Sunday, January 29, 2012

Crazy Days

Normally, I would consider my a moderately organized person, oh scratch that, I am lying.  I hang on by a thread most days! (If you have missed the recent posts, I just moved to the Chicago suburbs for a new position with the greatest company in the world, so great that I will not mention their name, but you know who they are)
With the recent move, I moved my entire little family 550 miles out of our comfort zone, started a new position, AND started my final semester  of graduate school.  The ONLY reason that I have not pulled all of my hair out is because I started with more hair than the average person on my head... Life is crazy right now and with sub par organization skills it has been a wee bit of a headache some days.
I have been able to maintain my work schedule now that I have a laptop and Blackberry at home so that I can catch up on work in the evenings now and even have a delightful exchange with a customer at 11 PM, you read correctly, 11 PM... Luckily, he is a nice guy and I was sort of awake, so it turned out okay.
The headache begins when you add a five year old and some highly demanding grad school profs into the mix.  This week, I have 2 sets of homework due and an exam as well as kindergarten homework, baths, and convincing Cooper to sleep in his own bed, gahhhhh!!!
So, this is a short blog post to beg you to:
A. pray for me
B. send me easy recipes that can be made in under 30 minutes and do not involve pizza rolls and easy mac
C. send me notes convincing me that Cooper will go to college one day and be able to sleep in his own bed all night without wetting the bed (preferably master the sleeping thing first)
D. come visit us (wait until May at least, because let's face it the weather stinks right now)
E. don't tell me "I told you so" about the snow, I don't think I could emotionally handle it
F. If you see me on my Facebook, tell me to get off, because inevitably I am procrastinating some sort of work
G.If you do come to visit me before May, don't judge me about the cleanliness of the apartment... I am still at least 15 piles away from a Hoarders intervention...
So, please and thank you from Chicago (really the way less cool Northwest suburbs, but we do have a Trader Joe's...)

Friday, January 20, 2012

Well... Here we are...

Well, we are all moved in.  My sister and my niece Jordan came up to help me unpack and get all settled and it was much appreciated.  Jordan is literally a Marine Corp Sgt. disguised as a fun loving teenager. Gretchen and I eavesdropped on her helping Cooper organize his room and as she went through his stuffed animals, she kept saying "no Cooper you don't need that" and Cooper would say, "but Jojo, I love it."  This went back and forth for a while until she finally decided that all of the stuffed animals would just have to go on his bed.  It is after a nice contrast to the Spiderman pictures lining his walls...
On Saturday, we braved the 10 degree temperatures and took the train to Downtown Chicago to check out Michigan Avenue.  It was so cold it made you catch your breath and we decided that walking ten blocks with a five year old sounded like a good idea, HA! WE were freezing and exhausted and annoyed and HUNGRY, so we ate at the first restaurant we could find... Friday's.  Yes, we took a train 40 miles and walked 10 blocks passing an adorable Italian Restaurant to eat at TJI Friday's.  At least the fried green beans were delicious...
Gretchen and Jordan left us on Sunday.  Cooper and I got up and went on to church at Harvest Bible Chapel.  It was a lovely church, but it was a satellite location so you actually watched the sermon on a big screen being telecast from another town about 10 miles down the road. It.was.weird... Great sermon, friendly people, but weird.  To top it off, I cried for the first 20 minutes feeling sorry for myself that I could not see my Connect Group girls or sit next to my friend Lynn during service. I was so humbled when I realized that I was not there to visit with my friends and I got down to the business of worshipping.  Let me mention here that the class for Cooper's age talked about Jesus fasting for 40 days in the wilderness and they did not eat snack to see what fasting was like.  No goldfish= 40 days of fasting for a five year old.  Not sure if it is the place for Cooper and I, but it may be, we'll see.

                       Sgt. Jordan playing in the snow, note that she is ALONE, we were too cold!
Boarding the Metra, we are so big city!

                                                                 Riding on the train
                                                               View from the street
                                           Marilyn Monroe statue (this is for you Daniela!)

Awesome Walt Disney quote


Cooper's version of Heaven... Legoland


New bed, note the Spiderman decor!


Driving home from work today, three hours to go 30 miles, gahhhhh!!!

Thursday, January 5, 2012

Moving

As I write this, I am sitting in my nearly empty living room while the movers pack up my house. Tuesday, I am leaving Memphis and driving to Chicago to start a new job and kind of a whole new life.  I know I know, so brave of me, or stupid, depends on who you are asking... I have already cryed twice so far, once when we said goodbye to the best babysitter ever (call me if you need someone who is loving but puts up with ZERO crap from your children and I will give you her number) and another time when I registered Cooper for his new daycare.  The second time was very random and extremely awkward so no details are available there, ha. 
I can already tell you when I will cry again and one time will be in about 30 seconds as I finish this post.
  • I will cry when I leave this house for the last time.  This is my first house.  I bought this house all by myself and I have paid for every last mortgage dollar, homeowner's policy, lawn mowing service, faucet replacement and termite ALL BY MYSELF.  I am so proud that I have only called my dad hysterical one time and it involved the aforementioned termite.
  • I will cry when I say goodbye to my best friend Christy.  She has been my rock and my support system for six years now.  Her mom is my surrogate momma, her husband is my handy man, her family has accepted Cooper as one of their own, and she makes me laugh, pretty much a perfect combination of friend.
  • I will cry when I go to church for the last time at Bartlett Baptist Church.  That church is my family.  They accepted a single, unwed mother when some churchs might not and have allowed me to blossom and grow in my relationship with Christ. I have met so many friends there and I will miss everyone so much it makes my heart hurt. 
  • I will cry when I say goodbye to my Connect Group. I have taught freshmen girls for almost 2 years now.  In that time, I have learned that teenage girls know more than just the details of the latest Twilight movies.  They are smart, insightful, and funny and have way more to offer than some adults give them credit for. They have laughed with me, celebrated with me and cried with me through the events of the past year and I love them.  I am not sure what I will do without them...
  • I will cry on Saturday night when I have dinner with my Mom's group from church.  We have been together for almost 5 years.  We have been through everything from gossip, unemployment, divorce, loss, teenagers to all sorts of other trials that I can't even list because I don't have that kind of time.  They have seen me grow from a scared single mother consumed with debt and scared of the future to a scared single mother not consumed with debt and less scared about the future (doesn't sound so motivational in writing does it???)
  • I will cry probably 15 additional times in between these times for all sorts of reasons.
  • Finally, I will cry unconsolably when my sisters leaves me in Chicago on Sunday.  Now my family lives all over the country and I love all of my siblings so much, but my older sister is kind of like a second mother to me.  She has been with me through the whole "Cooper ordeal" (as I lovingly refer to it, ha!) In fact, when Cooper is really in trouble, I threaten him with telling Aunt Gretchen and he snaps right to attention (it is awesome you should try it with your own children, she can really be frightening!) She lives 2 hours away, but it is kind of like a security blanket having her so close.
I would love to end this post with some motivational thoughts, but I am coming up short.  I am really excited to move and get to experience this new adventure.  I am also really excited that I don't actually have to pack anything, seriously, this is fabulous. I am also really sad to leave all of my friends and my family. There area lots of emotions at play here, so I am going to end this here, see you on the other side of this move...