Week over Week

As I sit in the dentist's chair waiting to learn the fate of an upper left molar, I'll attempt to explain why I think this week has got to be better than last:

1. After celebrating mr price's bday in lovely style... He became deathly I'll with the flu. poor guy; never seen him look so miserable. and it lasted alllll week. which meant a couple things: (1) he was in quarantine upstairs and i brought him food and drink, little more than sliding it on the bedside stand and bolting for the door for fear of catching this dreaded illness or worse... passing it on to the Shorty. (2) sick and in quarantine = needs help, not helping. so all morning, evening and middle of the night duties were passed to yours truly.
2. between the snow and the below freezing temps, there was quite a bit to maintain around the house - dripping pipes, running the pool pump, fishing leaves out of the pool (which involves holding a large aluminum pole for extended periods at below freezing temps and no, i did not stick my tongue on it), carrying the citrus trees to the cabana, and other manual labor.
3. still in the wrist brace
4. severe tooth pain brought on by a girl scout cookie. (they look all sweet and innocent...)
5. our cousin's dog had to be put down. broken hearts all around.
6. VERY heavy work load this week + a work event which meant having to stay late
7. earlier in the week I declined some additional (& substantial) volunteer work. by mid week I found myself having just agreed. hello rush advisor. what? yep. for all the fun I am SURE it will be; i still might be crazy.
8. the nanny missed monday due to a cut foot. while it was surely an accident, it totals a LOT of missed days. So tuesday involved a very serious 'talk' with her and the other nanny-share mom. no fun. but definitely necessary.
9. Friday was a 'snow day' funny thing about snow days when you work from home: NOTHING CHANGES other than it's cold and a bunch of other people are working from home who usually don't so conference calls start late, people no-show and progress is gerenally slower and more frustrating.
10. All weekend plans were cancelled - not just because or Mr. Price's aforementioned illness, but because all three other families ended up sick, too. Did I mention my hands are raw from contant washing?
11. this was the last week to get in all final details for a large fundraiser of which I am on the board. many emails and phone calls. see item #6 above which indicates: it is not ideal timing to need to wrap up a bunch of loose ends.
12. despite substantial effort - the car search is still no closer to closure. oh, and the cabana renovation has not had a finger lifted in it's direction... which leads me to additional odds and ends, but at this point i'm exhuasted myself.

But some lovely things happened last week, too.

• Besides for the birthday celebration and the lovely new shoes that had their debut
• I had a lovely lunch on Friday with Arin, little Will and my babino at 34th St Cafe
• Late Saturday night while the babino slept and Mr. Price felt up to it...I saw a movie for the first time in ages. Loved the cinematography & lighting plus very interesting dialog and speed to The Social Network. It was pretty darn good I have to say.

So the bottom line: this week I'm looking for a multi-digit percent improvement over last and i'm pretty sure that can be achieved. =)

Sent from my iPhone

Not Going Postal -or- The Never Ending 'To Do' Item

A confessional story of inefficiency and disorganization of mammoth proportions

Generally speaking, I'd go ahead and give myself an 'A' for getting things done in an efficient, timely manner. From thank you notes to blogging, photo albums to friends' birthdays I think I do all right. Oh wait, that should be "USED" to do alright. Not now; oh, whoa, not now. I have managed to make an utter and complete mess of anything related to the post office since Shorty arrived.

Here's the saga of the breakdown of how I have managed to waste RECORD amounts of time with absolutely nothing but a disaster to show for it:

It started with the birth announcements. Before he arrived, I took the time to review my mailing list and ensure names were up to date, even getting together a set of address labels and painstakingly ensuring the addresses were all correct and present. However, I didn't complete the last task I'd intended which was to pre-select the card so I could simply pick the pic, upload and order.

Post-bebe photo uploads and camera clearing was a disaster and it took at least a month before I took any suitable pictures, let alone get them on my computer to review. Around the time I was ready to go.. (design selected, created on an online account and awaiting purchase... just needed to decide between two different versions...) Someone whom I am SURE was a well-meaning bystander strongly discouraged me from using any current pictures and waiting until he looked more like a 'regular' newborn and less like a sonogram. Ouch. I thought my baby was beautiful but seems some think preemies are scary. Birth Announcements squarely placed on back burner.

Then the three month bday rolls around and I've been receiving BA's from babies born long after mine it seems... time to get a move on. Plus, I'd really like to get some thank you notes out for all the kind deeds and gifts and how lovely to send with some pictures and an announcement! Although the 'thank you' list goes temporarily missing... we take some pictures thinking surely there will be a suitable picture from these, right? Around this time though, I head back to work and *kapow* nanny shenanigans and other figure-out-work-and-baby demands just about make this ever-present item on the 'to do' list, invisible.

