excited about this (I know that makes me a complete dork)! Because our house was built in 1948, I expect to have some things that need to be repaired or upgraded. Last week the electrician that we had come to the house to do some work said that some of the 2-prong plugs that he switched out to 3-prong were most likely original to the house (!) and that it was a good thing that we changed them over as they were disintegrating. Yikes.

If you do not live in Connecticut and cannot participate in the Home Energy Solutions Program, I would check your state’s website to find out if there is a similar program. For $75 we have a technician coming into our house to do the following:

• Blower door testing and blower door guided air sealing is a scientific test that involves the use of a large fan (Blower Door) mounted in an exterior door to measure air filtration into your home. The CRI Technician will be able to seal most of the major sources of leakage while on-site.

Image from HES website

• As part of the Home Energy Solutions Program, your CRI Technician will install up to 25 CFL bulbs in your home (program guidelines are subject to change without notice). (We already have CFL lightbulbs in most of our lamps, but we need them for our two new lights)

• Duct Testing and Duct Sealing is a process that begins by using a large fan to pressurize your duct system and measure leakage through the system. Where leaks are found, your CRI Technician will apply duct mastic (a grey plaster type of material) and/or silver tape to seal leaky portions of your duct system. After the Technician has sealed all possible leaks, you will be provided with a Duct Air Flow report. This report will provide you with the necessary information to identify if any additional work is necessary to further improve the efficiency of your heating and cooling system.
  

Image from HES website

• CRI will install low flow faucet aerators on your kitchen and bathroom sinks. Properly installed aerators will seal drips, saving water and the energy used to heat that water. CRI will install newer showerheads that come with a variety of settings and features for increased comfort and savings. Showerheads over 10 years old typically deliver between four – five gallons of water per minute. Since 1992, legislation has required manufacturers to produce only low-flow showerheads, which deliver 2.5 gallons per minute. CRI will install pipe wrap to insulate at least the first nine feet of pipe on your water heater to stem heat loss before it reaches the tap. CRI will wrap your tank with fiberglass insulation to keep an extra 30–40 percent of heat from escaping through the walls. If your tank is relatively new, it already has insulation on the inside and CRI will verify this.

• Part of the HES Program is identification of older, less efficient appliances. You may qualify for incentives (rebates and tax credits) for the replacement of older inefficient refrigerators, freezers clothes washers and dehumidifiers. Your CRI Technician will review the options with you at the conclusion of your appointment.

• With the HES Program, a CRI Technician will inspect the insulation in your home and discuss the results with you. If you need insulation, CRI will work with you to provide a list of qualified contractors to help. CRI can also assist you in getting detailed estimates to get the work done through its pre-screened network of qualified insulation contractors. This service also includes assistance with applying for rebates, information regarding possible tax credits, and a comprehensive quality assurance program to make sure the work is done correctly.

• Your CRI Technician will measure the airflow through your duct system when your heating or cooling system is operating. Based on test results, CRI will seal leaks or offer recommendations on how to improve the system.

• As part of CRI’s HES Program, we identify and recommend other services that may make financial sense for our customers. These additional services sometimes require the use of licensed subcontractors who specialize in specific technologies such as insulation, heating/cooling systems, electrical upgrades, etc. CRI maintains a list of licensed, pre-screened professionals that work closely with us in our delivery of energy efficiency programs throughout the state. We can arrange for one or more of these companies to provide you with additional information or a competitive estimate. There is no obligation to purchase these additional services, but if you decide to proceed, CRI will stay involved throughout the entire process to ensure that all work meets CRI’s strict quality control standards. CRI will also help you correctly complete and submit all necessary rebate forms where applicable.

• Through the Connecticut Energy Efficiency Fund (CEEF), there are sizeable rebates available to homeowners who participate in Home Energy Solutions. The offers may be subject to availability, but currently include incentives for: increased insulation for attics and walls; purchase of ENERGY STAR Refrigerators, freezers, dehumidifiers and clothes washers; installation of a high efficiency natural gas water heater; and installation of high efficiency split heat pumps.

