Excuse Me, Mother Nature? Please Stop.

As some of you know, I leave tomorrow to relocate for my new job which starts Monday. I thought I would head down around noon, but the 12-14" predicted snowfall may pose a bit of a problem. Unbelievable! I let Dave take the Explorer to New York, figuring he would need it more than me. Ummm, negative. They have nothing.

And the worst part is that I have to shovel the sidewalk and driveway. I haven't shoveled in a while due to my asthma and the fact that my husband is a stud. I'm thinking I need to wait for my neighbor to come out with his snow blower and hope that he takes pity on me. That would be nice, huh? As of 3 hours ago, we had received another 5 1/2".

But we're just getting started. And I am off to shovel the drive a bit. I figure I should do a little at a time, instead of trying to shovel all 12 inches at once. Thanks, Mother Nature. It's such a wonderful good-bye present from Cleveland.

Confession...is this thing on?

Hello, my name is Kim and I just ate my husband's Reese's Peanut Butter Cups that he was saving. The ones I got him as a thank you for standing in line at Kohl's two days after Christmas so I could keep shopping while he crept forward towards the registers. The one that he was so excited to get and wanted to save because it was the huge pack. The King Size one. Yeah, I ate part of it. Not all of it, mind you. But enough. And since he isn't here, he won't know until he gets back.

Unless he reads this blog. Hmmmmmmm.

Does he read this blog? I can't remember the last time he mentioned it.

Hey, chocolate and peanut butter are not to be trifled with in this household! And when you put them together? Well that's just heaven in bite-size form. Even my niece is in on the deliciousness. When I gave it to him, I told him to hide it. Palmer was coming over to open presents and I knew she would find it. David underestimated the allure of Reese's to a 2 1/2 year old. I, however, did not. He put it in the room we were staying in while at my Gramma's.

Anyone want to guess how long it took her to find it? Less than five minutes. And that's just walking in the door. Once she was in our room, it was under a minute. So really, he's lucky to still have it.

Yeah, I'm rationalizing at this point. I could go tomorrow and get another one for him. Put it back in the cupboard. He'd never know.

New Year, New Challenges

So you may remember in my last post how I so eloquently said goodbye to 2008. It was beautiful and moving, wasn't it? Couldn't you just envision those lovely Von Trapp children waving ever so gently, ever so slowly to the crowd of couture-wearing Austrians at their father's soiree while climbing the stairs at the end of the So Long, Farewell song as you read it.


Okay, I'm snapping back to reality. I was vulgar and not even close to eloquent, but it suited how I was feeling.


Now that the new year is upon us, I am looking forward. I start my new job a week from today, and to say I am nervous is putting it very lightly. It's not just about starting a new job. That's the easy part. It's the fact that I am going to be apart from Dave during the weekdays. And to let you know just how I feel about that, I just started to tear up when I typed that last line. There's a knot in my stomach and a hitch in my breathing.


Dave and I have friends who have five children...five! And when the wife was pregnant with number 5, the husband moved 3 hours away to take a job. The wife had 4 kids at home, was pregnant again, and had to run things without her husband. And search for a job closer to their new home. Now, before someone gets mad and screams at me that there are plenty of capable single mothers who do this every single day blah blah, just stop right there. I get it...I do. My point is that she wasn't a single mom. She was a mom who had to make do without dad because he was laying the groundwork for their family to move up. But she was still responsible for the daily well-being of herself and her kids without her partner.


My point in telling this story is that my situation is much more bearable than hers, so I shouldn't complain. But still. I'm sad that I'll be sleeping alone for 5 of the 7 nights a week. Plus we live in the center of crappy Ohio weather, particularly in the winter (2 words...lake effect!) so thinking I'll be able to come home every weekend is probably folly. Best laid plans, right?


I'm really preoccupied by this too. Dave is in New York right now with his mom who is recuperating from surgery. He called me on my cell today when I was driving back from errands. I was sitting in the car talking to him while getting all my packages together. I couldn't find my phone, though. I sat there frantically searching for my cell phone while it was...wait for it...attached to my right hand, held up to my ear. I think it took me several minutes to figure this out. I'm just scattered.


And that's just perfect for someone who has to pack up her daily life and move it in just a few days. I've already started lists. Plural. I have more than one. There's the clothes list, the bathroom list, the stuff list, the prescriptions list. I think I've already lost that last one, so I'll have to duplicate it. But all the lists in the world won't tell me how to feel okay about being apart from my best friend, my partner, the love of my life, the man I have come to depend on.

When I got married, I was so independent. I had lived alone for a long time, and I liked my alone time. I'm not that person anymore. One night is fine. Two is pushing it. Three nights apart makes me nervous. I need him with me, and that's not a bad thing. It's not that we're co-dependent. It's just that I WANT him with me. I feel like it's us against the world. He's my guy and I'm his girl. His Nick to my Nora.

I don't want to get used to him not being there. But here we are, looking at at least 5-6 months of this. Sigh. I'm so thankful that this door has opened for me, for us. But I pray that another door opens soon, so it can be us again, and not just me.

Screw You, 2008!

I keep reading all of these blogs that have a 2008 review in them. It's all the rage. Not me, baby!

For me, 2008 sucked. I worked for an awful, crazy, delusional and paranoid boss in a job I hated, left that job to take another job that fell through the cracks, and spent the last 2 1/2 months of the year unemployed. 2008 was the year that Dave's blood pressure went through the roof and his ugly genetically-high cholesterol decided to stop by and stay a while. We had major issues in the fertility department and to top it all off, kidney stones was my birthday gift.

Thanks, 2008. You suck!!!

But 2009? 2009 is already looking better. I have a new job which will start soon, and we'll be relocating to Columbus. Yes, things are looking up.

Happy New Year, everyone!