Monday, Monday

Another long ride this morning. Traffic was backed up on my usual route, so I decided to go the other way. Remember the big circle... Backed up that way too! Ugh. Well over an hour to get to work. Being in the car for longer than you expect is very disorienting. I almost forgot where I was headed! We're supposed to get the remnants of Rita this afternoon, which guarantees bad traffic so I think I'll be leaving a little early today.

Friday night, the kids and I went to visit my friend Cindy who had sinus surgery on Thursday. She's doing very well. She got it all cleaned out up there. I'd LOVE to know what the doc found. I'm betting on a few debit cards.

Remember last week when I had all the laundry put away by Sunday night? Well yesterday I had it all put away by Noon! Wow! How exciting. It really doesn't take much to make me happy.

Yesterday we went to Sesame Street Live and managed to escape without 2 Elmo balloons at $8 each or any other over-priced event merchandise. We enjoyed ourselves adding up the money that floated up to the ceiling.

The Long Road Home

It took me an hour and 45 minutes to get home from work yesterday. Here's some background on the freeway system here. There's a road called the Beltway that circles the city. Going through the city, is Interstate 95. From work, I can really go three ways: 95 through the city, the Beltway through Towson, or the Beltway over the Key Bridge. I usually take 95 because the Beltway hoses up through Towson just about everyday.

So yesterday, I get on 95 and almost immediately stop. I crawl for a while and then hear the traffic report. There's an overturned vehicle several miles up blocking the entire right side. Great. It's already 5:00 and I'm nowhere near the accident. I'm not really familiar with the city so I know of no way home other than right where I am. I see the sign for the next exit and I think, Hey, that crosses the Beltway, right? I call my dad. He's my go-to guy, he knows everything. He says, yes, that will cross the Beltway. Get off there, and take the Key Bridge. As I'm on the ramp, I say to him, Do I want north or south? He says, You want north, honey. (with that little condescending lilt that he's so good at) As I'm sitting on the ramp, I'm thinking I don't want north, I want south. North doesn't make sense. I go south. Aha! I was right. In a few minutes, I'm on the Beltway heading for the bridge. I call my dad to tell him he was wrong but it's cool because I didn't listen anyway. He says that's why he told me north, because he knew I wouldn't listen.

I go over the bridge - smooth sailing - and when I get what would normally be 15 minutes from home, I stop again. There's construction and the road's divided. Then, it goes from 2 lanes to 1. So I sit some more. I'm not even sure how long I sat.

I finally got home at 6:15, retrieved my dinner from the frig and watched Toy Story 2 with the family.

I'm down 3 pounds now. Good thing. I was gonna hafta get mad if I wasn't. Yesterday I did 65 minutes of cardio. Over an hour! I'd better see some results from that.

Attention men: Combovers do not work. Bald is beautiful. If you're going bald, just go, don't fight it. While walking at lunchtime yesterday, I saw a guy with an awful combover. Just awful. It wasn't really a combOVER but a combUP. He brought the hair up from the back. Dude, seriously. It was really sad. Thank God my bald men (Micah, Dad) just go with their baldness.

Almost Fall...

I just bought Evan the cutest outfit for Thanksgiving. Thanksgiving? Is that next on the agenda? No, it's Halloween. Halloween? How did that happen?

We had a good weekend. I got all the laundry finished by Sunday morning and put away by Sunday night. All of it. Sheets, towels, kids' clothes, our clothes....put away. That is a feat in itself. It usually takes me until at least Tuesday to get it all put away. Aahh, what a good feeling.

Yesterday we went to one of my favorite annual craft shows and the only thing I bought was a sparkly head scarf for Hannah. That's almost unheard of for me. I was distracted by the heat and the whiney children. Why do they keep calling me Mom?

Tap and ballet shoes were purchased this weekend. Hannah was allowed to wear them briefly at home before they were put away for Wednesday's class.

I actually got up at 4:55 this morning and got on the treadmill. Impressive, huh? The plan is to do the same tomorrow and Thursday. We'll see. I wanted to walk at lunch today but I got a better offer.

Yes, so Thanksgiving is right around the corner and this year is a special year. This is the maiden voyage of our one event per holiday plan. We've been doing double duty on holidays for years and we're not gonna take it anymore! It's too much work, too much hassle, and not enough fun. My family gets odd Thanksgivings and even Easters and his family gets even Thanksgivings and odd Easters. The ILs are NOT going to be happy this year. Oh well. Life is too short to make everyone happy while making yourself miserable.

Last Christmas was particularly rediculous. On Christmas Eve, we were at Micah's grandmother's with plans to go to his sister's early on Christmas Day. As we're sitting at Grandma's, I realize that half of the people there will be at his sister's the next day. So, why are we going to be there? The next day was very anti-climactic. "Hey, yeah, Merry Christmas."

Happy Birthday, Micah!

My man is now 32. Good. Now he can leave me alone about being 32. I'm 5 months older than him and for 5 months every year, I get to hear about how he's younger than me. Now we're even.

Seriously, though. Micah, I know you'll read this. Have a very happy birthday, sweetie. I love you! And take that cake to work, I don't want it in my house.

Hannah started dance classes this week. We'll be getting tap and ballet shoes this weekend. I peeked through the window several times and she had a huge grin on her face everytime. She even thanked me for taking her to dance class. [sniff] Bless her little heart.

I've gotten back into the swing of things pretty well. I've been busy at work - which I'm sure you can tell by my lack of blogs. I'm working on the 5 pounds from vacation, and then some. I was down 2 but up 1 again this morning. Probably from that damn cake. [Micah, take the cake to work!] I've been keeping a food journal. That seems to help. I'm accountable for everything I eat. I'm also trying to up my cardio workouts. I taped Survivor last night and that will be my treadmill entertainment tonight.

Today is Friday and that means Committee lunch. I sure have missed it. I did talk to the Committee the last 2 Fridays via cell phone, but it's not the same as being there.

All is right with the world!

Home Sweet Home

We're back! And a good time was had by all. The weather was gorgeous - we couldn't have asked for better weather.

Hannah aka Miss Social Butterfly, made lots of little friends on the beach and at the pool. A few Hannahs, an Evan, an Elaine, and assorted others. Evan just did his own thing. He loved playing in the sand but was intimidated by the ocean.

We went to the beach, rode rides, rented a surrey, swam in the pool, had ice cream every night (I've got the extra 5 lbs to prove it!), walked on the boardwalk, went to the water park, etc.

None of us wanted to come home. After doing 2 weeks, there's no way we'll be able to go back to just one.

On our very last day, I got a phone call from my dad. Dad works for the State's Dept. of the Environment and is involved in emergency operations for the State. As I'm sitting on the beach, Dad asks me if we've been in the water and how was it. He then informs me that they almost shut the beach down that day. Seems a fecal count was high. Ick. Micah immediately dumped the bucket of water that Evan had been playing in.

Now I have to try and remember what it's like to work for a living.