Can you believe they do all of this for $75???!!??

Have you taken advantage of any energy efficient programs in your state?

Reading about the past

One of the funnier things I encountered while packing up was a box full of letters and cards from ex boyfriends. Specifically, the three long-term boyfriends I had before I met CP.

CP happened to be in the room when I uncovered said box and started chuckling. He was curious, but after I warned him that he probably didn’t want to see them, he didn’t pry. After a few minutes he left the room and I decided to sit down and read every single letter.

The oldest ones dated back to 1997 when my boyfriend from college (R) and I were separated the summer after our first year. We had only been dating for a few months before I went back to Chicago to work as a tennis pro at a local country club. We talked every night on the phone, wrote each other letters all the time and even made each other mix tapes. Yep, BARF. It was hilarious to read the letters from him. They detail a new relationship. A relationship so in love, naive and happy. I lot of “I miss you” and “I love you” throughout the letters.

Unfortunately, a lot of the memories that I have of that relationship now are the bad ones. Having a fight when we were both drunk, me falling down the stairs of his fraternity while he just watched. His brothers helped me get home that night. I had bruises on my back for two weeks. Taking care of him after he tore his ACL in a big game and throughout his recovery process. There was talk that he could have tried to make the NFL (like his brother did before a neck injury). After that surgery though, he was never as quick as he once was and the talk died down. I’m not sure if he was depressed after that or what….but his smiling, upbeat personality was never the same. One of the final nails of the coffin was one night when I got back from my friend’s bachelorette party and he showed up at our off campus house, raving mad, yelling about me cheating on him. I had no idea what he was talking about and had done nothing of the sort. I later found out that he had been talking to a local girl that night- so maybe he was feeling guilty and decided to take it out on me? He ended up getting engaged to her two months after that fight. She was pregnant soon after (according to Facebook they are still together).

In the end, we were both young when we got into the relationship. Despite the fact that we dated for 3.5 years, I always knew that he wouldn’t be the man that I would marry. But the letters were a nice ego boost and a good way to remember some of our good memories.

Other cards and letters were from a guy that I originally met in high school, M. He lived in Kentucky and I randomly ran into him and his friend in Hilton Head, SC. We were basically pen pals and I even kind of dated his friend for a while (M had a girlfriend at the time). M and I stayed in touch throughout the years. At some point, we started emailing and talking about meeting up again. We met in the middle of Philly (where I was living at the time) and Louisville (where he was living at the time) and had a great weekend together. I visited him in Louisville and we started a long distance relationship. The cards from him were sweet. Mainly about missing me from afar and hoping that we would get to see each other again soon. I am still friends with him on Facebook and he is doing well- a bassist down in Nashville. But again, no interest in marrying him either. Those artist-types are a little too in touch with their feelings for me. :-)

The last few cards were from my ex Herb (obviously not his real name). I have chronicled my relationship before with Herb. The cards from him were a mixture of “I miss you” and sex-related puns/discussions. These cards were the main reason I didn’t want CP to read anything from the box! Based on the fact that Herb used to call when we lived out west and tell me that he would never meet another girl like me, CP does NOT like Herb and would NOT be happy that I kept anything, even just a card, from him.

So why did I keep all of these letters for so long? Well the main reason was because I forgot about them! But I had to have seen some of the earlier ones when I put the more recent letters in the box. I guess I kept them because they are funny to look back upon. Also a great ego boost!

However, after I read all of the letters, I put them in the garbage and went into the living room to kiss CP. While the ego boost was nice, I don’t need to reflect upon past relationships. The guys that I did date in the past are in the past for a reason. I had to date them to find out what exactly I was looking for in a husband.

My most favorite card that I have ever received from a boyfriend? A card from CP, from early on in our relationship. He wrote, “I love spending every second with you- no, every millisecond.” I tease him about that line occasionally, but I love it. Only my engineer husband!

Do you keep old letters or other things from past boyfriends?

Closing a chapter

This weekend, CP and I will be closing a chapter in our lives. We will make the permanent move into our NEW HOUSE, leaving the rental house in MA behind. This is pretty significant. We have only spent two years there, but it was the first place that we moved into together. That was OURS.