Incredibly, a month or so passes and I choose some pictures but none fit into the BA design I had poured such thought and effort into previously chosen from the online gallery. Then I decide that given how late I already am with these, I just need to go ahead and create/design my own and have it printed... Given my history at this point, I suppose it might be quicker than taking more pictures and getting them loaded onto my computer (with the completely full hard drive), select, upload and order. And now that I somehow swept into this web of perpetual delay the thank you notes, I had gotten a few dozen out the door but finally gave up on finding what was a 'temporarily missing partially completed thank you list' and decided to just recreate it by wandering around Shorty's room and writing down gifts and what kind souls had bestowed them upon my son. Let's not forget the sweet love-shrouded friend who gently told me to quit thanking her. You see, without a list it seems one can easily forget thanking someone once and send additional thank you notes while remembering sending a thank you that was never sent at all. The mind reels.

Another month later, the design/announcement had created and file sitting on my computer collecting dust. At this point I am in complete awe that I could have taken this long already. Seriously, what is going on here? Ah, we aren't halfway there yet, reader. Because ANOTHER MONTH passes before I finally proclaim it to be 'finalize the birth announcements week' and enlist the help of the nearest person I can find: the Nanny.

Yet somehow, even with two people working on the effort, I manage to bog it down another few weeks until she takes it upon herself to just have the file printed. Ahhh.. a ray of light on a cloudy day. Bless her heart.

A bit unconventional, but printed and in-hand a couple weeks later. The next day, by the way, I get the most gorgeous pictures of the little man's 6 month portraits back from the photographer. Stark contrast to the photos I cobbled together. But whatever... if I keep critiquing myself on this it may NEVER HAPPEN I tell myself - anyway he is 6.5 months old... just mail them.

Somehow, -this should not be a surprise- I have lost the labels I so painstakingly worked on months before. Not wanting to recreate all that work, I look for the labels in my spare time thinking 'it will be so much faster once i find the labels' and yes, a few more weeks pass before I find the labels. The darling nanny even came over to help out one Sunday afternoon so that I could address the cards and get them out the door. I couldn't find the stamps that day so decided I would just drop them off at the post office and have them stamp them for me. I managed to find a single sheet of stamps later that week, so stamped and mailed a handful of announcements. Incredible. 7 months and barely a dozen out the door. GAH! And to save my life, I could not tell you which ones had a stamp placed on and were sent on their way.

Labels on the cards and thank you notes written (in some cases re-written, but awaiting at least a picture I tell myself- thinking i should AT LEAST include a picture for being so late to get the notes in the mail...) and around this time I start to worry that the postcard format of the BA just doesn't seem right. I need to wrap it up! So now they wait for envelopes (which can't be found to match exactly) and now the labels have already been adhered to the cards and will all need to be re-written. Again, the stack sits.

A couple weeks later, determined to finish this massive disaster of an effort: The cards are spread out on the kitchen island for a week and a half as I tried to connect thank you notes with announcements and at least package them together. Then it's time for the new nanny to return to our house with the kiddos and by Monday night I accept that with an event/activity every night for the rest of the week, i'm not going to have time to complete the effort and stack them up and set them aside.

Weeks pass and I give up and decide to just walk the remainders into the post office, stamp and ship. This was today at lunchtime, My friends. My stack of half thank you notes, birth announcements going out at 8+months with pictures of a 3 month old are finally on their way. NOT SO FAST... already feeling self conscious about some of the announcements not being in envelope (it was a really cute postcard design in the beginning)... Then the lady at the post office tisks me for not 'puttin that baby in an envelope' And after her SECOND plead from the post office lady (seriously!) to "take 'em back home and bring them back when they are in envelopes" I give in. And I sh!t you not: I heard someone say "you better hurry and get those out before he turns one!" (insert mental image of one of "The Peanuts" characters)

Yes, I returned home today with a stack of unmailed cards. Unbelievable. I'm pretty sure I've put enough time and energy into these damn cards to have sent out 4 different sets... yet, I most certainly have NOT DONE THAT... nope, i still haven't gotten the first ones out yet. However, I received a beautiful BA last weekend of a baby born (3rd child in the family) after I had the postcards in hand. *sigh*

Sadly, I've even omitted half of the fumbles and mishaps of this story in this recounting of events. And it is still WAY to long for a blog post.

At this point in the saga, I ought to just give up and start focusing on Christmas cards. Or announcements for his first birthday. Maybe they'll eventually be completed and out the door, maybe I should just pretend they are done and cross it off my list. Who knows at this point. But I definitely think that the ying and the yang has returned to come to balance out for the rest of my life when I was *otherwise* efficient.

