I love my labor-saving devices

You know how I was feeling a little bit nostalgic about leaving Eagle Heights yesterday?  Yeah, I'm over that now.  Deciding at the very last minute to scrub all the windows helped.  And besides, I'm in love with all the appliances at our new place.  I have put together a short tribute to each one.  

Oh washing machine, I already don't know how I lived without you all to myself for four whole years.  I know you will never dump leftover bleach on my sheets and towels like other washing machines from my past.  

Dryer, lovely dryer.  I look ahead with delight to the wonderful hours we'll spend together after the baby is born.  I can rest assured that if I ever leave clothes in the washing machine after the cycle is over, no one will take a pair of jeans that justbarelyfits and throw them in you for 3 hours on the irradiate setting.

I forgot how much easier it is not to have to share laundry equipment with who knows how many people living 11 other apartments - plus the ones who sneak in.  I making it a personal goal to never ever ever ever have to go outside to do the laundry again EVER... especially not in the snow.

Dishwasher, sweet dishwasher.  This picture is lopsided because I can't help but incline my head to the right as I gaze lovingly at you.  Now the answer to the persistent question of has to clean the nasty pan left to soak in the sink is, "No one".  No one human at least.  Thank you, dishwasher.  You have improved our evenings at least as much as a half a bottle of wine and a trashy nightgown from Victoria's Secret good book.  

And last but not least, my dear friend Central Heat and Air.

Thanks to you, I slept under something heavier than a sheet for the first time in 4 months.  No more rattling window unit spewing mold spores on us.  No more waking up in a puddle of sweat at 2am, wondering how I possibly have been asleep in the oven for the last 4 hours.  Now we run the fan at night because we like how the white noise gives us trippy dreams and not because we'd melt otherwise.

You're the best.  Peace out.

Goodbye, Eagle Heights

One last look... Dear Apartment, I can only hope you are clean enough to get us at least some of our security deposit back. 

(Those smudges are from the camera lens, not big paint/dirt spots on the closet door and kitchen cabinet.)

We are going over to our old apartment for one last mission tonight... to check the cabinets and closets one final time, lock the windows, sweep out the storage unit, turn in our keys and parking decal and take one more crack at a spot on the wall with a Mr. Clean Magic Eraser.  

It's hard to believe we walked into the same (albeit cleaner) empty apartment four whole years ago.  We lived there for longer than either of us have lived in any single place since we were teenagers.  And as much as I love love love our new place and think it was absolutely the right decision to move before the baby is born, I will miss a few things about EH:

• The sounds (kids playing and window ACs rattling during the summer, the radiator playing the xylophone and the building life-force during the winter, the marching band during the fall)
• Being so close to campus
• Runs and walks in Shorewood Hills and along the Lakeshore Path
• Cheap rent

There are also plenty of things I won't miss, but I won't get into those now...  

Goodbye, Eagle Heights Apartment.  Thanks for the memories.

And speaking of memories, insert 9/11 memorial here.  Not much to say about that... it's a day we'll all never forget.

The never-ending, always-growing apartment to-do list

I suppose it could be worse...

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but the truth is, I think I've added more to the list than I've checked off...

• Sign lease and e-mail back to landlords
• Receive copy of signed lease back
• Send in security deposit and post-dated rent checks (I was afraid I'd forget when baby brain really started to set in)
• Get keys to new apartment (done 8/18)
• Put in 90-days notice at current apartment
• Pay final rent to current apartment
• Schedule movers
• Get coupon for movers from friend or buy a Bucky Book
• Transfer utilities
• Turn on water
• Turn on internet
• Buy TV antenna/ digital converter box/ thing that will play Netflix movies
• Update address with services/ put in change of address with post office
• Set up treadmill
• Pack and move small stuff
• Have movers take over big stuff
• Clean current apartment
• Unpack at new apartment
• Wash and put away dishes
• Transfer renter's insurance to new place
• Finish taking out trash at new apartment (long story...)
• E-mail new address to friends and family
• Update address for...
• Magazine subscriptions
• Bank
• Doctor
• Dentist
• Donation to St. Vinny's
• Figure out how to watch something/ listen to music while using treadmill in garage
• Vacuum treadmill motor + lubricate belt
• Voyage to Ikea for:
• Futon??
• Crib
• Desk
• Dresser/changing table
• Baby room decorations/bedding
• TV stand/ mount TV on wall
• Modify bookshelf to hold electronics for TV
• Put away books and CDs
• Put away other randomness in the nursery

IMoo Sunday

Like Hippie Christmas, IronMan Sunday is a local end of the summer/beginning of fall tradition around here.  It's something you either love - tons of people, even ones who have no relationship to anyone in the race, come out to see the start or the transitions - or something you hate - it really does mess up traffic downtown and all over campus for a better part of the day.  We were scheduled for our last(!!!) Sunday to set up at church downtown so we were able to watch the end of the swim and the transition to the bike.

