Tuesdays with Meredith

I woke up and started one batch of laundry since I had the right detergent for it: colored.  It took all day to wash and dry the same load.  I will have to do a batch a day I think just to make sure I have time to get everything washed and dried.  Since I needed the detergent for the whites, I decided to go out and get it along with a few other things.  The only bad thing was that it was bitter cold and windy.  Not a good combination for a baby, but people here don’t seem to care.  They just wrap them up and go out the door.  So I did the same thing.  CD didn’t seem to mind it but I think the stroller has called it quits.  It is protesting all the walks on the cobblestones and wearing out pretty quickly now.  Thank goodness that our things from the States should be here next week and we will be getting our other stroller.  My fingers are crossed that this one works better on the cobblestones.

CD and I started our errands by dropping off our bottles to be recycled at Rewe.  Then we went one last time to the temporary apartment to return the IPod player that I “borrowed” to listen to music while I cleaned our real apartment.  We then met C for lunch and then headed to the DM to get the last few things on my list. While at the DM I needed to write down ALL the food types that they have so that I can figure out what to feed CD.  This way I know what is available and can make a shopping list in advance versus just walking in and wasting time staring at all the options that don’t work for CD.  CD will actually get more options of organic food by me using jarred food than by me making it myself.  This took a long time to write down the information and the list is still not complete.  Instead of writer’s block, I got writer’s cramp from scribbling down all the words in the names of the foods.  As I did this I realized why I don’t like carrots.  The word for “carrots” is “karotten”.  Do you see another word in there?  As in “ROTTEN”???  No wonder CD doesn’t like them either.  I guess we are smarter than the average blue bear.  And by the way he wore his blue bear snow suit today since it was so cold.

We returned home with a bag full of goodies from the DM and it was time for CD to eat.  So I gave him his veggie mix and then put him down for a nap.  Well, the nap didn’t happen because he was fussy again.  So I went and got him only to find that he had pooped again.  It must be those veggies.  I am stocking up on them in case we run into this problem again. Since the nap was not going to happen, I decided that while he played with his toys in his room, I would build his crib.  It took awhile because CD was cranky from not having a nap and wanted my full attention.  I could not just work and talk to him, I needed to touch his toys and tell him how great he was every second.  In the end the crib did get built but he is not sleeping in it tonight since I wanted the smooshy baby mattress to air out a bit since it had been wrapped in the plastic up until this point.    Here is a picture of his crib.

CD's Crib

The picture was taken with my new IPhone.  I am moving into the Age of Technology.  Soon enough I will start to call and bother you, once I have your numbers entered into the phone.  🙂

A Little Bit of That…

I had been having this odd feeling about our laundry detergent.  So today I started to research it online.  I re-typed in EVERYTHING that was on the bottle label to translate it and that didn’t help.  I searched Amazon Germany to see if they sold it to get a description.  They don’t sell detergent but they do sell a book that talks about “the world outlook for commercial, industrial, and institutional liquid laundry detergents across more than 200 countries.”  WHAT?!?!  Who would want to read that?  I figured that someone worked on that project who was similar in personality to Sheldon on “The Big Bang Theory”.  Anyway, after a bit more research I found out that in fact I have been using fabric softener to clean our clothes and not laundry detergent.  I felt a little embarrassed but it is actually very common for people who move here to have absolutely no clue as to what they are actually purchasing since labels don’t really tell you what the product is.  I must say the fabric softener did seem to do a good job at tricking me into thinking we had clean clothes.  But I can’t use it anymore now that I know it is not detergent.

So I bundled CD up since it was once again cold outside and grabbed all of my change.  The awful part about Euros is there are a lot of coins and not a lot of paper bills.  Who would want to lug around coins to pay for things?  No one, but I had to because it was the only money I had and if I don’t use it, C won’t and then we would end up becoming millionaires on coins.  I counted how much I had (around €14.45) and put it in a plastic bag since I didn’t have anything else to hold this large stash of money.  It mostly consisted of 20 and 5 cent euros, so you can do the math on how many coins I had…a lot.  I also had a list of other things that we needed for the apartment like hand soap, paper towels, pot cleaning sponge, baby food, etc.  CD and I then headed to the DM.

On our way out I thought that it will be a wonderful time to practice a new line in German with the concierge.  We exchanged greetings and I told him that we have officially moved in to the apartment.  He had asked a few times back when we would be moving in, and I told him I was not sure, so I figured this would be the answer to his question.  Well, he looked at me with a blank stare, but I was prepared.  I had written down what I had said and showed it to him to make sure there was no confusion.  Still a blank stare from him.  This was not how I pictured this scene to go.  I thought I would tell him and then he would smile and say Ok or something.  Luckily, in walked a girl and the concierge asked her if she spoke English and she did.  I told her to tell him that we have really moved in to the apartment.  She told him and then relayed back to me, “He knows already”.  I said thank you and just left.  I then realized that I will never talk to this man again unless I truly need something from him.  Like a package.  Other than that I will just smile and walk out the door.  I think he may appreciate it also.  Maybe I am just trying to be too friendly to someone who doesn’t really want the interaction.  I thought it would be a great way for me to practice my German, but that bubble has been burst.

