Money and status

Back when we lived in Connecticut, CP and I were part of a Newcomers club. It was a fantastic way to meet others in our town and we ended up finding some great friends who we were sad to leave when we moved.  After we settled on our house, I looked for the same sort of club in our town. There wasn't one in our town but one in a town next door that covers a few towns, all in the same school district. 

I ended up signing up in September while I was in the third trimester of my pregnancy. I thought it would be like the  club in Connecticut where we had events all the time. Bunco, girls night out, dinners, social events, guys nights out, etc. But this group seemed to only have sporadic events and a lot of the events were during the day. My first thought was that the club would be all stay-at-home mothers or ladies with rich husbands that don't feel the need to work. Hmm. Needless to say it was a bit ambitious to join in my third trimester and I never made it to any events. 

However, a few weeks ago they had a Bunco event and CP was not traveling so I decided to check it out. Bunco is a great way to talk to a bunch of people while playing a fun game. Everyone was very nice and shocked that I was out and about after only two months of motherhood. It was a good time and it was nice to get out of the house.

The following Saturday the club had a dinner out. When we did the dinners in Connecticut it was all women; in this club it was three couples and myself. It was a little odd being the only singleton but I wouldn't have left Izzy with a babysitter anyway so if I didn't go by myself, we wouldn't have gone at all.  Overall the couples were nice but what I'm finding after just two events with this club is that there is a certain passive way of trying to out-money the person you're talking to. This is sort of a weird subject because to most people my upbringing would lead them to believe that I would like to do the same thing.

The town that I grew up in is mainly made up of people that have a lot of money. We were not rich, however we did well even though we lived on the side of town that was not as well off. But just mentioning the town name to someone who knows the area would elicit a response. Growing up in this town was great. I always felt safe and it was a great community. However, around high school I started to recognize that there were a lot of snobs and a lot of people that were all about money and/or status. And that's what I hate about my town (and why I would not do well in LA). So when I left for college I was really excited to head out to the East Coast where not a lot of people would know my town, nor would they come into our relationship with any preconceived notions. Plus I was excited to get out of my town to run away from all of the snobs. 

While we don't live in the same town as where I grew up, our current town sometimes elicits similar responses. There are a few areas with huge houses, but again, I'm not living in that area. Plus, remember what the house we bought used to look like?  We clearly were only able to buy in this town because we bought a fixer-upper.  

Getting back to my story...the school district for the Newcomers Club is very, very rich. So when I signed up, the Membership Coordinator emailed back and said "oh did you know that this is this group is for X school district?" I told her yes, but their website said that people from neighboring towns were welcome to join as well. That was my first warning sign. Then seeing that all the events were during the day and that it would be a lot of stay-at-home mothers also was another warning sign. 

So at this dinner when I told people that I was from the neighboring town they seemed fine with it but a couple times tried to make sure that I knew how high their social status was. One of the women that I sat next to was telling me a story of how when she moving from downtown with her husband she absolutely loved a $1.8 million house but wasn't willing to pay that much. Of course I wanted to spit out my wine because that's insane but kept as much of a poker face as possible. Later on in the story she was complaining about having to do renovations on another house that they were looking at and her exact words were "it's not like it was a X dollar house." That X number was basically the exact amount that we paid for our house! I had to stifle in a laugh because if she saw our house she clearly would be very unimpressed. 

The problem that I see is that I don't want to go back to high school and try to one up or play the "money" game with these people. I certainly can still play the game if I want to, but that's not a game that I play with my real friends and it's not a game that I would want to play with any future friends. And it is certainly not a game that CP wants to play. So I'm a bit torn. Do I continue to go to events to see if there are some people that are not all about money? I know that I did find some people in my town growing up that were not all about money or status. But with Izzy, a traveling husband, and my limited headspace or patience for this kind of bullshit is it worth it? I do want to find some people to hang out with but I guess I have to figure out whether it's worth my time. My parents suggested that I start up my own newcomers club in my town but I really wouldn't know where to start.

Thoughts?