A Black Fly

...in my Chardonnay. Oh, isn't it ironic? (couldn't help the Alanis reference)

But a lovely wedding at Mercury Hall. Congrats to Jarod & Masha

Beetlejuice, Beetlejuice, Beetlejuice!

As a fine first official day of not breastfeeding and just hours after returning the symphony breastpump... we learn there is a recall on Similac. Sure, it's 'not a health risk' and it is a 'voluntary' recall by Abbott... but it is beyond disguisting to learn that beetles got into the processing plant and beetle parts could be in the formula. Can I even try to explain how it feels to know you have been feeding your child, snuggled up in your arms, hungry, and you've been giving feeding him small bits of insects that upset his stomach. It shouldn't be surprising that it upsets my stomach, too.

To make matters worse: there is now no formula available since 5 million containers were recalled. So deal with the dagger of knowing your baby has been getting tained food and then figure out what the hell you are going to feed your baby for his next meal. Awesome.

So much for relishing any feeling of 'wow you made it to 8 months breastfeeding. It's a no-brainer that anyone would rather give formula than let their child go hungry. But when I stopped trying (even for the miniscule amount), it felt like a choice. Even though by the end, a 40 minute pumping session only yielded 20ml (when typical feeding might be 200-240mL, 5-6 times a day). But damn if this doesn't feel like lemon juice in a paper cut.

Messy Morning

I managed to spill a full glass of my favorite juice this morning all over my side of the bed and the mattress cover had of course slid over just enough to not catch the spill. Awesome. All over the sheets, bed, mattress, headboard, wall, floor, my pajamas and me. Great way to start the day. The ironic thing is that this happened NOW-- when I'm finally getting more than 1.5 hours if sleep at a time- as I have for the past 3 months. For a few nights now, I've been able to get up to 7 hours ...which is mind altering, I assure you. Yet, somehow, with all this rest, I managed to achieve the biggest mess yet.

Oy!

I hate it when that happens...

So, my dream house has been on market and I have had loads of fun perusing the pictures at its walls and halls However, I found out this week that it was going into foreclosure which sent me into a flurry of day dreams and scheming as to how I could make it mine -- -- a little sad when this morning I look to see the pictures one last time and they've already been taken down. *sigh* maybe next time ...

When it rains....

The past couple weeks have been the definition of 'murphy's law': if i can happen, it will. and apparently, it will all happen at once.

Besides everyone at work going COMPLETELY INSANE... (i cannot recall a time where things were so stressful that i literally woke up in the middle of the night stressed-- almost panicked-- from things at work)

And without getting into the weeds, I offer a sampling of what has been has transpired at our house:

-the tree that fell on my car has turned into the body shop and the insurance company fighting it out. if you'll recall, it rained a TON the weekend the tree fell... resulting in water and electrical damage on top of the body work needed. it's been a month, i still don't have my car back and won't for another week at best. really tired of the truck, but just glad that Mr. Price is dealing with the many phone calls back and forth, appointments to meet the adjusters, etc.

-the cat got sick. arm swollen like the Michelin man. i will spare the nasty details. i can't really help out given the whole prego thing - so again, Mr. Price having to step in and take care of things. including the miserable trips to the vet.

-the pool converter (?) broke - meaning the pool pump cannot run. with all the rain, kinda need that pump running! the first pool repair guy took a piece of the converter (to get a replacement part) then goes AWOL - doesn't show up when he said he would and doesn't answer nor return calls. find new pool repair guy and learn that pump is shot - need new pool pump AND converter. he vanishes for over a week. pool turns green and is full of leaves. again, Mr. Price busy finding, calling and scheduling pool people. anyone - help. please. we'll pay you, just fix what you said you were going to. show up when you said you would.

-the marble under the tub cracked. cracked big time. Mr. price calls the tile people - who explicitly told us that wouldn't happen because they would lay the tile 'right' and guaranteed it. for two years! (it's been two weeks?) they no-show the first appointment (which he hustled from across town to meet them at). they eventually reschedule and bonus: the guy shows up this time(!) and they offer to fix. no problem, we'll just have to get a plumber back in to remove the tub so they can get under there. oh, any buy more marble, lest you forget.

sound like fun yet? if you've got a running list, that would be... expensive, annoying, time-consuming issues with: the Car, the Cat, the House, the Pool. What else are we missing?

i suppose there were other relatively minor things, but i think you get the picture.