IronMan is always impressive, and this year, when I'm more out of shape than I've been since high school, it's even more so.  For me a good three event day would involve walking up and down the stairs a few times, vacuuming, and making dinner.  Heck, there have only been a few isolated points in time in my life that I've been in shape enough to do even 1/3 of an IronMan.  That said, hanging around at the end of one of the segments shows that, even though most of the athletes out there are in top shape, the only real qualification to do IronMan is to have your check clear.  Again, I'm not saying that I'm in any better shape than those people, I just have enough sense to know it.

As for us, we need to leave in 2 minutes to go to singing and a post-signing potluck dinner.  I know I will be a champ in the lifting fork to mouth event.      

Saturday Randomness

It's hard to believe it's already afternoon on Saturday!  It takes about 4 times as long for 1pm to get here on a week day (unless I have to give a talk the next day, then it takes about 5 minutes).

I've been fairly productive so far.  I got in a 4mi walk around the neighborhood and saw 16!!!!! turkeys in a flock grazing (do birds do that?) in someone's yard.  It was actually kind of intimidating.  If they were a turkey gang and wanted to, they could have taken me down.

Daniel is working today, and I've been busy running errands.  I went back to Eagle Heights with some Resolve to finish up the cleaning job we started last night.  I know in my heart of hearts that we won't get our security deposit back (What incentive does a landlord have to give you back 300 of your dollars that he/she could keep instead?) , but I did want to leave the place looking fairly nice.  We (plus S and K) really scrubbed everything last weekend, and Daniel and I got up most of the dust that was left under our furniture, but there are still some spots... okay a lot of spots... that won't be fixed without a carpet cleaner (which the complex says it will take care of) and a coat of paint.  To console myself, I bought 2 24-month old outfits for baby Moonpie - one with dinosaurs, one with a gator- from the Eagle Heights yard sale for $0.50.

There's still a ton to be done at the new place, too.  Books need to be put away.  The furniture layout needs to be tweaked.  We need to vacuum and mop to pick up all the detritus that's been tracked in.  I need to put in a change of address and figure out where the nearest mail box is (The post office delivers but doesn't pick up here... crazy, huh?) and change things on our renters insurance and order new return address stamps, and give out our address to friends and family, etc. etc. etc.

But instead I'm going to a friends' 1-year-old's birthday party this afternoon at his fancy tea room-type place, which sounds infinitely more fun.    I can't believe she's already 1.  Like I had to go and dig out her birth announcement because I could have sworn she was born at the END of September, but no... it's this weekend.  We bought her this sweet toy flip phone.  It plays sounds when you open it.

[source]

Gotta start 'em young.

Have a good Saturday!

25 weeks

And not much new to report.  I don't feel any bigger/different than I was last week.

The baby isn't doing a whole lot new or different, either.  This week he's about the size of a cauliflower:

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He's growing taller, gaining weight, growing hair, and his internal organs (especially his lungs) are continuing to develop for life on the outside.  According to The Bump, he can even tell which way is up and which was down.  Sometimes it feels like he's doing somersaults in there, so hopefully he'll end up aimed in the right direction 15 weeks from now. 

I have my (almost) 26-week OB appointment this Thursday, which means I get to drink the special orange drink for my glucose tolerance test.  What fun!

Three Things Thursday

1. Thanks to the Paul Ryan Marathon Calculator, I've finally achieved my goal of running a sub-3-hour marathon without having to do any actual work:

2. I take back what I said about Groupon going downhill.  Just yesterday, I got an offer for $10 worth of fried stuff at Fried and Fabulous for just $5.  A fried food cart open from 10pm to 3am in the student ghetto?  That's a business plan that couldn't possibly fail.  Plus, check out the menu:

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I'll take the deep fried cheesecake and a Diet Coke, please.

3. Yesterday a water main broke outside my office, leaving an entire 14-floor building without water.  The repair guys were called in, and, when it became obvious that major work (ie, digging a hole with a backhoe) was needed, our plumbing system was hooked up to a fire hydrant using a fire hose.  The official word was that everything was fine and there might be a *little* water discoloration but we should just go about peeing and drinking as normal.  The unofficial word was DON'T DRINK THE WATER.  Despite the saying about drinking from a fire hose, you should not actually drink anything from a fire hose because the inside of a fire hose is nasty.

Your pipes are fixed [source]

Seriously, the water in the toilets looked like it had been pumped in from the black lagoon.  It was so dark it was almost purple.  No thanks.  Fortunately today things seem to be better.