Seeking long hours

Yesterday afternoon was quite a mess.  There was a switch problem on the commuter rail so when I arrived at the main station to catch my usual 5:25pm train home, the place was in utter chaos.  Trains that were supposed to have left 50 minutes ago were delayed and there were so many people in the station you could barely move.  The terminal was hot (it was a 90 degree day yesterday in Chicago) and too many people for my liking were bumping into my belly.  I managed to get on my train after using some of my some of my high school basketball box-out moves, but the train kept stopping and starting once we left the station.  Not sure why, but the severe thunderstorms were probably not helping.  It didn't help that the a/c didn't seem to be working and there were tons of people packed into the train.  A great combo.

Halfway through the train ride I realized that I was supposed to pick up Buster from doggie daycare and that I wouldn't make it before closing.  I got in touch with CP who was at a happy hour at the time and told him that he needed to do the pickup.  He made it just in time and I finally got home at 6:30.

I tell this story because after an email from a friend in Denver who is pregnant and looking into daycare options, I realized that we may need to look into these things soon as well.  So I made an Excel spreadsheet of all of our options here in our town, both facility places and in-home places that I could find on the internet.  Some places I think will be ruled out simply on hours alone.  Sure I work from home two days a week and those days will be easy in terms of pickup and dropoff, but the three days that I leave the house between 7-7:30am and don't get home until 6pm?  If there are train problems or other issues, well, it is going to be difficult. Not to mention we have to pick a place that works with MY schedule because who knows when CP is going to be in town to help out.

And then yesterday CP was in a meeting with some of his higher-ups and was told that his group is being moved to a different facility- 30 minutes north of his current building.  Once that change occurs this fall, when he is in town his commute jumps from 25 minutes to almost an hour- while I am going an hour the opposite way into the city.  CP is understandably pissed as when he took this job last year he was not told that this could be an option.  His boss knows that he is not happy either, so hopefully CP can work it so that he works from home one or two days a week.  Ugh.

Just another reason we need to find a daycare with long hours.  Blergh.

Severe weather

Today started out not so great as we had a horrendous severe weather system come through Chicago starting early this morning.  I woke up at 4am to lightning flashing so frequently (literally every second or two), I thought that there was a white emergency light from a vehicle somewhere on our street.

The thunder and lightning were completely freaking the dogs out and I couldn't really sleep anyway, so I went downstairs to try to calm the dogs with my presence.  Fuzzy Britches is still stuck in the sunroom all the time because it is the only room in the house fully carpeted and the only room we trust her in (if she slips on the hardwood floor she could tear her new ACL).  She already got out from the barrier made out of chairs once and tore across the hardwood floor trying to find us; might as well not have it happen again.

I put on some soothing music, lay down on the couch, and hoped the dogs would settle down.  Two hours later, I didn't really get to sleep at all and I was dreading my work day.  At least I would be working from home. CP and I checked downstairs to see if we had major water- we had seepage from three different places but nothing earth-shattering.  The garden beds out back were flooded which is probably not going to help everything grow. Ehhh, could have been worse.

I have a coworker that gives her dog some drugs (vet-approved and prescribed) to calm her down during a storm and I'm thinking that Fuzzy Britches might benefit from that.  Does anyone else out there do that?  We make sure never to comfort her during the storm, but as she ages, I'm worried she is going to hurt herself as she runs around in a panic.

The rest of the day has been trying to stay out of the way of the window installers. Yes, today is the day that we get all new windows throughout the house!  Bye bye 1937 drafty windows!  Only a quarter of them actually opened so I am super excited about windows that actually WORK.  I promise before and after pictures.  :-)

We also received good news from our siding installers- instead of coming in late July they are thinking they will be able to start the week of July 8th!  I can't wait!  Our house is going to look completely different after that makeover!!  Not to mention finally having working gutters is going to really help when we get these large rain storms.

Rain, rain go away bullets

*We had a bad batch of thunderstorms come through last night.  I woke up at 3am to pee and didn't fall back asleep for at least another hour because every time Fuzzy Britches would hear a clap of thunder or see lightening, she would rush to get up and run to another corner of the room.  Poor girl.

 

*Thankfully our sump pump is working well despite the torrential rain (well, as of when I left for work this morning) so we only have a few trickles of water in two different parts of our basement.  But I have two neighbors on my block that had 6" of water in their basement when they woke up this morning- YIKES!  I've asked our dog walker to check the basement when she walks Fuzzy Britches this afternoon- hopefully everything is still pumping out and away from our house!