We also have had quite a few things happen while living there:

*I started my first job out of law school. A job that I started with so much optimism and in the past two years, have grown to dislike because I am so bored.

*CP and I got engaged.

*I PASSED THE BAR! How funny that I said that I would never take that test again…and yet CP and I have been discussing whether I should take the CT bar this winter. *sigh*

*I turned 30 and 31.

*I lost weight. I gained weight. I lost weight. I gained weight. I’m working on losing weight yet again. *sigh* (too many posts to link)

*I had the opportunity to be on “Say Yes to the Dress” and promptly said NO.

*CP and I went to Cancun, Mexico with my family.

*CP and I got certified to be scuba divers in anticipation for our honeymoon.

*I spent three months in DC for work, having fun with friends while poor CP was stuck in MA.

*We planned our wedding in the mountains of New Hampshire (again, too many posts to link).

*I had a really fun bachelorette party after having a mental breakdown regarding CP’s bachelor party.

*After our amazing wedding, CP and I went to South Africa and Mozambique for our honeymoon. (that link is the first of a few posts)

*We entertained the thought of moving to Denver, CO, but despite all of the great interviews, we couldn’t make it work.

*We decided to limit our intake of processed foods and haven’t looked back since.

*We planted our first garden!

*We decided to try for a baby. Hopefully that decision will pan out soon!

*We decided to move down to CT, with our focus on starting a family.

I can’t wait to see what we have in store for the two of us (maybe more?) in our new house!

Come on Friday...

Today I feel like I have been hit by a Mack Truck. I’m sore, my throat hurts and my eyes are really puffy. So you get bullets today!

· Thank you for your kind words yesterday. I can’t dwell on it every month or else I will go nuts. Thus, I am looking forward to trying again this month- hopefully with different results so that I can make fun of myself and my whiny/worried posts!

· Buuuuuut, then I saw this video today. Women with lots of stress had a 12% less chance of getting pregnant. Dr. Gupta you just stressed me out even more about trying to conceive!! THE CYCLE CONTINUES.

· Part of the reason I am so tired today might have to do with the horrible sleep I got last night. At 2:30am I woke up startled to a loud crash. Fuzzy Britches had been sleeping in another room, but doesn’t like loud noises, so she came tearing into the room scared out of her mind. I put on my glasses to investigate and in my daze couldn’t find anything in the house that fell. As I tried to get back to sleep my heart was pounding as I had convinced myself that there was an axe murderer in the house who was going to rape and kill me. Sometimes I hate when CP is away on business.

· For those of you near a National Park, entrance fees will be waived THIS WEEKEND.

· CP gets home tonight. YAY!

· I was talking to a friend last night who recently had a kid. She was talking about how she put together a mom’s group and that while she really likes the other moms and their kids, how it is really hard to not compare your kid to another kid. And how when someone is talking about their kid, your eyes glaze over because you don’t care. You only care about your kid. My friend’s solution? Ask a lot of questions and be over-interested in the other kids as to not seem as if she feels like her kid is superior (which of course she is. She has her genes!). I started laughing because CP and I do THE SAME THING with other dogs. We KNOW that Fuzzy Britches is the CUTEST DOG EVER and actually have to make an effort when we see other dogs to compliment them or ask questions because although Fuzzy Britches is CLEARLY superior and CLEARLY cuter, we don’t want to seem as if we are rude. If we ever have a kid, it will just get worse…..

When your dog takes amazing photogenic pictures like this?? You know she is the sh*t.

She even has the wind-blown look down pat!

Frustration

As I read Taryn’s post on Friday, I kept nodding to myself.

Last week I had lovely gas. I wasn’t really eating anything too different, so I googled whether gas was a early symptom of pregnancy (mixed results- some women said that it was for them, others said no). Thursday I had a bit of bleeding so I googled when implantation bleeding occurred. Could I still be in that window? Turns out yes, but I had the same thing happen the prior month so I wasn’t getting my hopes up too much.

