heave ho

Here we go. I am going to write a blog entry.

Ready everyone?

I don't know... you don't look ready.

(Ok, took up sufficient space with that... now then...)

But seriously, I don't know what has kept me from blogging of late. I kept coming to the page and even sometimes clicking on the "new post" link, and then I would stare at the blinking cursor for a few minutes before shaking my head and going back to facebook. Once I even typed a few sentences! It could be that my life is simply not very blog-worthy right now. While I have enjoyed the break from teaching and the flexibility to make plans whenever I want, I have to admit that the unemployed lifestyle is a bit monotonous. My day usually starts off something like this:

9:30am - Wake up and try to force myself to sleep a little bit longer, cause really, what else is there to do in the morning? Not to mention I want to take advantage of the ability to sleep in for these last few months before it can never happen again.

9:45am - Finally succumb to the dogs staring at me plaintively from their kennels and my own need to visit the restroom and haul myself out of bed.

9:50am - Pick out the days pair of stretchy pants. Ah, pregnancy.

10am- Wrangle the dogs, feed the dogs, spend some time talking to the dogs.

10:30am- Computer time begins. This can last for a while. There are facebook status changes to make, blogs to read, emails to check, youtube videos to watch. If there are episodes of The Bachelorette (or Here Come the Newlyweds... or Lost... or Cupid...) to catch up on, that can be my entire morning. Sad? Maybe. But plenty of people waste away the summer watching bad TV. Right? RIGHT?

And then I usually invent some errands to run or brave the heat and take the dogs to the park. Lately I've been spending some time at the pool in the afternoons when it is just to hot to do anything else. Oh and I can do laundry now since we have a washer and dryer, so that's always exciting. Or dishes. If I'm lucky I have an obedience class in the evening or a doctor's appointment in the afternoon...

Oh, I'm sorry. You've fallen asleep. See what I mean?

Well, lucky for you, blogfans, I am going to the beach this weekend. This makes you lucky for two reasons: 1) I will be unable to blog for that period of time since the beach house is a place of no internet (and after this entry, you will probably be ok with that...), and 2) Interesting things happen on vacation! So I might have stories to share with you! And there might be pretty pictures! Oh gosh, it's enough to make me want to get up off the couch and dance around... But it's only 11:15. Computer time isn't up yet.

if you can make it there, you'll make it anywhere

Taxi from the airport: $25 and the moments of pure terror that you are about to die in a tragic car accident.

Hostel: $100 a night, the few hours of sleep you lose due to loud Hispanic conversation in the lobby and insistent, OCD, daily morning vacuuming.

Walking over 20 blocks, sometimes in the wrong direction: Free, unless you consider blisters and achy feet a "cost".

Admission to the Natural History Museum: $11 when you buy at the kiosk and say you're a student (cut me some slack... I'm poor).

Meteor hitting the earth: Lots of cool dinosaur bones, but no real dinos. Some things really come with a cost, folks. Like... extinction.


Hot dog at a street vendor outside the museum: $2 for a small, $3 for a jumbo.


Water bottle what will eventually cause the death of a camera: $2, but a lot more than that if you factor in the camera part.

Five of the most beautiful cupcakes ever from Magnolia Bakery: $12.50


Eating those cupcakes: Knowing that you will never again eat a cupcake without remembering how much better these really are than any other cupcake in the world. Sigh. I mean, really. Look how pretty they are.

Tickets at TKTS for a hysterical off-Broadway show recommended by a gay man: $120


Metrocard: $20

Umbrella from a street vendor that only closes when it feels like it... but that you are tremendously thankful for nonetheless: $5 (unless you're Chelsea... and then it becomes $3)

Fake Coach purse from a sketchy Chinese guy's van on Canal Street: $35

Fake Dior sunglasses: $5

Jellyfish appetizer at a Chinese food restaurant: $8

Entrance to MOMA to see paintings covered in bird poop and then discuss what really does make something "art": Free on Fridays!

Sharing a city I love with sisters that I love even more: Definitely priceless.

junebug

Well, kids, I managed to survive the month of May somehow. I'm sitting by the window in my brand spankin' new HUGEMONGOUS bedroom in our brand spankin' new 2 bedroom apartment watching my dogs chew on each other and taking a break from the unpacking/nesting process. On the first day of June! I love the new apartment, but I have not loved the process of moving into it. For those of you who don't know, I am not such a champ at transitioning (ie. change freaks me the heck out). My mother in law- who is, by the by, deserving of some kind of medal after all she did for us this week- and I had a fabulous time painting the bedroom and future nursery and she did a lot of hauling and packing and loading and unloading and errand running on our behalf while she was here, and then Joe had some lovely helpers on Sunday since our dresser is actually made of solid granite, embellished with lead (no, not really, but it is heavy as a... something really heavy... rhino?). So I can not (at all, as Joe reminds me every now and then, as gently as he can) complain about how our move went. We were so blessed by the number of people who were willing to pitch in and get it all done, especially since I am so sadly unable to lift heavy things due to my delicate condition. (HA- suckers.) So everything is here rather than there and that, I suppose, is the main goal of moving. However, friends, I do not enjoy living in a house that looks very much like a storage facility. I'm a big fan of nesting. I like picture frames to be on surfaces rather than in hampers strewn about the living room. I like books stacked on shelves, not on the floor. I like clothes in drawers, not Rubbermaid tubs. So I stand in the middle of my new apartment, surveying my new territory, surrounded by all of the stacks and piles and boxes of things that need to find a new home in our new home... and I feel an unmistakable urge to run screaming from the building. Or cry. Maybe both. Because if I want any nesting to be done, I have to be the one to do it. (Joe's not much of a nester... he just brings in the worms.) So, that is the plan for today and tomorrow. After a week or so of packing, it is now time to UNpack and and create the second home for my little family.

Speaking of the family, the dogs love the new apartment. Must be the 400 extra square feet and the windows looking out into the parking lot.

Oh, and Wednesday morning I fly to New York City with my sisters until Sunday.

Oy.