Picture Perfect

We had a lovely time in New Canaan last weekend and NYC late last week. Kristin was a beautiful bride and the Stanwich Congressional Church was perfectly New England, the Rehearsal Dinner at Waveny Park was picturesque and the New Canaan Country Club was just as I'd remembered it.


Now comes the heart breaking news (well, for me at least): after what should have been a 15 minute bus ride full of guests heading to the church but ended up an hour of winding roads and getting lost - I partially recover from my motion sickness, settle into our pew of the breathtaking church and ask Mr. Price to take a picture of Chad (the groom). I checked to make sure the flash was off (there was plenty of light from the tall windows surrounding the two story sanctuary) and the camera wouldn't take a picture.... Yes, team: my battery was dead. The catch: in a hurry to make it downstairs for a 3pm bus departure, I had him switch out the batteries since I thought the other one might be running low. And dammit if the 'other' battery wasn't worse off.

And so it was. One of the absolute most beautiful weddings and receptions I've ever seen --seriously, the light was amazing-- and I have not a single picture to show.

*sigh*

My sweet brother-in-law took a bunch of pictures and emailed me today to say that even though "they weren't very good" he is going to send me a CD of high-res pics. Thanks, Ted!!

All because of the peanut butter

so... i got a concussion last weekend! lovely, eh? i was moving the shelves in the pantry and two full tubs of peanut butter fell and landed squarely on top of my cabeza. yes, we eventually made a trip to the ER after three medical professionals (two nurses and a doctor: sister-in-law, doctor's office after-hours line and friend, respectively) insisted on Sunday that I go after symptoms increased. now, who doesn't love an emergency room visit? at least we didn't have to wait.

anyway, who gets a concussion from falling peanut butter?? seriously.

two days later from the bump and i have an awful headache, am still dizzy & nauseous and keep forgetting words and what i'm trying to say.... which is extremely irritating - as you might imagine. in general i just feel a bit spacey.

while it should just be a few more days until back to normal -- Nurse Marines had a very smart analogy: consider the lack of focus like a runny nose... it's a symptom that will go away, it's not you, it's just the bruise -- but it could be a few weeks until back to normal. the thought of which would likely really piss me off right about now; but my head hurts too much to be too angry.

silver lining: if bad things happen in 3's, we are DONE for a while.

Still not feeling lotz better...

Nothin' like a few bad tomatoes in your medium original from Schlotzsky's in Hillsboro to taint an otherwise lovely day. Felt overly full about an hour after eating it, nausea set in about 3 hours later, and two hours later, by 7pm I was seeing it again. Dis-gust-ing.

No one else in the car had the misfortune of diced tomatoes or olives on their sandwich. I was the lone lucky one.

I keep seeing in my head that stupid road sign that gave us the brilliant idea "Lotz Better" and it makes me want to... oh, wait... I already did that.

So, here on day 4 post-poisoning, still with a sore back from yakking so much and my stomach still loud and irritated, I have managed to branch out from the jello and occasional chicken broth diet to potato soup. Little victories. On the mend.

More than you wanted to know, I'm sure.

Mental Juggling, Medicine Cabinets and Dominoes

The classic riddle of the remodeling-sphinx: How can something seemingly as simple as a medicine cabinet possibly consumer so much of one's time?


Of the 250 decisions (that might be generous on the low side... let's call these 'product decisions') that must be made for the bathroom alone, I am currently spinning my wheels on the medicine cabinet. Should be fun and quick, right? Well, it was.... the first time. Maybe even the second time. I had the the size was just right, the price well shopped and down to the SKU - ready to purchase when it was closer to install time (no need to have additional stuff laying around up there...)

So there we go last weekend to pick up the medicine cabinet (we need it now not to install, but so extra blocking can be done prior to the sheet rock being installed). Just before heading out the door - thinking I'm being cautious... i decide to pop upstairs and measure in between the studs... just in case. Whew, I think: one was 14.5 and the other 14.25. The difference of a quarter inch could have really thrown me off here. but the dimensions of the in-the-wall part is 14'' in width so all clear. WOOHOO! ---wait for it--- Hmmm.... that PVC pipe is running straight up the middle of the studs where the cabinet is to be. yep. Murphy strikes again.


After all my pondering of size, shape and style - then shopping pricing and picking out the PERFECT medicine cabinet... it's no good. it would have looked lovely over one sink and protruded from the wall over the other. Back to square one. But actually, the domino effect kicks in, because we needed to finalize what type of lighting would go over the sinks before the electrician could finish the rough in... so we bought the lights already. Well, those were selected on the premise that of the inset medicine cabinet would be fairly flush to the wall.


