(no subject)
Today was my birthday. (Some of you noticed. Thanks! I never remember anyone's birthday, because I am a bad person.) I am 39. That's old. I can feel the cold breath of Mortality on the back of my neck, but I don't think I aged much when I was traveling around the world or when I was a ranger either, so that should put me at an immature 35, which feels more appropriate. I'm not sure if I aged in art school either, so I might be even younger.
We went out to dinner, and I got to pick anywhere I wanted to go, but the places that sound like they have the best food sound kind of... nice, and when I asked myself "Does this sound like a place where I would be comfortable dining with a screaming toddler?" I had to say no, so I picked a very casual BBQ place I wanted to try. As it turned out Finn behaved extremely well, but the BBQ was only okay. But it's supposed to be the best BBQ place in town, so I guess I have to get a smoker and learn to do it myself. What I really need is another road trip to Memphis, but without the road trip part.
Today was also the first anniversary of going into labor with Finn. His birthday is tomorrow. I have been forever pre-empted. I don't mind, as long as Hans keeps giving me a gift certificate for a massage every year. We are having a party for Finn on Saturday, just our close family, and I feel so delighted that we are able to do that now.
All kinds of crazy things have been going on at MTU where Hans was working in the U.P., and it has become increasingly clear what an excellent idea it was to move, and honestly we got out just in time. Hans's life could have gotten really miserable. He might even have lost his job due to some major reorganization that's going on there - who knows. He would certainly have been working in an even more dysfunctional environment. We are in a much better spot here, and we are really lucky that it all worked out. His co-workers are really nice, and we like the community a lot so far. which is good because we need to stay here a long time otherwise he's going to look like a real flake.
We decided that we can't buy a house right now. Hans talked to the apartment management company. They really have us by the short hairs because we signed an insane lease and they have no interest in working with us (there's really nothing in it for them, I guess). If we broke our lease we'd be charged an extra month's rent as a fee, PLUS they'd expect us to keep on paying monthly rent and utilities until the apartment was re-rented, PLUS they'd charge us $25 each time they showed the apartment to someone else, and they'd take that out of our security deposit. Frankly they'd have to come after me in small claims court to get that extra month's fee, but considering that we're already paying a mortgage on a house in Michigan, can we really afford to beg/borrow/steal to put a down payment on a new house and take a chance on getting sued at the same time? No, we can not. So I notified our realtor that we're suspending the housing search until such time as we can feel really confident about making an offer when we see something we want. Maybe things will change if we sell the house in Michigan, maybe we'll just wait and hope things work out for us in the spring. I am a little depressed about it, but I am also a lot less anxious than I have been lately ever since I sent the email to the realtor, and I'm sure the year will go fast. If you forget about the kitchen, and the flooding, and the maintenance hassles, and the inconsiderate neighbors who won't make eye contact with me since I called the landlord to complain about their stupid parking habits, it's a really nice apartment, and it's got a nice shady yard where I can hang out with Finn.
Speaking of Finn, he is now playing so independently (as of this week) that I can sometimes READ A FEW PAGES OF A BOOK. WHEN HE IS AWAKE. I am totally shocked. So I had an informal New Year's resolution that I was going to read a whole book that wasn't about babies or breastfeeding or birth, and I started Slaughterhouse-Five but I didn't finish it (I still will), but now I am reading A Canticle For Liebowitz, which Hans borrowed from his dad and then I stole it off his nightstand because I loved the title, and it's a great book, so I am very optimistic that I will actually finish it.
And if you were hoping that I would share at least one absurd piece of TMI, because I don't do that enough anymore, here it is. Finn's specialty is blowing "boofers" (raspberries/farting sounds) on people's stomachs. He's been doing it since he was a few months old, and since it always cracks us up, he keeps doing it, and he has become an expert and blows enormous, resonant, echoing boofers on not just tummies, but also shoulders, arms, legs, etc. And this week he started blowing boofers on my boobs, while he's nursing. One day he is going to do it in public and I am going to be so mortified I will die on the spot, but in the meantime, it is the funniest thing I have ever seen, so I thought I would share before it kills me. There you go.
