Midol, please

Well, I got a little fix for my craving for new home stuff. I went to Kohls Saturday for a bit and bought some new sheets for my bed, and a new throw pillow, a sweater for myself and an outfit for Ella.

I like the sheets. They’re just stripes with browns and a light aqua, but they do the trick. I was so sick of my plain sheets, plain bedding, plain wall, plain curtains … I wanted some pattern.

I had plans of stopping by TJ Maxx, maybe Target to look at other accessories, but after an hour of being gone I had such bad cramps and nauseousness I had to go home!

The feeling continued throughout the afternoon. I spent the next several hours laying in bed, sleeping a little. Then I went to work my monthly late Saturday night shift. I knew as soon as I got there I was not going to make it. Luckily I was able to get a lot done in two hours then my coworker kindly told me to go home. Thank goodness.

It would have been good though if I could sleep, but nope. At 12:30 I finally got in the bathtub hoping hoping that would help. And it did. I thought I would sleep later today though but nope. Got up about 7 ish, an hour before Ella!

Oh well, I’ve gotten a good start on piles of laundry and dishes …

Just rambling

Last night we took Ella to the library. We had some books and a movie from our last trip to return so I watched Ella throw puzzle pieces and run about while Daddy looked at books. It was nice. I’m a little spoiled by the huge new downtown library though, so this one that’s much closer to my house seems a lot smaller and everything seems kinda old and really used. But they have a play area and tables with puzzles.

I really wish I could take Ella to a library storytime, but they alll seem to happen on Fridays, which is a very busy day at my work. But it’s still nice to go run around there on other days though.

I’m so bored with the look of our rooms in my house right now. I’m dying to go buy some new things to freshen up the place … a new bedspread and sheets would be awesome, flowers, baskets, pillows. I feel like it’s all so boring all the sudden. I can’t really rearrange my living room (big sectional couch and cable hookup) or my bedroom (big king-sized bed won’t just fit anywhere) so I think I just need some new accessories. I think I’m going through a bit of buying withdrawal too, with all the trips and our car payoff goal we’ve been working toward. I really would love to splurge this weekend a little. We’ll see …

I also want to go get some new bathing suits for next season while they’re on sale. As depressing as trying on bathing suits in neon lights is, my 3-year-old suit s just about warn thin. And as I learned last week tankinis don’t do well in Ocean waves. I think I’m going to have to think about one-pieces. And maybe something with a skirt. Note to self: Don’t ever let anyone take my picture in a bathing suit.

In other house news, just to update you on the broken window. We’ve placed the glass order and they will come fix it in a week or so, at a cost of $200. I guess that’s not terrible from what I’ve heard about window costs, but I’m sure glad we’re not paying for it!

Suffering from vacation hangover

Yesterday was kinda dreadful. It started around 4:20 a.m. when Ella woke up ready to start the day. She was standing in bed crying in a way that said to me “I will not back down. You may as well come get me right now.” So I put her in bed with us.

And she tossed and turned and kicked. And for some reason she prefers to lay horizontal in our bed, feet in my face. Occassionally she sat up and climbed on me, looking hopeful it was time to go play.

So we got off to an early start. About four hours earlier than I had gotten up in the past 10 days. But she slept all the way to the sitters. And I was kinda especially alert, anxious to catch up from vacation. So I didn’t feel too bad. But by the end of the day I was sooo tiiiirrreeed. When I realized it, it was too late to drink a latte. I didn’t want to stay up late and be tired again.

So I got home and went straight to the couch. My husband mentioned he needed to go run errands and should he pick up dinner? “Yes!” I don’t care if steaks have been thawed in our refrigerator for days and we’re trying to really budget to pay off debt. No cooking or cleaning, that was just what I needed.

And so we ate Burger King and it was delicious and we had a very low key night. Ella was really tired too. So we took an early bath then I let her lay in bed with us, in which she entertained us by trying to stick her toe in her mouth and died laughing everytime Daddy blew in her face.

