Because I’m exhausted yet haven’t checked-in in awhile…

1.  I took THIRD PLACE in the 3rd Annual Dirty Dude Girl Trail Race at Sugarcreek MetroPark this morning!  Seriously, I’m still in shock.  Susy ran with me, so really we tied for third…I just nudged by her across the finish line!  And the field wasn’t too small, maybe 150 women?  So yeah, it kinda made my month.

2.  Emily introduced me to the Dude Girl race and for that I will be forever thankful.  I’m so coming back next year!

3.  I am moving in less than a week.  Another shocker.

4.  I have FOUR lists going, not including my planner.  They are all sitting out on the kitchen island.  One for all the phone calls I have to make regarding moving, one for all the things we have to do before the packers show up, one for all the things we need to bring with us in our cars and one for all the questions I have for our extended stay, like, “do you have dish towels in the room?”

5.  I’m meeting Andrew’s mom outside of Cleveland tomorrow to hand over Hadrian, all his gear and a bunch of stuff that we’ll need for our hotel “stay” (more like short-term apartment lease!).  I can’t thank her enough for all the help she’s been and her willingness to take on a HUGE handful for even just a few days.

6.  I bathed Hadrian today.  Next time, I’m going to have Andrew video it so we can put it on YouTube.  (I’m sorry–this is the part in which I start bragging about my “child.”)  He’s a dream to bathe.  Here’s why: we entered the bathroom.  I said, “OK, hop in.”  He climbed in, sat down and got a little drink when I turned the water on.  I proceeded to take my sweet time sudsing him up (he was going to visit grandma and all), then even had him TURN AROUND IN THE TUB, and do it all on the other side.  I rinsed, then toweled him off.  There was no whining, crying, pushing, shaking or attempting in any way to exit the tub.  You’d have to see it to believe it.

7.  How does one defrost a freezer?  Do I just empty it and turn it off?  Thank goodness for Google.

8.  I picked up poop in our yard here FOR THE LAST TIME.  Hooray!

9.  Andrew gets here Wednesday night–yay!

10.  Then the fun begins…cramming all the things we should take a week to do into one night before the packers show up.  Say a prayer for us!

I’m in a list kind of mood this morning.  I wasn’t even going to blog, but here I am.

1.  I’ve woken up at 6:30 (if not earlier) for the past three mornings.  Well, let’s be honest, more like the last three months.  While I like being a morning person, this is ridiculous.  It doesn’t matter how late I stay up, my body just wakes up.  Sometimes I can’t even will myself back to sleep.

2.  I made Andrew a strawberry rhubarb pie (below) about a month ago for his first visit home.  For reasons beyond our control (house showings, etc…) we didn’t really break into it that entire weekend.  (I think I had a sliver at like 11 p.m. that night before bed, but Andrew had none.) I’m STILL a bit miffed about that one.  I think I wanted Andrew to be so excited about it that nothing would keep him from having a piece.  Such is my life; constantly disappointed by my picky/finicky/never-hungry husband who I try to force-feed everything I make.

3.  We’re trying a church this morning here in Buffalo.  I’m excited but afraid I’ll compare it too much to Apex.  I’m going to miss Apex so much.

4.  I’m a little disappointed about house-hunting.  I was so excited to show Andrew the one I found here in EA, but he was less enthusiastic about it than I’d hoped he’d be.  The reality is that we’re looking for “the one,” a forever home in the right location, with the right yard that’s priced appropriately for whatever amount of work it needs.  I’m just afraid we’ll be so picky we’ll never find it.

5.  Another disappointing thing is our temporary housing situation.  Well, maybe not disappointing, yet.  We still don’t know what we’re going to do.  The disappointing part is that we’re going to be displaced for at least THREE months as this point.  Apparently here in New York, it takes about 60 days to close on a house, and since we haven’t really seen anything we’re excited about , our two-month clock hasn’t even started yet.  I’m hoping we can figure out more housing information tomorrow–it looks like there might be somewhere we can bring Hadrian, but it’s 20 minutes away; or, there is the Hampton Inn (where we’re staying now) which may be able to accommodate us in an extended-stay suite with a kitchenette, but without Hadrian.  I just don’t know that I want to be 20+minutes away for four months while we’re house-hunting and I’m (potentially) working here in EA.  Ahhh!  Pray for us!

6.  I found a kitchen towel at Vidler’s (the local five and dime) with a pineapple on it and it says “East Aurora, NY” on the bottom.  I’m buying it before I leave.

7.  I ran 7 miles yesterday in 60 minutes (almost to the second).  That’s an 8:32 pace (thanks to Runner’s World pace calculator for that one).  The day before I did 3.6 in less than 30–that was an 8:15 pace.  Thank you, Susy, from the bottom of my heart–without you I would have no idea what I could achieve.

8.  Andrew’s father’s birthday is tomorrow.  We have NO IDEA what to get him.  And when I say “we,” I mean his entire family.  His wife, his kids…he is THE hardest person to buy for.  Wish us luck!

9.  When I get back to Ohio on Tuesday, I will have about a week and a half before we actually leave.  HOLY COW.  I’m so excited to be up in EA for good (I mean, I do miss my husband and everything), but I do not feel ready to leave yet.

10.  We haven’t used the hot tub in our room yet.  It makes me feel wasteful, even though we didn’t request it or anything.  I think that’s my problem with food; I hate wasting it, so I eat even when I’m not hungry…  MUST. WORK. ON. THAT.