Unlike Taryn I haven’t been purchasing pregnancy tests. But in the back of my mind, I keep thinking about the few “I Didn’t Know That I Was Pregnant” shows where the women continues to get her period throughout her pregnancy. Could that be me?

But no. We are now 0-2.

It’s easy to say to not stress about this whole process. But that is not something that I can do. It’s been two months now. According to the books that I have read and my online googling, we are “practicing” at the right times. Is there something wrong? Should I be worried? And I know that for people our age it takes an average of six months. But are those people really trying? Are they actively “practicing” at the right times? Or just having sex whenever they want?

The online searches are also very frustrating (and I’m not even talking about the misspelled words, no punctuation and text speak that are all over pregnancy forums). People that are pregnant because of a drunk one-night stand. People that are pregnant because they forgot to use a condom once with their boyfriend/husband. I even have a few friends on Facebook that have accidently gotten pregnant lately. As someone who is actively trying, that is especially frustrating. Why are these people able to get pregnant and we are not?

I should be thinking about not getting pregnant this month in a positive way. This way I can help out with all of the moving (although I would have loved to have gotten out of moving the heavy stuff!). This way I can paint. But as much as the logical side of me wants to say that not getting pregnant is a good thing this month, I am still sad. Still worried.

Hopefully we can get settled into our new place quickly. I plan on buying a basal body thermometer and using it to track when I ovulate.

Boy I hope this happens soon. I don’t want to write this post every month.

Closed.

Amazingly enough, the closing went off yesterday without a hitch. Ha! Just kidding! That’s only in fantasy land. Actually one of the forms was off by $1.14 so our lender wouldn’t wire the money to our attorney until it was fixed. Because that didn’t happen until 1pm or so, the wire didn’t hit before we were finished and we officially had to have a “dry closing.” Which means that we couldn’t take possession or get the keys to our new place. (Cue CP and me freaking out as we had a 16-foot truck full to the brim and we HAD to unload it. As in, CP was going to break a window if need be.)

Luckily, our attorney was cool. Officially it was a dry closing….unofficially (after the relocation company’s attorney left) he gave the keys to the realtor who then handed them off to us. Shhhhhh.

Fuzzy Britches was very excited to get into the house. Every time we brought a box up to the second floor or downstairs to the finished basement she would follow us. She even explored the backyard a bit and found a disgusting, moldy squeaky toy buried near a tree.

Four hours later, the truck was unpacked and boxes, shelves, bins, sporting equipment, etc. were all in their respective rooms. To celebrate, we went to Chipotle and drove an hour home to MA to pass out. We are such party animals.

Today I have been unable to concentrate as I am tired and sore. I plan to go home and pass out on the couch before figuring out what I am going to do for dinner. CP had to leave early this morning to fly out to OH for work so I won’t have my chef to cook for me. Booo.

I promise house pictures soon- but might wait until we actually get some stuff unpacked first.

What is your least favorite part about moving? Is it the physical labor? The fact that you have no idea where the one pair of pants that you wanted to wear to work is hiding? The fact that some of your things are in the new house, but not the house that you are currently living in?

In need of long nap

Boy am I sore. A quick breakdown of our weekend:

Friday- CP and I headed out to dinner because we were both sad that we didn’t close on the house. A coworker gave me a bottle of champagne to celebrate- we drank it despite the non-closing. :-)

Saturday- CP and I took all of the boxes and furniture that we had moved out to the garage and arranged it in the truck.

Fuzzy Britches made sure that we weren't going to forget her

Fuzzy Britches is ready to go!

That night we got a last-minute invite to the Train/ John Mayer concert and had a great time!

Awful BB photo of Train starting up their set.

CP was mainly going to the concert for me, but ended up really enjoying himself. John has a great stage presence, joking around with the crowd, singing an impromptu song about a couple that got engaged at the concert, and his guitar skills are amazing. Plus, you know, he’s hot. :-)

Awful BB photo John on the big screen.

We didn’t get home until 1am on Saturday night and after moving all day? That was rough.