This morning was a lot better. Although it’s never easy getting up before 6 a.m. it was obvious we were more rested this morning. And while I was buckling her in her carseat I sneezed and she said. Buh you. I said “What?” She said Buh you, again. I’m pretty sure she was trying to say “Bless you.” What a sweet pumpkin.

Relaxation: What a concept

It was a very relaxing week in North Carolina. I’ll admit I had some fears about traveling with a 1 1/2 year old (13 hours by the way), and about staying in a strange house on the ocean with a toddler.

The drive was OK though. We broke it up into 2 days and I found us a very nice Marriott in Charleston, W.V. to break up the drive. They had a wonderful down comforter (which is what sold me online) and an awesome breakfast buffet, that included an omelet and waffle chef. And the people were so nice. We were so happy with our stay that we stopped and spent the night there on our way home as well. Also cool: It was across the street from a mall – which was great for Ella to stretch her little legs, and there was a regatta/festival a few blocks down by the river. We took a stroll through and listened to a singer, who we later learned was Joe De Messina. We also passed a bus that had a Blues Traveler sticker on it. The next day we learned they had also played. Shoot. We should have stayed longer! We were all tired though.

Anyway the next day wasn’t as peachy. The second leg was longer and sooo boring. The first day was full of windy roads through the mountains of West Virginia and there was so much scenery to look at. Second day. Not so much. And Ella wasn’t as good spirited. All I can say is Hallelujah to portable DVD players. She watched a movie happily for 2 hours then fell asleep.

We FINALLY got there and were stunned at the ocean view. You never know when you only see photos online. But the house was RIGHT on the ocean. It was very, very close. And the waves were huge. It was high tide, but I think they were bigger than normal due to hurricane season.

I was very happy to learn the main deck doors were very hard to open, meaning Ella would never be able to open them. I wasn’t happy to see the deck rails were very wide, wide enough for a toddler to fall through, down ten feet to a bunch of bushes. Guess Ella wouldn’t be playing on the deck ever. Otherwise the house wasn’t bad. Very sparsely furnished so not a lot of stuff for her to get ahold of. There was a staircase up and a staircase down. But we had a gate that worked for one, and the other was closed off by a door that she could not open. And the house was very open. You could see her from anywhere.

So, anyway, my safety anxieties were relieved, and we had a nice time. We bought groceries and so did our roomies (SIL, BIL and neices) so we had some good meals at home and some out. Steve and I had some awesome sushi and we even got to go out one night by ourselves and have awesome seafood. The best crablegs ever. I even lived in Maryland one summer and I don’t remember them being sooo good.  We also played in the ocean, although not a ton because the waves were so huge that sometimes I felt like I was getting beat up and once I even lost a contact. And Steve’s knee got scraped up, so it’s not just that I’m a wimp.

We also checked out a very nice aquarium in Wilmington, in which Ella ran yelling from one tank to the next excitedly pointing to all the different creatures. She LOVED it.

More importantly we did a lot of relaxing. You know how on some trips or vacations you get back and you feel like you need another vacation to relax after that one? I don’t feel that way. I feel kinda revived. I’m actually kinda excited to get back to work to tackle some projects. As much as it killed me sometimes we sat around a lot and did nothing. I read a whole book. By the way, Glass Castle by Jeanette Walls is AWESOME. It’s a memoir by Walls, who is a contributor on MSNBC, about growing up in a very poor, eccentric home with her alcoholic father and anti-establishment mother. It’s crazy the conditions and things these kids lived through. And a lot of it happened in West Virginia. I was so tempted to go find their old home and see where it all took place.

Well, I think my husband has been watching football for 8 hours and maybe I can actually watch something now.

The house we stayed in.

Our stairway to the beach.

The first morning we were there Ella woke up and went right over the admire the view.

The world’s biggest sandbox.

Steve and Kelsey grin for a photo on Kelsey’s birthday.

Our nieces, Kelsey and Alyssa at the aquarium in Wilmington.

See those waves behind us? They’re very scary when you’re in them.

Always open to new challenges …