Baby, I'm bad news…

Well internet, it took a weekend, and there’s still some unpacking/organizing to be done, but at the moment we are moved (with the exception of three boxes in our storage unit), and the place basically looks like a home. I’m loving having a dining room, with an actual table, and I love way more than I thought I would that the table and chairs are the same table and chairs that I grew up with. It feels like family. We have pictures hung, which also helps to make it feel like ours. However, bebe’s room is currently full of storage, as well as a war of old toys, as we are both hoping to win the boy/girl battle, and let our old toys rule as a trophy. Also, unsure how to set up the family room, so we currently have the arm chair sitting directly in front of the futon, theater style, and my empty bookcase is just sitting in front of the fireplace. It’s hard to find a spot for it, as all remaining wall space has baseboard heaters making placement awkward.

I am my father’s daughter, and as such harbor a healthy fear of house fires.

I’ve put myself on a daily chore schedule, in addition to the regular tidying up I do nightly. It goes like this:
Mondays: washing all windows, mirrors, pictures… essentially, anything glass. Monday is Windex day.
Tuesdays: dusting knick knacks, picture frames, and furniture.
Wednesdays: sweeping and mopping (or Swiffering, in our household) all linoleum areas.
Thursdays: dusting baseboard heaters, windowsills and baseboards. This got out of control in the old apartment, as I never did this once in the almost three years I lived there.
Fridays: cleaning the bathroom. Shower, sink (and all things sitting on it), toilet. I am especially bad at cleaning the bathtub, and the amount of time/elbow grease my poor mother had to put in to get our old bathtub sparkling like new yesterday is embarrassing. Embarrassing!
Saturdays: washing all linens. This includes towels, bedding and the shower curtain. My last shower curtain was never washed, and it was kinda nasty when we moved, so I tossed it in favor of the one on my registry. I find myself washing a load of laundry nightly, and this usually includes our napkins, table cloth and dish towels, but anything that isn’t washed regularly gets washed weekly.
Sundays: vacuuming. Our dogs have long hair, and are not always immaculately groomed, and sometimes this makes them stinky. This in turn can make the apartment stinky when we don’t vacuum routinely.

I’m feeling optimistic. It seems tedious, but so far the daily chore hasn’t taken longer than five, maybe ten minutes, which is enough motivation to keep me at it.

I would like to be completely unpacked by the wedding, and I would like to have the bebe room set up by the end of the month, if only to get an idea of layout/how much extra space we will actually have in that room. Also, by then the boy/girl debate should be resolved, and so it will be exciting to start decorating. I like to get a jump on these things….

Exciting things this week: Thursday night is Bingo night with coworkers, Saturday is my wedding dress fitting, and Sunday Miss Laura is coming for dinner. I’m making Beef Guinness Pie. So yum.

A. Age: 28, almost 29.
B. Bed size: Queen, which still doesn’t feel big enough sometimes. Although, any bigger and the room would be impassable.
C. Chore that you hate: Lately I hate all of them. I feel a lack of motivation. Right now, I will go with packing. But normally, it’s cleaning the bathroom.
D. Dogs: Two small dog children, Klondike and his son Jude.
E. Essential start to your day: McDonald’s for breakfast. Normally, it’s a sausage burrito mini meal, but lately the bebe has been leaning towards Sausage Egg McMuffins. Seriously, sometimes it’s my only motivation for getting out of bed.
F. Favorite color: Green.
G. Gold or Silver: White gold.
H. Height: 5’7″
I. Instruments you play: I used to play the piano, and I used to sing.
J. Job title: Social Services Director
K. Kids: Growing one right as we speak, actually.
L. Live: Washington State
M. Mother’s name: Deb
N. Nicknames: Kate, Kate-o, Katie, Kiki, Kate-o Potato, Kataroo
O. Overnight hospital stays: Never. I guess I’ll have my first come March.
P. Pet peeves: People who aren’t as smart as me.
Q. Quote from a movie: “No… the blues are because you’re getting fat or because it’s been raining too long. You’re just sad, that’s all. The mean reds are horrible. Suddenly you’re afraid and you don’t know what you’re afraid of. Do you ever get that feeling?” Holly Golightly, Breakfast at Tiffany’s
R. Right or left handed: Right
S. Siblings: I have a Brother and an Other Brother.
U. Underwear: None of them fit anymore! I tend to lean towards the grandma variety lately.
V. Vegetable you hate: I love ALL vegetables I’ve ever tried.
W. What makes you run late: Usually it’s my need to sleep in. Oh, how I love sleeping in.
X. X-Rays you’ve had: More than I can count! The only ones I have copies of are my back after my car accident.
Y. Yummy food that you make: Bell Pepper Soup. Mmm, I can not wait to move and start cooking again!
Z. Zoo animal: I used to love the whales, but they are gone now. So I don’t have one anymore. Poor whales….

