Hello!

You guys!  YOU GUYS!!

I'm back!

After 7.5 years of blogging, I was just burnt out last November and I had to shut the blog down.  I was long overdue for a break and the result was an 8 month blogging hiatus.  But I'm back!

So what has changed?

* the O'G family no longer lives in 881 SF of hell.  The stars and moon aligned,  miracles were performed, and we got out.  My kids have their own rooms,  we have TWO FLOORS,  my kitchen is gorgeous (okay, so House Beautiful, South Shore Living, or Better Homes and Gardens are not knocking down my door, but *I* love it) and I don't have to schlep up three flights of stairs carrying babies and gear anymore.   It wasn't an easy move as we had to live with my parents for 6 weeks and my parents have a two bedroom condo, but we did it.

* Baby Girl graduated preschool! It was a bittersweet graduation,  she's officially not a baby anymore and my Little Guy won't be going to that preschool.  We are done forever! 

And one month from today she will be heading off to KINDERGARTEN.  Our new town has all day Kindergarten which thrills me for Baby Girl's sake because I think she will thrive, but I'm dreading it.  I may or may not let her get on the school bus.  I'm still undecided.

* My Little Guy... well.... he's developing into quite the little boy.  He gets everyone to love him within 5 minutes of being around him, but damn is he a spirited kid!  This is his last year at home before he heads off to preschool so we'll either have a super fun year filled with adventures or I will be committed to a locked psychiatric ward by Christmas.  We'll see. 

* Also, shortly after I closed the blog down, my grandfather died.  To quote my brother's euology,  I miss you, pal! (side note, don't go to your grandfather's funeral and then immediately head to Thanksgiving festivities.  Self medicating with wine is bad, mmkay?)

I'm happy to be back,  I started to miss complaining ad nauseum about my woes!

irreparable harm?

I don't know what kind of damage we are doing to our daughter with this whole moving business.  I know she's not the first kid to move,  but with all the 'maybes' going on in our life right now it's a very hard concept to explain.  She knows that sometimes people come to look at our house and she comes along to open houses with us.  She LOVES open houses... it's actually kind of odd.  Maybe she's realizing there is more to this great big world outside of her 881SF?   At any rate, she has turned looking at houses into a game. She's a mini real estate agent.   How many years of therapy is this going to cost me?

Here's a question for the universe:  where do you put the toys when you don't have a playroom?  I didn't have a playroom growing up, but my brother and I also had big bedrooms where we kept all our toys.  We kept the bigger sprawling ones (think Lincoln Logs, PlayMobil, Legos, etc) in our unfinished cellar.  Is that okay to do these days, or will someone report us to the Parents Police?  Because let me tell you,  there are no playrooms in our price range.   If we are luck we will get a formal dining room which will double as a playroom since we don't have a formal dining room set and we will have no money to buy one!  Which really is fine... what would I do with a formal dining room right now?   I'd rather throw the toys in there and call it a day!

And just to keep everyone updated:  I still hate the treadmill.  I don't know if I can do this all winter!

plodding along

I got to run outside today, but it wasn't a great run.  I was hoping to get a longish run in since I just can't do more than 40ish minutes on the treadmill,  but I only managed 4 miles.   I have been doing right around 3 miles on the treadmill, so only getting in one extra mile wasn't what I had in mind.   I'm not sure how much longer I can expect to be able to run outside (since I have no cold weather running gear!) but I will try for as long as I can.   An entire winter of the dreadmill is looming ahead of me and I don't like it one bit!  I honestly don't understand how people can do most of their running on a treadmill,  how do you get past the mind numbing monotony?

10 on Tuesday!

If your definition of Tuesday is Wednesday. 

1.  Halloween is tomorrow!  WHOOO!   CANDY CANDY CANDY!!!  I steal all the good candy from my children.  I am not ashamed of this.   CANDY!!!!

2.  Treadmills are the bane of my existence.  There are a lot of reasons why I dislike living so far north,  but up close to the top of that list is the fact that I have to run on a treadmill from October through April.  I'm hopeful to get an outside run in this weekend. 

3.  My boy qualified for EI.  I'm not too surprised,  but I'm overwhelmed.   I don't know how the parents of sick kids keep their shit together.  My kid isn't sick but he needs some extra help and I'm juggling appointments, tests, insurance, bills, referrals, and my other kid's schedule.  Craziness!

4.  Go Red Sox!!  Let's take Game 6 and win again!!! 

5.  I really truly mean #4.  I want the Sox to win.   So please don't kill me when I admit that I think the beard thing is stupid and can't wait for it to be over.

