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.

I can not wait. I positively can not wait to move. Today marks the beginning of a three day downturn in the weather, and I am feeling the urge for fall. The only thing that pacifies me about continuing to live in this awful apartment is the knowledge that in Wednesday it’s supposed to get back up into the high 70s, and I will be too depressed by the awful weather to want to cook or clean. But as it is, the apartment is full of boxes and is a mess, and I have no room in the kitchen for cooking.

I’m already planning the first meal that I cook on our first full, non-moving weekend in the new apartment: Guinness Beef Pie. I made it once last fall, and it was epic. So good.

My word, I am so looking forward to fall. I got a new recipe for pumpkin stew, the wedding will be behind us, I will have moved already, and we can start getting settled in the new home. I can barely move in our hallway at the moment for all the moving boxes that need to be filled, and there’s a giant crib box as well. I have to suck it in, and I won’t be able to do that forever.

Ugh. Moving in less than a month!

Good Christmas, I can not wait to move! This stupid apartment is too small, and this stupid apartment is too hot, and this stupid neighborhood is full of concrete and dead grass and tweakers at night. I remember when I first moved into this building. I loved it, and my neighborhood. This apartment was beautiful, and the neighborhood seemed so full of promise. Now it just seems ugly. All of it. It’s time to move back home.

The new apartment is much bigger, and the complex is full of trees, grass and shade. It’s closer to the grocery store, and I won’t feel afraid driving to it just cause it’s dark out. My mom will only live a couple minutes away, and that will be awesome. I can’t freaking wait.

This morning I woke up at 6am, when Justin and Joe left to go to work. (Could that be any cuter, Joe going to work with Justin? I can’t believe how old he’s getting….) It was soooo cool out, and when I looked out the window there was frost on the cars. I got all happy for fall, until I looked up the weather and saw highs of 82 today. I am so ready for summer to be over.

Today the three of us are driving down to Chehalis to go on a train ride. Justin and I have a Groupon for our tickets, and we’re bringing Joe along for kicks. I’m looking forward to it, but I would enjoy it a lot more with predicted highs of 62 than 82. There is no pleasing me….

After being gone for such a while, it seems strange to start writing here again. I often tried to start a new home elsewhere on the web, but that didn’t work. So here we are, trying again. And maybe it will work. Who knows? If it doesn’t, I doubt there will be anyone who notices, anyway.

Life is so strange. But today feels like fall, and so I feel introspective. It’s how we roll, I suppose.

I feel so vastly different from who I ever was before. And I feel scared about feeling so different. Oh, F, I don’t really know what I feel at all. Except for something sticking under my w key. I do feel that. I have to stop eating at my computer. I’m pretty sure I used all the compressed air to dust on a day that I was feeling particularly lazy.

I wish that I didn’t have to work. Isn’t that terrible? I mean, not forever. Just for this particular time. I would like to focus my energy on keeping this too small for the four of us apartment clean, packing my stuff up for moving in a month, and just making my life more… whatever it isn’t right now. Streamlined, I guess.

No. Not streamlined. Aesthetically indulgent.

But I would miss my work pal like crazy. And actually, I’m really enjoying my job and coworkers so much lately.

I’m getting ready to move back to the Harbor, which I am quite excited about. I can’t wait to live closer to my family. And actually, this will make me at least a little bit closer to all of them. I’ll live in the same city as my mom, Joe and Grandma, Other Brother will only be 22 minutes away, and even my dad and Brother will be closer at 2 hours away, instead of 2.5. I look forward to a larger apartment, with a spare room for sewing and babying, a fireplace, a dishwasher and a washer/dryer. And a pool. Gotta love that pool.

I spoke to Richard today. We hadn’t spoken in months. We cleared the air. He probably will always hate me a little bit, but we had a good talk, and he is now in the loop regarding all the changes in my life. I feel good about that. I don’t like feeling like I have secrets. And maybe that’s why I feel like I can come back here again. I’m not sure. We’ll see.

I wish my apartment were clean. I would feel so much more indulgent if at least my room were clean. And the bed were made. Instead of just clothes everywhere, and dirty sheets and an unmade bed. I may at least clean this one room. And then lie on top of the made bed, listen to Adele on Pandora and read Atlas Shrugged, which Brother doesn’t think I will finish, but I so far find intriguing. It’s raining out, so it’s a good evening for that.

Oh crap, I just wish it were fall already.

What a nice day I’ve had! There have been a lot of changes at my job lately, which have prompted me to freak out more than a little bit over the last few weeks. It’s been fun. However, these changes have both lessened my work load, while allowing me to do more for the people I am in charge of. It’s awesome.

So today I went in with a full to do list, because it’s been a long week. I left with just a handful of things on the list at 2pm, because I had to come home to meet the cable guy.

I came home to a filthy house, because it’s been a long week. But I started cleaning, in my striped jammies from the Gap, received Christmas ’09, and cleaned up until the cable guy’s arrival. Than I sat at my counter and did a LOT of work on a project for work, while cable guy did his thing.

After he left, I finished cleaning, and toyed with the idea of going to the Harbor to remove these nails. Than I decided instead to cook up a pot of my FAVORITE soup, Alessi Traditional Zuppa Toscana. Love. I will watch some TV, drink my acai fruit punch, eat my soup, and instead of paying to remove these nails in a shop I plan on buying acetone, nail clippers and a buffer and doing it myself this weekend.

The only suck part of today? I left my Portia de Rossi book at work. I guess I’ll have to make due with audio books and your blogs….

How pathetic am I? I knew I’d become bad at this when on a family vacation my grandma said, “You don’t blog anymore, do you?” Yeah. I have gotten lame. These damn fake nails don’t help, and are coming OFF, stat. I can’t handle them any longer!

So… what’s new?

I myself have developed an unhealthy addiction to the olive bar at Safeway. I am currently inhaling a container of olive/feta salad. OMG. Divine.

What else?

Brother mailed me an iPod from Afghanistan. Mine stopped working, than started working sporadically. I bought it in 2006, so it was probably time for an upgrade. Anyway, he sent me his iPod classic, and I am currently putting audio books on it. I currently have The Girl Who Chased The Moon by Addison Allen, Shiver by Maggie Stiefvater, Splendor by Anna Godbersen, and The Replacement by Brenna Yovanoff.

Hmmm….

I’ve been reading Unbearable Lightness by Portia de Rossi. Weezer sent it to me. It’s been incredibly challenging. If anyone wants to know what it feels like in my head, read this book.

And finally,

Other Brother turned 20. Happy Birthday, Other Brother!