I have had the hardest time uploading the following pictures, or I would have posted this yesterday! Oh well, we’re working now, so we’re on our way!

Yesterday my grandmother (but really more my mom) threw me a bridal shower, which was absolutely lovely. I will be honest, I wasn’t super sure that I wanted to have a bridal shower in the first place. I get overwhelmed in social situations where multiple people from different areas of my life meet up, and their only commonality is me. And I have a hard time being the center of attention, believe it or not!

We’d talked about having the shower at The Rock, one of my all time favorite restaurants, but ultimately decided to just have it at my mom’s house, which was really nice. It was much more comfortable and laid back that way.

I was feeling really apprehensive, because my mom wanted me to have a shower, and this was very important to her, but slowly and surely I began to get RSVPs from my friends saying they would be unable to attend, for various assorted reasons. The last one came from a friend while I was at my mom’s house, an hour before the party, because she had a stomach bug. I felt really bad for her, but I’m not gonna lie, I kinda felt bad for myself, too.

I will say, though, the party was beautiful. I’m not overly traditional when it comes to these things, so I did not have any “games”, which I think disappointed some people (assistant Laura, this means you!), but it was a lovely afternoon of conversation, hors d’oeuvres, and of course, presents!

Didn’t my mom do a gorgeous job with her presentation?

A close-up of my favorite part (or, one of), the confetti cupcakes from Hello, Cupcake! I only wish I had taken a picture with her precious little cupcake plates next to them. Also, those green gift bags? She sewed each bag to fill with favors for the guests. Each bag had a mini candle, lotion and hand sanitizer from Bath & Body Works, a mini See’s truffle and a Ring Pop. And I won’t lie, one of the most fun things my mom, grandma and I did was raid the leftover bags for the people who no showed, and divide the spoils among us!

Finally, I took this picture before the people who did make it showed up. It’s funny, because my mom is quite a collector of antique furniture, and it seems like she has a wonderful new piece every couple of months. She also has a couple of antique chests in her house, which she uses for storing bedding and table linens. So when I saw this chest sitting underneath her bay windows about a month ago I at first assumed it was one she already owned, and then just figured she’d gotten a new one.

As it turns out, my grandma had been driving past an antique store she loves in the harbor, and saw this chest sitting out front. She grabbed my mom, and they went and bought it for Justin and I to store our bedding in. I think it’s hilarious that the two of us have been walking past this present for at least a month now, and had no idea! It’s just gorgeous!

Anyway, after several hours Justin’s mom had to leave for home, and my two friends soon followed. My aunt left shortly after, and then it was just us. Other Brother helped me take pictures of all the gifts so I could report back to Justin. We got some wedding presents as well as small shower gifts, and I’m so pleased because I got my entire Fiestaware dish set. We registered for four turquoise and four dark brown, with Ivory serving dishes. That’s the one thing that I didn’t really want to have to buy myself, so I’m pleased. If we get nothing else we asked for, who cares? They are so pretty!

Today I plan on staying in bed much of the day. I have not been feeling well at all, so I am trying to recup quickly before starting my work week tomorrow. I also still have much packing to do! But the day off yesterday was absolutely well worth it.

