Happy Friday

It's not so much a Happy Friday, just because of the fact that it's a Friday, but I have very happy that I spoke with Grannie this morning. Mom had her call from her room once she got to the hospital today. For those of you who didn't know, Grannie went back into the hospital this week and once again had to have her stomach pumped. We've all day to take things one day at a time as far as testing and whether or not surgery will have to be done. Obviously they do not want to have to do surgery due to her age, so if you have a minute - say a quick prayer that surgery is not needed and that this can be cured another way. I gotta say that this has been even harder this time around and not just because I'm sitting all the way down here in DC, 400 miles away from Grannie and the rest of my family but because after how AMAZING she was on Saturday and Sunday, I just can't believe we're back here again. I mean the last time this happened she had just been so sick she could barely leave here house - last Saturday she actually went to JCC for ASHF and was making plans to get out of PT early enough on Thursday to make it to Bemus to see her friends - how could anyone imagine that when she started getting sick on Sunday night and begged my mom to stay at her house and this is where we we end up once more? Definitely no one in my family. I am just happy to have spoke with her this morning. They have stopped pumping her stomach which means they took the tube out and it was much easier for her to talk. From here, we're taking it one day at a time - I do think that when she gets my card and scarf this weekend, it will cheer her up!It's funny how I can finally be at a point where I'll admit to enjoying living in DC, love the life I am creating for myself right now and like my job and then something like this happens and BAM! I hate everything about DC and all I want is to be closer to home. This becomes even more important when my parents get this thing going where they don't like to "share" bad news with me. Knowing this from pets dying in the past, when I don't hear any updates for 5-12 hours, I start to panic. Last night was so bad that aside from the full body sweat that I was experiencing, I was scared Jon was going to have to take me to a hospital here to medicate me to calm down. I was sure visiting hours were over at 9, so while watching the new Grey's, I was giving her until 9:30 to get home and call me. Then as the episode was ending, I thought maybe she's taking her shower first and then calling. I barely remember how last nights episode ended or the preview for next week because I was no longer breathing normally and kept asking Jon why it was so hot in the apartment. I had a fan on but was just dying and here sat Jon happy as a clam fresh out of the shower - what the hell was wrong with me. So at 10, I took a deep breath and dialed mom's cell # preparing myself for the worst.....no answer. I left a voice mail and tried again. At this point I decided to busy myself with dishes, picking up the kitchen and preparing all necessary things like my coffee pot for the morning. By 10:17, I was back to calling mom's cell, calling the home # and leaving one of those messages on the answer machine "HELLO?? anyone there???" I finally decided to call my dad just to find out that he was on his way home from work and heard nothing from anyone either and was wondering why - this prompted me to completely lose it, especially when he said "well if I get home and she's not there, I'll go down to the hospital and see what's going on". I got off the phone crying and Jon asked if everyone was ok and my response was "I don't know" I cried for a bit while Jon kept trying to call my mom's cell phone. Jon then informs me that my moms' phone is going directly to voicemail - I try one more time to see if this is true, but it rings like usual and she actually picks up. At this point it's a little after 10:30. Remember when I said that visiting hours were over at 9? Well yea she was just finally leaving because Grannie had had well, quite an interesting evening. Her IV had fallen out around 7 and they were unable to get it back in, which meant a specialist had to be called and brought it (she has been unable to eat due to them pumping her stomach for 3 days, so the IV was pretty important!) I talked with mom for about 30 minutes about everything that had been going on and we must have said "ok talk to you in the morning" 4 different times while I tried to get her home and to bed at a reasonable hour and somehow our conversation would continue. Don't worry, Dad was informed of my contact with mom before he left for the hospital so he could have his dinner and get to bed as well.Jon was very patient in listening to all these stories again once I got off the phone. I had calmed down considerably but there was no way I was going to bed - I stayed up and watched TV until around 2 before going to bed - this also meant that I totally over slept this morning - sigh thank God it's the weekend!

Getting through it all day to day

So here we are on another Tuesday. I just had this realization of how each morning when I am getting ready for work, I come up with all these "things" that I should do when I get home from work. Always around this time each day (after eating my lunch), I become ridiculously sleepy and find myself sitting here thinking that I can not wait for 5 or 5:30 so I can go home and relax on my couch! Of course this is amazing for a couple of hours, but the next thing I know, Jon is home, dinner has been made and consumed and around 11 p.m. each night I find myself pissed off that I have not done ANYTHING once more. Does anyone else ever feel like they need a week off from work to just stay home, rest up and get things done? Ever feel like there is so much that needs to get done at work, that you're exhausted without actually doing anything? I hope you all are better than I, and yet I hope that someone you understand where I am coming from and that I am not just a complete unmotivated jack ass wasting my life! *sigh* oh well, someday I will be back on track - hopefully it will be soon!

