How is that I sit down to write and it seems so much yet nothing is going on?
Let's see the HOUSE... just removed a huge tree and had the rest pruned. I had such angst over it. I've been getting estimates for about one year. So many of these tree people didn't call back or dealing with town hall to get a permit stymied the process, plus it was mixed as to whether the tree was sick or not. Finally yesterday, the tree was removed. It was a commotion on the block, small children came to watch as well as old timers marvel at the huge tree coming down piece by piece. It was sad for some while others looked on in glee. My one treeless neighbor asked for a few more branches to be trimmed which kind of annoyed me that she approached the tree man rather than me directly. I heard a story about one neighbor taking down a tree while another neighbor said, "You should move to Staten Island if you hate trees so much!" Ahh, the suburbs where a person is normal only until they feel like showing you their craziness. With the last cut into the stump all my angst vanished with the sight of the huge carpenter ant hole at the base of the tree. The tree was leaning towards the house so with the hole in the base who knows when it would have struck the house. Good decision made and now I'm researching tree replacements. What will the next major house project be? Window replacements or driveway repaving, maybe new kitchen, plenty of options or perhaps we'll just move and abandon this house.
MOVING... As always no decision is made. I thought moving to Atlanta was done and off the table. We weren't as excited about it after our second visit down there in February. Nothing specifically was different but what once was a pro -- newer house in established neighborhood -- turned into a con when we started really looking closely and realized there's still a lot that needs to turn over. Alas I think our thinking was also colored by losing lots of money on this house. The market has since "picked up" so now we're thinking we may have over estimated our potential loss. Atlanta is not completely off the table yet. We're still watching our home town too. We're still paying tuition as if we're staying so who the heck knows?!
HUSBAND... we stayed overnight in NYC sans kids. I love these occasional nights where we can get away and be alone. Really gives you time to reconnect since our normal conversations are usually interrupted and fragmented. As usual we couldn't decide on where to go. I was put in charge of getting us a room and essentially deciding where to stay on the day of check in no less. Found a great app called "Hotel Tonight" and booked a room at the Smyth in Tribeca. They upgraded us to a king suite. I loved it, definitely the best hotel I've staying in NYC (I'm sold on a good hotel bar). My husband was in charge of booking dinner and he also had a great pick in Megu. Really fun night.
We also got a second car. A real "dad car" so my husband can avoid commuting on NJ Transit. I need to learn to drive a manual, he assures me its "more fun." Anyway, its been working out quite nicely during the week with him leaving extra early but getting to the gym at work yet he still gets home in the evening about the same time. Plus its been nice for me too since sometimes we need to be in two different places on the weekends.
KIDS... just had teachers conferences and the two big kids are doing great. I finally got to reap the rewards of being class mom and go on the class trip to the planetarium. It was really cute. I also planned the St Pat's presentation for my son's class where we showed everyone how to Irish Step dance. Everybody liked it! My son and daughter have both been taking lessons and I was thrilled when my son got up to show everyone his steps. While standing in the hallway I happen to see my 3 year old daughter's teacher who told me my daughter shared her dancing with her class. My heart nearly burst with pride that she at 3 years old would have that kind of poise to share her dancing with 28 other kids! The baby's language is exploding as she continues to shock me by speaking in complete sentences at merely 18 months! Kids are doing great and I need to figure out summer activities and a birthday party and vacation asap.
ME... Well, I had to put my marathon training on hold while I saw the physical therapist and rested my IT band. Taking three weeks off from training and then another few weeks to get me back to where I was means that I will not be able to do the May full marathon I was originally training for. It also means that I have to wait until the fall if I want to do a full one. I have resumed training and I'm hoping to do a half marathon in May. I have no idea if I can keep up the momentum until the fall to get the full marathon in this year. I was really hoping to complete that goal this year. We'll see. The half training has been going steadily. I've just changed my training plan by opting for a run 3 days a week with a cross training (swim) day rather than running 4 days a week. It's been going well and I really do feel like I get a lot more out of the run physically and mentally by running outside rather than the treadmill, plus I really enjoy the swim day. I would like to complete the half in less than two hours but I don't hold out much hope since I did a course preview run and its far from flat. I've also joined Weight Watchers again because I've gained like 15lbs! I'm not totally into it yet but I know once I truly commit to it, I'll get the results I want.
Socially, I feel like I'm making more friends. Thank God, since we have been living here 4 years and I don't think my husband and I are social mutants. My husband and I have even been out twice for dinner with other parent friends. Perhaps there's hope for us to become more connected to here and not move. My neighbor and I have decided to start a wine and cheese play date on Friday afternoons. Looking forward to Friday already!