We went out to dinner, and I got to pick anywhere I wanted to go, but the places that sound like they have the best food sound kind of... nice, and when I asked myself "Does this sound like a place where I would be comfortable dining with a screaming toddler?" I had to say no, so I picked a very casual BBQ place I wanted to try. As it turned out Finn behaved extremely well, but the BBQ was only okay. But it's supposed to be the best BBQ place in town, so I guess I have to get a smoker and learn to do it myself. What I really need is another road trip to Memphis, but without the road trip part.
Today was also the first anniversary of going into labor with Finn. His birthday is tomorrow. I have been forever pre-empted. I don't mind, as long as Hans keeps giving me a gift certificate for a massage every year. We are having a party for Finn on Saturday, just our close family, and I feel so delighted that we are able to do that now.
All kinds of crazy things have been going on at MTU where Hans was working in the U.P., and it has become increasingly clear what an excellent idea it was to move, and honestly we got out just in time. Hans's life could have gotten really miserable. He might even have lost his job due to some major reorganization that's going on there - who knows. He would certainly have been working in an even more dysfunctional environment. We are in a much better spot here, and we are really lucky that it all worked out. His co-workers are really nice, and we like the community a lot so far. which is good because we need to stay here a long time otherwise he's going to look like a real flake.
We decided that we can't buy a house right now. Hans talked to the apartment management company. They really have us by the short hairs because we signed an insane lease and they have no interest in working with us (there's really nothing in it for them, I guess). If we broke our lease we'd be charged an extra month's rent as a fee, PLUS they'd expect us to keep on paying monthly rent and utilities until the apartment was re-rented, PLUS they'd charge us $25 each time they showed the apartment to someone else, and they'd take that out of our security deposit. Frankly they'd have to come after me in small claims court to get that extra month's fee, but considering that we're already paying a mortgage on a house in Michigan, can we really afford to beg/borrow/steal to put a down payment on a new house and take a chance on getting sued at the same time? No, we can not. So I notified our realtor that we're suspending the housing search until such time as we can feel really confident about making an offer when we see something we want. Maybe things will change if we sell the house in Michigan, maybe we'll just wait and hope things work out for us in the spring. I am a little depressed about it, but I am also a lot less anxious than I have been lately ever since I sent the email to the realtor, and I'm sure the year will go fast. If you forget about the kitchen, and the flooding, and the maintenance hassles, and the inconsiderate neighbors who won't make eye contact with me since I called the landlord to complain about their stupid parking habits, it's a really nice apartment, and it's got a nice shady yard where I can hang out with Finn.
Speaking of Finn, he is now playing so independently (as of this week) that I can sometimes READ A FEW PAGES OF A BOOK. WHEN HE IS AWAKE. I am totally shocked. So I had an informal New Year's resolution that I was going to read a whole book that wasn't about babies or breastfeeding or birth, and I started Slaughterhouse-Five but I didn't finish it (I still will), but now I am reading A Canticle For Liebowitz, which Hans borrowed from his dad and then I stole it off his nightstand because I loved the title, and it's a great book, so I am very optimistic that I will actually finish it.
And if you were hoping that I would share at least one absurd piece of TMI, because I don't do that enough anymore, here it is. Finn's specialty is blowing "boofers" (raspberries/farting sounds) on people's stomachs. He's been doing it since he was a few months old, and since it always cracks us up, he keeps doing it, and he has become an expert and blows enormous, resonant, echoing boofers on not just tummies, but also shoulders, arms, legs, etc. And this week he started blowing boofers on my boobs, while he's nursing. One day he is going to do it in public and I am going to be so mortified I will die on the spot, but in the meantime, it is the funniest thing I have ever seen, so I thought I would share before it kills me. There you go.