Long time no blog

I needed this long weekend.  And the entire month of August plus a week of September.  The move to the new house took its toll.  There was just so much to do that I didn’t have the energy, mentally, to live the life I did before we moved.  But I started feeling more like myself last week and the long weekend helped tremendously.  I was able to be productive around the house, but I tempered it with enough downtime to feel rested.  Connor had his moments, both challenging and rewarding, but thankfully he ended it on the latter note.

We didn’t have any social plans this weekend unless you count touring Terry, Vickie, and Zachary through the house.  In the spirit of the Labor Day cookout, the McHusband and I grilled turkey burgers on Sunday and enjoyed our new porch furniture and lights.

Monday was more of the same: long walk, house stuff, and hanging with Connor.  The added bonus was baking cookies (see, I told you I’m feeling more like myself), visiting Heather who is recovering from some surgery, and the McHusband bathing Monte, who was waaaaay past stinky.

I have Connor’s 18-month post written and hope to get it published this week with some pictures.  Don’t come here every day looking for something new and interesting (or even just one of those), but check in once a week or so.  I hope to resume a semi-regular blogging schedule.  Keep your fingers crossed for me.

Weekend stuff

Our weekend was bookended by good dinners so I’m sharing in case anyone’s looking for easy, relatively healthy meals.

We had chicken at home already so I picked up some veggies during my lunch break on Friday.  The McHusband helped me get those cut while I got the “sauce” made.  We let everything sit in the sauce while I put Connor to bed (the McHusband was working out) then I roasted it all at once for about 45 minutes.  Easy and delicious!

The sauce/marinade is from Skinnytaste.  The mushrooms were my favorite part.

Then on Sunday, we had our favorite turkey burgers (you guys REALLY should try them) with corn on the cob and, thanks to Ina Garten, a new-to-me roasted potatoes with garlic side dish.  OMG, so so good!  I only had 1.5 pounds of potatoes plus a few mushrooms leftover from Friday, but I did the full amount of olive oil, spices, and garlic.  I will be making this again and again.

In between those fabulous meals, there was a stroller run, cupcakes and pizza (birthday party), sushi and a movie (triple date night), more cupcakes (birthday party), and other fun stuff like laundry, some chores, and packing.  Yes, we finally got some stuff boxed up.  Now we just have to keep the momentum going and, preferably, continue to put stuff in boxes each night.  We close on the new house this Friday so we will probably try to get some stuff over there this weekend, especially if it’s stuff that goes upstairs where there aren’t going to be any renovations.

(Could I have said “stuff” one more time?)

Hope you guys had good weekends!

PS  At the time that this post published, I should’ve been halfway through my run.  I missed the past two Mondays due to turning my alarm off the first time and the alarm going off silently (Thanks, Connor!) the second.  Third time’s the charm as they say.

The Big Move (the extended version)

Okay, the McHusband found the camera cord for me last night so I finally have pictures from our moving experience last weekend. Better late than never, right?

First, though, did I forget to mention that our new house actually came with a swimming pool? It's not an ideal size for us, but it works for some.

That's our cats' water bowls for anyone not familiar with our pet paraphernalia. Paco (he's less scary if he has a name) was still alive and was very grateful that I showed up when I did. I took him outside to the McHusband who got him out of the "pool" and put him on a tree. The thing is, that's not the first lizard we've come across. Paco's brother and sister, Roberto and Maria, have also visited. As with Paco, we sent them packing with a "Don't hurry up and come back, ya hear?"

Okay, back to moving day. The McHusband very deftly and strategically maneuvered the 24' Uhaul so that it was sideways in our driveway.



















However, that put the inside of the truck on too much of a sideways slant so he ended up moving the truck up to the road, but that's not nearly as interesting so I didn't take a picture.

You know you're working hard when your knees are sweating. Sorry, ladies, he's all mine. :)



















After we fed the first shift of our moving crew, they bailed on us before we made them go back for a second load. Smart people... Anyway, we had to call in reinforcements and, well, they just didn't work out that great.





















Tucker supervised: "Get the hose and don't forget the dog food."

















"Hey, you, what do you think this is, a road construction job in NC? No standing around! Get the dog food."


















"Okay, maybe this is like road construction. I'm just gonna take a little nap while I wait for them to load the dog food."

















See, I told you those second shift workers weren't that great.