I love the novelty of being off from work on a Monday, and getting paid for it! I didn’t even mind waking up at 6:30 and not being able to go back to sleep, because I have nowhere to be today! I do have stuff to do around the house, sure, but I do NOT have to shove my burgeoning behind into work clothes and commute to work. Love that!

Also, yesterday was so terrible (so, so terrible!) that I am looking forward to a do over.

One bright side from yesterday? Sort of? I got a new camera! The Kodak point and shoot that my mom had given me back in like, 2007 or something, finally died around Christmas time and I have been without all year. And I LOVE my new camera. I got a Nikon Coolpix 4100 in the plum color, and it is sooo pretty….

So I’m faced with a difficult decision. Do I go back to bed for awhile, or do I stay up and watch more Newlywed Game? Tough choices!

Things I hate about my current apartment:
*Even though it’s on the first floor, I do have a great view of Commencement Bay. And the dead grass on the corner. And the concrete for miles. And the abandoned, boarded up apartment building next door. And the complete and other lack of greenery in general. And the addicts selling and buying drugs on the corner.
*I absolutely loathe doing laundry in the basement of this apartment. I hate having to fight for the machines, and time my life around when the laundry is done so that I can grab the clothes fast before other people mess with my clothes.
*I hate having to go through two locked doors, and up a staircase, just to get into my apartment. I know. I’m lazy. I’m pregnant. It’s allowed.
*I hate that the whole neighborhood smells like pee.
*I hate doing my dishes by hand!
*I hate that every couple of months I have some sort of plumbing problem: leaky kitchen faucet, leaky bathtub drain, leak under kitchen sink, leaky bathtub faucet, leaky toilet, and that one time when I was watching tv and a stream of water came out the bottom of the kitchen light fixture. They never did figure that one out.
*I hate that the screen door has been broken since I moved in, which means that I always get bugs. And while we’re on this one, the stovetop has had two broken burners for ages, one of which has never worked.
*I hate that with four living creatures in 545 sq feet, I can not walk from one end to the other without bumping into something.
*I can not stand that I can not open the blinds in the bedroom if I don’t want all my neighbors to see in as the enter and leave the building.

I could go on. But I won’t.

Today I am making laundry a project. I have three loads in the dryers of linens and towels. I have two loads of clothes in the washers. My plan is to put the towels away, and then pack up all the sheets except the ones currently on the bed and label them clearly for moving. I am then going to go through my clothing in my closet, pack up all the clothes that no longer fit and won’t for awhile, and get rid of some pieces that are too trendy to keep any longer. I would also like to get all the trash taken out. And hell, if there were an easy way to transport all my dirty dishes to my mom’s house, I would SO wait until I got there and do them all in her dishwasher.

I want to take all the boxes I have packed so far, plus any I do today, over to my mom’s for storage until we move on the 24th. I also need to take the Gremlin’s crib over there as well, because at the present moment it’s blocking the hallway, and makes it very hard for these widening hips to get down the hall.

Before I go to bed tonight I would like for the boxes to be gone, the garbage to be taken downstairs, all the laundry to be either packed and at my mom’s or put away, and I will get the patio cleaned up so that it no longer smells like dog pee, and is safe to walk on in bare feet again. I know, we’re gross here.

Also, dream list for fall:
October 1: first full weekend at the new place, and hopefully all will be unpacked by then. I am inviting Miss Laura over to cook Guinness Beef Pie for a lovely October meal and first real dinner in the new place.
October 16: wedding will be over, and life can finally settle down to a more regular speed.
Halloween: dude. Pumpkin carving. And trick-or-treaters.
November: This year I want to learn how to cook parts of Thanksgiving dinner. And hey, then I don’t have to do dishes after!

I just can’t wait to move.

Husky football starts today. Hoping I get to watch the beginning of the game at least before going to my mom’s for dinner. Hoping I can still make my Husky jersey fit. Wishing it weren’t going to be in the 80s this holiday weekend.