 

It's a really good thing that our sump pump is working because CP is stuck in Puerto Rico until Monday for work and I'm not sure exactly what I would be able to do if we did have a problem!

 

*It's questionable whether I will be able to pick up Buster this evening from doggie daycare.  One of the roads to the daycare was closed because of flooding so I took another way.  About 30 minutes after I dropped him off the daycare posted a message on FB that because they aren't sure whether people will be able to pick up their dogs tonight, they are closing the daycare.  I definitely had to drive through high standing water and only 100 feet away from the left turn that I made a car was halfway submerged under water.  Me thinks Buster will get a night away from us tonight.....which will make Fuzzy Britches really happy!

 

*Today as I walked from the train I became very annoyed at everyone that brought their large golf umbrella downtown.  Listen, no one likes to get wet but I am cognizent of other people and the fact that there is only so much room on Chicago sidewalks as people walk to work.  So instead of bringing a golf umbrella and hitting every third person with it because it is 10 feet wide, I bring in a smaller umbrella.  You golf umbrella people SUCK.

 

*Have I mentioned that I am sick of the rain yet?  It's been raining almost all week and is supposed to continue into tomorrow.  I clearly don't want another drought this year, but 5 inches of rain is too much in one day and won't soak into the ground.  I mean, just look at some of the pictures already posted today around the Chicago area.

 

/End rain rant.  Hopefully you guys are having better weather wherever you are located!

Happy birthday to me

HAPPY BIRTHDAY TO ME!!

Today is the day that I move into my mid-30s.  I like to call it my "Pretty Princess Day"- mainly because CP hates when I use that phrase.  I am the complete opposite of a girly-girl so I just think that the phrase is funny.

Unfortunately I'm stuck at work today but I had a fun weekend.  Because CP and I are oh-so-fabulous and hip on Friday night we went shopping for my birthday/our Christmas present to each other: a custom closet system for our master bedroom.  Sadly we are not outfitting a huge walk-in closet but a shallow walk-in, but this new system will be much more efficient than the two rods we have now on either side of the doorway.  It's not the most spectacular birthday present, but once it's done (hopefully we can install it between Christmas and New Years) it will look great.

Saturday was spent at a Christmas coffee event for the women on my block, then to our favorite home improvement store for paint, and then home to wipe the wallpaper glue off the ceiling in the dining room.  We had to rush to finish it all before our next door neighbor's cocktail party.  We were the guests of honor because we were the latest on the block to move in.  Boy are our neighbors fun!!  We had a taste of our neighbors on Halloween when the couple across the street took out the fire pit, beers, and folding chairs to hand out candy and check out all of the costumes.  But Saturday night everyone on our block got rip-roaring drunk!!  The party was only supposed to last two hours...but five and a half hours later I went home from drinking too much wine and CP soon followed an hour later.  Mind you we are one of the younger couples on the block (and the only ones without kids) and thought that we were drinkers!!  Our neighbors ended up partying until 1:30am while we were passed out in bed.

Needless to say, I think we are going to have a great time in our neighborhood.  There is an annual Cubs trip, they close the street every Fourth of July for a block party, and the whole neighborhood seems to get together when it's nice out for BBQs, random Saturday nights, etc.  CP already has a smoke-off using three different types of meat with a neighbor planned for mid-April!  Good neighbors definitely make our decision to move to Chicago that much better.

Unfortunately now that I am 34 years old, I had quite the hangover on Sunday morning.  We ended up mustering enough energy to prime the walls and the ceiling in the dining room and hang out with our friends watching football, but that's about it.  :-)  At least the Eagles decided to eek out a win for me yesterday!

Tonight we don't have much planned but Wednesday night we are headed out to dinner with my family to a Peruvian restaurant.  I hope it's as good as the one we used to go to in CT!

Decorating

On Saturday CP and I bought our Christmas tree and decorated it and the living room while listening to the Christmas station on Pandora.  We enjoyed an awesome dinner of smoked trout with a mint sauce and a bottle of the wine we were drinking when we got engaged.  

Our tree this year!