Sunday- Packed up more things around the house. Fertilized the lawn and then watered it (not because we wanted to, but because our landlord wants the lawn to look good. We want to make sure to get our full deposit back. I don’t see us putting chemicals and wasting water on our new lawn.) Picked a ridonkulous amount of swiss chard and other veggies from our garden.

Mmm swiss chard.




Red pepper, green/yellow pole beans, zucchinis, cucumbers and a funny looking carrot. I still think that our carrots need to continue growing in the ground.

CP made an amazing dinner using both zucchinis and swiss chard, along with some other ingredients in our fridge. He also had the motivation to make both a dill relish and a spicy curry relish. He’s crazy.

Today I am working a half day, then heading over to the closing (*crossing fingers that everything works out okay*). Afterwards we are heading to our new house and unpacking tonight because the truck is due back by tomorrow morning.

Why do I have the feeling that tomorrow I am going to be even more tired and more sore???

How was your weekend?

Should be

Right now we should be signing a lot of documents and preparing to unload a truck full of our stuff into our new house tonight. Since I used the word “should” that should tip you off that the closing is not going to happen today.

*sigh*

So yeah. Yesterday was a sh*tshow. On the phone with our lawyer. On the phone with our real estate agent. On the phone with CP. Calling my dad (who is a real estate lawyer in another state) to see if there was anything we could do. I mean, everything was set until the bank realized that someone at the relocation company signed the documents that wasn’t authorized to do so. What kind of idiot does that? It’s not like this is their first closing. They are a national relocation company.

Sadly, we don’t have any recourse. Connecticut does not have a “time is of the essence” clause in their real estate contracts. As long as the closing happens within a reasonable amount of time then neither party violated the contract.

We are still trying to get into the house early- even if that means moving our stuff into the garage for the weekend. But that is most likely not going to happen. Which means that we will still have to pay for the moving truck that was confirmed earlier this week. We will lose moving help from my dad who happened to be on the east coast this weekend and was going to drive up to help us and check out the house. We will lose moving help from CP’s dad and girlfriend. No new mattress delivery tomorrow.

But. No one died. We don’t have to be out of our current house by Monday (thankfully). The carpenter and electrician are not scheduled to start their work until next week. The appointments I had scheduled with the cable company, the home energy audit company, etc. are not until the following week.

Yes we are inconvenienced by the fact that we are not going to close today. But it is not the end of the world. We have a closing time of 2pm on Monday which means Sunday we will pack up the truck and move things into our new house Monday night. CP then has to leave for another work trip on Tuesday, but we will have plenty of time to move, even if it means losing a weekend. The mattress delivery has been rescheduled.

The world hasn’t ended. But it would have been a lot nicer if we could have closed today!


Replies to Comments

• Raquel- thanks for the cornstarch on the tomatoes tip! My mom gave me that tip earlier this year for a yellow fungus that starts to slowly grow up the tomato plants. I forgot about it for a while, then sprinkled a bunch of it on two plants we had in pots because they were starting to turn yellow. The two plants didn’t feel the wrath of the horned tomato worms. The four plants next to the house that we didn't sprinkle cornstarch on? Well, you saw the pictures. Coincidence? I think not. I will be buying a large tub of cornstarch to sprinkle weekly over the tomato plants next year. :-)
• According to the website, aqua shoes are required for the underwater treadmill and spin classes and strongly encouraged when using the equipment on your own. I could see aqua spinning being hard if you don’t have shoes. But yes, I agree with all of you that it is a little weird.
• Yay! I’m happy to hear that so many of you like your latex mattresses. Hopefully we will have the same experience!
• You guys were really scaring me with your horror stories of house purchases. I’m crossing my fingers that the closing on Monday goes off without a hitch!

STRESSING

So right now I am stressing. Stressing that our closing may not happen tomorrow. Our mortgage broker has been calling, asking for silly things. Supposedly everything was submitted into the lender yesterday morning and they reserve the right to take 48 hours to review the documents. According to our agent, they should get back to us this afternoon. We’ll see.