Can I just say how much I love the townhouse? Cause I do! We have lived at the Promenade for over 3 1/2 years now and I can't even remember what it was like living in 614 anymore (never mind that we were there for over 2 years), let alone 419! Scary, I saw some pictures I posted online of that move into 614 and when I saw the scary pictures of 419, I wanted to cry! How on earth did Jonathan and I live there as long as we did and not kill each other? How do you come out of something like that and still love the other person that you've been living on top of! This is why TH7 is so wonderful. Not only the new furniture and the set up or the beautiful granite counter tops in my kitchen, but to sit on my couch and look around and it feels like a home! It's fantastic! I feel relaxed in my own home, which I don't believe either of us had before. I find myself desperately wanting to do more around my home to make it even better - even little things like cooking/baking. Speaking of, good Lord did I bake a lot over the weekend! Friday night was Chili night for the debate (after getting some tips from Alton!). Saturday I made Zucchini Oat bread as a healthy snack alternative as well as breakfast for me at work during the week. I also made some jell-o with fruit and marshmallows cause I love it and finally had enough room in our tiny fridge to get a large bowl in there for a couple of hours. Sunday is definitely when things got crazy. Grocery shopping brought it all kinds of fun new foods and by Sunday evening we now had Lentil soup courtesy of Jonathan and I concocted garlic dip, homemade salsa, baked apples, Swedish almond cookies and fall spice cookies. I was verging on exhausted by 7 p.m. when Haley came over, but it was amazing to have all this wonderful food and leftovers in my kitchen and fridge! It's a good enough feeling to make you want the next weekend to be here to do it all again, but for now, I am satisfied with going home and night, having dinner with Jon and enjoying some sort of crafting experience. This would include the amazing new yarn that I started crocheting with last night that I sit here now and think about how badly I would like to be home finishing that scarf so I can go buy more of that yarn and soon!!

Well, I supposed my "lunch break" is technically over, and I definitely have plenty to do to keep myself busy for the next 4 hours............besides, how much more rambling of mine do you really want to read? No Jon, no yams for lunch :-)

I actaully like DC???

At the end of my first week back at work after vacation, I sit here and recall actually not being totally depressed about coming back to DC this year. Now don't get me wrong, I wasn't excited to have to leave Florida and the beach, not to mention jump in my non-air conditioned car and drive for 17 hours, but I wasn't depressed about it this year which for me, was a HUGE deal! As our week in Ft. Myers played out, I kept saying to Jon, "remember how upset I was last year about having to come back and I'd cry every morning as we walked on the beach??" Yes, for those of you who didn't know it, I almost called up Lucky at that point and quit on the spot so I wouldn't have to leave Florida - I had my reasons since then to leave Lucky Brand, yet such heart for such an amazing company that I just couldn't do it, well not until December when I could do it no more.
Anyhow, we got in the Kia around 4:30 on Saturday night, stopped at Smokin' Oyster Brewery one final time for what was seriously the biggest meal I think we have ever had in Florida and were crossing the bridge back onto the main land by 5:30. It of course was sad to leave, I was saying goodbye to landmarks, the island and ocean but we made it through our over night drive, without stopping at the hotel this year and were back in DC around 10:40 Sunday morning. It was really unreal for me to be driving across Calvert Bridge and think, "tomorrow I get to walk across this on my way home from work", and I was happy! Everyone knows that I've probably never been fully happy with living in DC for what has become a current long time, but I was happy probably for the first time to be back - to be back to my familiar day to day, to our new townhouse and even the light familiarity of that.
Of course by Sunday night, no one is ever happy to know it's time to go to bed cause you have to get up early the next morning, I was no exception. First day back to work wasn't too bad, lots of catch up to to, things were fine until I started feeling sick and the feeling didn't go away. No, it didn't go away during the commute home, Monday night or by Tuesday morning when I had to make the decision to take a sick day. I was back to work on Wednesday but didn't really feel great until yesterday (Thursday). Yesterday was probably the longest, busiest, challenging day that I have had in my 4 months at CEB, and I can't deny the fact that I was loving it...........
I don't really know what else there is to be said about it, except for the fact that for the first time, in what's been a very long time, I am very happy and it feels great!