                                                    

For those of you that have been reading long enough, you may remember that our 2010 tree experience wasn't the best because we bought a tree that was WAY TOO BIG, so this year we decided to save ourselves the hassle and buy an already cut tree (last year we decided not to buy a tree because we were just coming back from the Bahamas).  The tree was marked as a 7 ft tree, but we think it's a little short.  At least it fits in our living room and we didn't have to break out the electric hedge trimmer this year!

Buster was wary of the moose stocking which was hilarious.  Poor guy  had a bunch of new things to contend with in the living room.  So far the tree and the stockings haven't been touched by him....

Yesterday CP and I joined my sister and her boyfriend at the Bears game.  Our FANTASTIC idea while tailgating was to shotgun beers...something that I haven't done in a few years.  I mean, of course CP and I rocked at it as usual, but it most likely led to my downfall later on that day.  CP made smoked cajun ribs and smoked chicken legs which were ridiculously delicious- at least we ate some good food in addition to drinking ourselves silly!

After getting home from the game CP and I made it until 7:30 and then finally crashed.  Advil and Tylenol weren't working on my monster headache, but Tylenol PM made it all better.  Definitely paying for all of that drinking today though.  Poor CP had to wake up early to fly to Atlanta for work- hopefully he can survive today without passing out in meetings!

How was your weekend?

Friday bullets

I have been sleeping on the couch on our first floor the past two nights so that Fuzzy Britches doesn’t have to sleep by herself downstairs, but it hasn’t made for a completely deep sleep.  Because of my sleepiness, you guys are getting bullets today!

·         I picked up FB on Weds night and she is doing better than I thought she would be doing.  I had to lift her in and out of the car and could tell that she had dropped some weight.  I told her that just because she felt fat next to Buster, she should not have created the need for this surgery in order to drop some pounds.  ;-)  For the next two weeks she is not allowed to go up and down stairs (other than the two in/out the front door so that she can go to the bathroom), no playing/jumping/etc., and she must be on a leash at all times outside.  We are to keep her safe by not allowing fast movements.  For now that seems to be going okay.

·         I picked Buster up from the boarder last night.  I guess he was fine during the day while playing outside, but they had to move him to a smaller cage at night because they were worried that he was going to break down the door.  I guess the bigger room reminded him that FB was not there with him and it upset him.  WTF are we going to do when FB dies????  He is going to be so distraught.  Even when they are in doggie daycare together he will play for a while, then head over to FB to check on her and make sure she is okay (awwww).  [Just the thought of this is making me cry at work.]  Once I got him home last night he was very gentle with FB (which is not normal) and wanted to snuggle quite a bit with me (that is normal).

This is how I have caught the two of them sleeping before- Buster needing to get as close to FB as possible (he is on the left) while FB tolerates him touching her.

Buster seriously loves to snuggle.  He is bigger than this now, but still tries to get into this position on my lap as much as possible (and I love it, despite his 80 lb weight).

·         CP was in LA for work this week and took the red eye home this morning.  He will be around until tomorrow afternoon when his flight for England leaves.  Yep, CP’s first international trip for work (England and Ireland) is coming up.  Two weeks in Europe; I am so jealous.  I’m trying really hard to not be too jealous and bitter of where he is going to get to go for work…..  I have to keep reminding myself that even though it is going to suck that he is gone, that I will enjoy the hotel points and airline miles at some point in the future.  And maybe he will bring me something back from the trip!

·         Luckily I am close to ovulating- so we have tonight/tomorrow morning to make something happen this month.  Of course I don’t think that I will actually get pregnant, but I won’t see CP for two weeks so we might as well have some fun before he leaves anyway.

·         Not sure how much home improvement work is going to get done with CP gone.  We were thinking that I would paint a bunch, but I may just want to get the kitchen in order and clean the house a bit….

·         CP and I are trying to enjoy the perks of living near Chicago without breaking the bank.  While he is gone in Europe I will be attending the Cardinals/Cubs game with my sister, her boyfriend, and one of my friends.  I’m really excited because the tickets were free AND they are rooftop tickets- which means free food and beer all game long (my first rooftop game!). (Usually rooftop tickets are at least $100 a game.)  Yesterday I was emailed a special through work to go to a Bulls game, so CP and I will be heading to a game in October.  The seats are in the nosebleeds and preseason, but oh well.  The last time I was at a Bulls game Michael Jordan was still playing….so yeah, that’s how long it has been for me.  Finally, Book of Mormon, a play that CP and I have wanted to see for a while, is coming to Chicago!  We are going with my parents in January for my dad’s birthday.  I can’t wait!