6.  I need to be more patient with my daughter.   I'm not sure how to accomplish that,  but I think it involves wine.

7.  I bought myself a new sweater from Old Navy this past Saturday.   I've worn it twice since then.  I saw one of my friends both times I was wearing it.  She probably thinks I have no other clothes.  She wouldn't be that far off from the truth.

8.   I'm reading IT right now - I know, like 25 years late with that one.   HOLY GOD, WHAT IS WRONG WITH STEPHEN KING?  Seriously,  are all his horror books like that?  I've only read 11/22/63, none of his horror books.   That books is not okay.  Not okay at all.  Should not be allowed.   PENNYWISE THE CLOWN IS COMING FOR ME AND IMMA DIE.

9.  My daughter LOVES to walk through the "girl" toy aisles at Target.  But she doesn't realize you can buy those toys and bring them home.   I will cut the person who clues her into that fact.  Cut.

10.   CANDY!!!!!!!!!!!!

you know what grinds my gears?

The fact that I had to buy my kids' Halloween shirts in August and I'm already too late for the really cute Christmas pajamas.   It's October 28th

the end.

Mister Monster

My boy is going to be a monster for Halloween.    Isn't he the cutest monster you have ever seen?  ISN'T HE???

That's what I thought.  (sorry it's blury.   Trying to get a picture of a toddler means acting very quickly)

My poor boy had to get his hearing tested last week.  For most people,  this wouldn't be a big deal.  But for a 15 month old boy who doesn't sit still, never mind sit still so people can stick strange things in his ear,  it was torture.  Hysterical crying, flailing, hitting,  squirming,  you name it.   It was a big ol' fail,  and now we have to go back for attempt #2.   The audiologist who attempted the test said it's easier to have two doctors in the room when testing children.   I'm not sure why there weren't two audiologists in the room to begin with - it's not as if we kept his age a secret when making this appointment.  The doctor said she was used to testing kids and it's evident that they do work with kids judging on the bin of toys they have in the testing rooms,  but I'm not convinced this is the right place for us.    If attempt #2 is also a fail,  I'm going to get a pediatric specialist at Mass Eye & Ear,  which I should have done in the first place.   Our pediatrician recommended the audiologist department at a local rehab hospital so that's where we went.   But what is the point in living so close to the best hospitals in the country if you don't use them?  Mass Eye & Ear is ranked  #7 for ENTs in the country.  The COUNTRY.   And it's like a 20 minute drive from where I live.   Boston Children's Hospital is the #2 children's hospital in the country.   Also about a 20 minute drive.   Our appointment for attempt #2 at our current audiologist is on October 31st at 2pm.    By 3pm I will either have an official diagnoses or be calling some hospitals in Boston!

big doings

Lots of stuff happening in the O'G household.   The 881SF Of Hell is on the market  (did I say 881SF of hell?  I meant Happy Land!  Where unicorns serve you breakfast in bed every day!).   You know what's fun - cleaning out 8 years of crap in order to have an open house.  It took us two weeks and we didn't even touch the attic... except to put some more stuff up there. 

We're sort of in limbo right now.   We can only buy a new place if we sell the current one, and we have to sell this one for a specific amount of money.   We are still very much underwater and there is a limit to how much cash we can muster up to bring to the closing (never mind the down payment on the next house!)  What that all means is we cannot accept any offers below our magic number.   It isn't as though we AREN'T motivated to sell this place,  it's that Wells Fargo isn't letting us walk away without getting their cash.   We aren't willing to ruin our credit with a short sale, so we are still stuck between a rock and a hard place.   Since we do have a hard bottom when it comes to what we can and cannot accept,  we literally don't know if we will be able to sell.   Looking for our next place is kind of hard to do when you really have no idea if or when you would be able to buy it.

Keeping Baby Girl in the dark has been hard too.  I don't want her too confused - she's only 4 and she doesn't need to know details yet, especially when so much is still up in the air.  She knows that something is going on though so I don't know how long I can keep it from her.   She's becoming very attached to her toys these days,  probably because they keep disappearing and reappearing every time the realtor comes over to take pictures or there's an open house.

This would be so much easier if we hadn't bought at the height of the market!  Ah well,  lesson learned.

Between cleaning out our place and the Cold of Death that I'm still fighting off,  I hadn't run at all since the half marathon until today.    I forced myself to run a 5K and it was slow and painful.   I swear it's one step forward and two steps back with this running.   I know I can be better with regular practice and a much healthier diet,  but I seem to lack to motivation to get there.  

TL:DR - house for sale,  haven't run in awhile.