Additionally, we had to have the walk through on Tuesday as opposed to right before the closing because of the relocation company. We were okay with it....HOWEVER the seller still has a bunch of crap in the house. Stuff like a old refrigerator, bed frame, old dehumidifier, etc. in the basement that were supposed to be out by now. A satellite dish that is still stuck in the backyard. A bed on the living room floor. Our agent and I guessed that she is sticking around for the closing and that is why the bed is still there, along with the food in the kitchen fridge, but the other stuff? Should have been gone. And now our agent has to go back right before the closing to verify that everything is gone.

The one thing that the agent just assured me of is that if the seller doesn’t get rid of the things in the basement, that she guarantees that we will not have to deal with it. She will get it removed herself if the closing happens and the seller doesn’t do what she is supposed to. Which is great. That takes a load off my mind because at least we won’t have to pay for someone to remove the stuff. Sucks for our real estate agent, but she said that she makes the other agent pay when it is something expensive/major.

I just got word that someone at the relocation company that IS NOT AUTHORIZED TO SIGN did so and that is creating title problems. WTF????? You would THINK that people would KNOW WHAT THE F* THEY WERE DOING!!!

If we don’t close tomorrow? We have a truck scheduled and confirmed that will be grounded. We have CP’s dad, girlfriend, and my dad (who happens to be in NJ and will drive up to help for the day) helping us move on Saturday. That means no painting. That means more rushing.

I want to throw up.

Bedding

This weekend CP and I set out to find a new mattress and box spring. We weren’t planning on buying another bed, but after breaking down the bed in the second bedroom, we discovered something that looked like mold. Booo. The possibly-moldy (but still in good shape) mattress is now over 25 years old, so it was probably time for its life to end anyway. CP and I went back and forth about whether we would just buy a cheap-o mattress and keep our current bed in our room, or to buy a new mattress for us and move our current mattress into the guest bedroom.

We decided that if we were going to spend the money, we should buy a new bed for the two of us.

The first place we stopped we were a little wary about going into because when we were looking for furniture, the saleswoman didn’t listen to us. We were lucky to get someone else to help us this time.

I was willing to go with a regular spring mattress because although they are only under warranty for 10 years, they clearly last longer (see moldy mattress above). However, CP then dropped a bomb on me. Every time I get in up in the middle of the night to pee, he wakes up. Whaaaa? He has never uttered a single word about waking up when I pee. He HAS complained about my tossing and turning when I am trying to fall asleep, but never my peeing.

Whoops.

I don’t necessary try to get out of bed slowly when getting up to pee, but I’m not crashing around getting in and out either. After the salesman heard this, he guided us towards the mattresses that decreased “motion transfer.” CP gravitated towards a latex mattress that he said lessened my movement getting in and out of bed.

My question is, do any of you have a latex mattress? Does it keep its shape? In another mattress store the salesman tried to push us towards a memory foam-type mattress and I nixed that idea quickly. I have heard that those mattresses are nice for about three years and then they fall apart. I’m not spending this much money on a bed to have to buy another one in three years!

So anyway, tell me about your bed. :-)

Exercise options in CT

Once we move down to CT (CLOSING IS THIS FRIDAY- YAY!), CP and I will probably join a gym less than 1 mile from our new house. The new gym is actually an aquatics center and there are two things that I am most excited about--- they have group classes where you ride bikes in the water AND work out on the treadmill.

How cool is THIS?

And THIS?

The classes are not included in the very reasonable monthly dues (only $50 for me AND CP), but I figure that I will take a few classes and then use the equipment on my own. :-) Plus, water workouts are great for pregnant women (if/when that happens).

CP was a good swimmer back in high school, so he is excited about the pools. The building also has ellipticals, land treadmills and bikes for a regular workout.

Not only we will be going to the acquatics center, but the area around our house is flat. As in, I can finally run outside without putting my knees through downhill running (oh the pain!). Our current house is surrounded by hills so running has been out of the question.

We also have a reservoir and a golf course not too far from our house. YAY!

Picture I found of one of the walking trails on the reservoir. Looks a little cold, but that would be perfect weather for Fuzzy Britches!