Are you looking forward to anything either this weekend or in the next few months?

I'm clearly insane

I think that I should be labeled insane.  My sister got me to sign up for stair climbing race happening on Sept 22^nd. 

NSC, you say, but you just did a stair climb earlier this year- why do you think you are insane for signing up for this one?

#1-  I haven’t worked out in weeks (actually probably more like at least a month).  Bad NSC.  Sadly, working out is simply not on my radar right now- not when we work 12 hours a day on the weekends on home improvement stuff and then continue that work during the week after work until 10pm every night.

#2- The race happens exactly ONE MONTH from now.  Is that enough time to train?  Probably not.

#3 (this is the big one)- it’s not just a regular stair climb.  This is STORM THE STADIUM.  The full climb is 6,000 (!) steps- up 3,000, down 3,000 at Soldier Field.  The half climb is obviously half those numbers.  My sister and I wisely decided not to push it and only do the half climb.  Only- haha!  I didn’t do great in March with my climb of only 688 stairs…..what makes me think that I will be ready for 3,000?  And yes, half of those will be going down the stairs, but I’m not sure the “break” is going to be enough to rest my muscles.

So I guess I should start training for this?  I’ll have to ask my building if they allow people to walk the stairs.  That would be a good lunchtime workout.

Hold me.

New job

Four days into my new job and so far I am enjoying myself.  Well, technically it is not a new job as I have the same title, simply in a different location.  Anyway, the “newness” might wear off in two-three months like always- I’ll just have to see if this place can keep my brain entertained and occupied.

My boss so far seems nice and happy that I am here.  Yesterday we had a meeting with a director and she called me a “subject matter expert.”  Ha!  I mean, I gave presentations about the subject in CT, but I wouldn’t call myself an SME by any means.  No matter because yesterday it was decided that I would sit on a panel at a two-day conference and speak in front of 200 people.  Yikes.  That makes me excited and nervous at the same time.  I hope I can live up the SME title!!

Can I just tell you how much I love working in a big city again?  The energy, the people walking around, the noises.  I love them all!  All of the “cities” in CT never really had that so I definitely have missed it.  Even though we didn’t want to move to downtown Chicago (CP more than me), at least I get to experience the city during the week.  It’s nice to have a bunch of lunch options.  It’s nice that I will get to walk 1/2 mile every morning from the train station to my office, and then back that afternoon.  I may not be so happy about the walk come January when it is freezing out, but I’m hoping that my North Face jacket makes it bearable!  I’m not that far from my parent’s office so I could have lunch with them if I felt like it one day.  

I think that living a train ride away from the city (without having to drive to the station) is going to provide a nice balance.  A yard for the dogs/our garden with some privacy from our neighbors and a big enough house for our stuff on the weekends/weeknights versus the busy, loud, and crowded city during the workday.  My total commute (even with the 1/2 mile walk) will be about 45 minutes.  Not the fantastic 10 minute commute I had in CT, but that is the price we are paying to be in the middle of our two jobs with a decent sized yard, good schools, etc.

My new office has a gym in the basement that for now is free (score!).  My building also allows people to walk the stairs so instead of taking the elevator up or down one or two flights, I have been hoofing it.  I am thinking about doing the Hustle up the Hancock race which is an awesome stair race (94 floors up the John Hancock building) that I did with friends back in 2005 when I lived here.  My mom even said that she might be willing to do it with me!  My office is on one of the top floors of my building so I could train during my lunch hour or after work.  :-)

So things are going well here, despite all of the chaos.  I’m ready for a busy day tomorrow dealing with the movers, along with the delivery of our new fridge and all new appliances.  The cooktop won’t get hooked up just yet because we need the counters in, but hopefully they can get installed sometime in the next few weeks.  In the meantime we will at least have an oven and a microwave.  Sunday we are going to be in UNPACKING H*LL.  Wish us luck.  :-)