Given this new discovery that I need to pick out a new medicine cabinet that will be wall-mounted, not recessed, it will not protrude further from the wall than originally thought. Meaning the lights won't be ideal any more, they either need to come out further from the wall or be side mounted... but we've already passed electrical inspection, so i don't want to redo any electrical wiring and have that set-back.... so stuck with finding a new light fixture with the parameters we already set for the last lights, not to mention staying within the metal finish selected when we got the clawfoot tub feet & hardware (faucet, etc) and minding the available selections for the time period of the original construction of the house.


By and by, I have since realized that I need to consider/select the sink size and placement to determine where the exactly the blocking* will need to be, once the cabinet (and corresponding dimensions) have been determined.


While this might seem an easy task... it turns out not to be. And I'm still on the medicine cabinet part. And now it's not time for casually thinking it over and refining my selections over time.... chop chop, sister! this will now hold up progress and the guy is coming to finish up minor framing changes early next week.


So, need to go ahead and get the sinks. Thankfully, my sink selection will still work, but I will need to go to two different places to get them because everyone, it seems, is running low on stock of that item.


But picking up the sink won't really help all that much, other than crossing it off the list because I will have to just visualize the combo since we are.......... still in studs.


*in case you aren't familiar, blocking is securing a 2x4 between to vertical studs to carry weight of a heavy item on a wall: e.g. medicine cabinet, TV or recessed shelf. done correctly, it should be connected at the center of the new 2x4.


also: did I mention that we failed our mechanical inspection? well, we failed our mechanical inspection. not because of something with the new system... and not because of something functionally wrong with existing system... but because the vent pipe is too long in one direction and they want it to go straight up. Yep. A minor ~$600 'fix' for something not even involved in our current renovation. and the best part: the vent pipe will pop through the roof on the front part of the house.

Memorial Weekend Mishaps to Happiness

So I'm a few weeks behind on this... but I finally downloaded pictures from my camera (along with some precious shots of the Herd Twins!) and have story-in-pictures to share. Meghan - there will be more house updates on the way, as promised.

So for now:

The pool, post paris (lovely, no? welcome home! you now have a pond) see, i told you it was bad...

and subsequent draining. It was shiney and blue by the next evening. dirty rat-b@astard pool. arggh

this is a sneaky picture from the dining room. so... we were having a couple boards replaced on our porch and - much to my delight (oh, wait...) the whole damn thing needed replacing. nice... so this is the workers finishing up the new floor joists.

and now, something pretty from the backyard to counteract the other backyard blunders:

and while lightening the mood here... this was fantastic. dinner with the Shanleys and for a bit of comic relief - look through the window over Erin's sholder. Um, that'd be Jim & Joe under the roof of the casita because it started raining while they were grilling. tee hee...

and as the grande finale on this crescendo.... pardon my elephant neck but, seriously - can a face express pure joy any better than little bit's here?? we weren't even spinning yet, it was just the countdown ...

Cool on the Home Front

House update: the A/C guys have been coming around for the past couple weeks to install the new air conditioner upstairs. Nothing too exciting, just new air ducts, new air handler and a new compressor outside, new return vent for the whole house(for both systems).... but a really sweet, kinda timid, kiddo named Brooks is a really hard worker and makes us smile.

Don't laugh -- but they stepped through the ceiling. Yep, this makes THREE holes stepped through our ceiling by the a/c guys (there are 3 different teams, they've all taken a turn). Yep. This one was in the closet of the guest room. Luckily, Mr. Price happened to be in there and heard it happen. He went upstairs to talk to them about it and they acted like they didn't do it and were shocked he would accuse them of such a thing. But once the head guy saw how big of a mess was made, he apologied and promised to fix it.

The contents of the closet remain sprawled across the room.

Next up: the dreaded INSPECTIONS. ick.

Murphy

(actually wrote this on the plane yesterday, just now posting)

Bless his heart. So… here were are in the middle of the most stressful weeks of the quarter. Deemed "SEVERE" stress level. Mid terms next week, we spent a little time organizing food and sleep schedules for Mr. Price so that he could get done what was needed for the weekend= each half hour planned and crammed with stuff to be done it seemed. Well wouldn't you know, he goes to class this morning and….. His computer won't turn on. Yep- computer crashed and he's lost all of his work to date. Nice. Painful.

Doesn't really help that the night before he was looking around for his hard drive to back up all his files, didn't find it and figured he'd do it later. Little did he know that he wouldn't be turning his computer back on again.

If there was a possible worst time ever for this to happen..well, i suppose sunday night could have been a little worse... So who is this Murphy guy anyway and why did he have to come up with this stupid law?

So friends, the lesson here is: back up your files. And then back them up again.