We made my way to the DM and went around picking up the things that we needed while I kept a tally of what I was spending since I didn’t want to go over my allotted coin amount.  When I gave my things to the cashier, she kept asking questions.  I shook my head “yes” and “no” while not really sure if I was answering correctly but she never looked at me weird so I figure it worked.  Then the amount came up to be around €13.  I took out my bag and started rummaging for the correct amount in coins.  She would quickly pick up the coins as I put them down.   I then heard a sigh from the guy behind me.  After some time the cashier said some number in German but I just continued to count out my coins.  The guy behind me told me that the cashier had said I needed 75 more cents.  I got the right amount out and handed it to the cashier.  My pile of coins has dwindled down and I packed my bag with all the things that we purchased.  I noticed that the guy behind me had purchased the fabric softener that I had been using as laundry detergent and I confirmed with him (since I knew he spoke English) that it was in fact softener and not detergent.  I then pulled out the laundry detergent that I just bought and showed it to him in hopes that I have actually gotten it right this time.  He told me it IS detergent but it is just for colored fabrics.  UGH! Now I need one for whites.  Since the washing machines here are different, you need to be careful what you use.  They do sell detergents that work for both whites and colors, I think, but I just have the luck of not picking the right one….since NONE of the labels tell you what the product actually is.

On my way into the building, I checked the mailbox and it seems like it takes about a week for a letter to get from the US to us.  That isn’t that long so I’m happy.  Keep the letters coming….we love them.  When I can finally find cards, envelopes and the post office, letters will be sent to the US too.  My IPhone arrived today, but I will look at it tonight after I post for the day.

I came home mentally exhausted from that trip and thought that CD would take a nap, to give me a little rest.  Of course he acted all tired so we went through our normal nap routine, I fed him the veggies that we got at the DM, changed his diaper and then put him in his crib, but after a little while of being in his room by himself, he started to fuss.  I went and checked on him and his whole room smelled.  Now, normally this would not be a good thing, but this made me the happiest mom ever because I knew what that smell meant: Poop.  And a lot of it.  Finally!  It must have been the veggies.  So I changed him and opened all the windows in the apartment to get the smell to leave.

The rest of the day was spent playing with CD and straightening our things.  Once CD went to bed for the night I brushed my teeth and used the new mouthwash that I had bought at the DM today.  As soon as I took the cap off, I realized it was a little different too.  It had a top like a salad dressing bottle: with a hole in the middle.  I thought it was weird but I tipped it back and attempted to shake some into my mouth.  Right away I realized that the mouthwash was strong and only swished it for a little bit before I had spit it out.  At that point, my eyes were watering, my tongue and lips were burning, and I felt like I looked like CD with drool just pouring out of my mouth.  THIS my friend is why even though some labels in Germany don’t actually give directions, you should still read EVERY SINGLE label.  I found out as I glanced at the label that you are supposed to add 2 drops to a small glass of water and then swish it around your mouth.  I felt like Ralph Wiggum from “The Simpsons” when he ate the purple berries and said “They taste like burning!”

 

Sundays

Who knew that a day of the week could hold such a major change from the USA.  In Germany, you do absolutely NOTHING on Sunday.  Not because you feel like it, but because you can’t.  Everything is closed besides some restaurants and you are forced to relax.  Is the word “relax” even in an American’s vocabulary?  So today we organized as much as we could without having places to put clothes and other belongings since another difference is there are no closets in Germany.  You have to go out and buy a wardrobe or storage systems to hold your clothes.  We haven’t decided what we are going to do for this yet.  The one great accomplishment of today was that we got rid of all of the cardboard boxes from everything that we had purchased so far.  It is finally starting to all come together and we are making progress on moving into the apartment.

We also used the washer/dryer for the first time.  The water line still leaks a bit but I now can do laundry without having to worry about it.  C and I were so nervous when we hit the “start” button.  I had images of flooding the whole place and it leaking into the apartment below us.  Of course none of this happened, thank goodness.  I am happy that I know how to use the washer/dryer and there are no real problems with it because I need to wash CD’s sleep blanket that was purchased yesterday.  It was bought for our upcoming trip (from Tuesday through Thursday) to Schkopau, Germany.  C has to be there for work and we are going to go with him.  We will be staying in a castle which is quite drafty so I wanted to make sure I had this heavy-duty sleep blanket for CD.  It is like a sleeping bag for babies.  It is awesome.  He will be so cozy in it and I won’t have to worry about him being too cold.

We decided to follow the motto “when in Rome”….I mean Frankfurt and just relax so at the end of the day we got a pizza that was really good and took the rest of the day in stride.

Moving Day

Today was the day that we decided to move all of our belongings out of the temporary housing and into our real apartment.  I will not really have to say “temporary” and “real” anymore.  It will just be our apartment!  Can you tell I’m so happy to be settling in to Germany and have our own space??  This weekend really was the only chance we had to do it since our temporary apartment ends at the end of the month.  We woke up around 8:30 to start the day.  In order to have the lasting energy for everything that was to happen today, we wanted to get a hearty breakfast.  So we decided we were going to go to the restaurant that is right near the apartment.  This was a great idea.  We wouldn’t waste time having to walk somewhere and then walk back.  I wanted to know what they had for breakfast so we pulled up the menu…only to find out that they opened at 11:00.  Wow, that’s late.  So we decided we would walk and head over to the place that has the American style breakfast, which opened at 10:00.  This was even better because it was closer to the Galeria and I needed to buy a warmer sleep blanket for CD.  C of course cringed at the fact of having to go shopping but I told him we would go in and out and he wouldn’t even know it happened.

As we were getting ready to leave, our apartment started to really smell like smoke.  Now they smoke like crazy here, but I told C that everyone should still be sleeping from their all-night partying and there should be no smoke smell this early on a Saturday, let alone anyone else awake.  This really frustrates me because of CD.  I don’t want him near it and I can’t control it if I don’t know where the black smoke (get the LOST reference) is coming from.    Needless to say, I was happy to get outside into the fresh air.

The walk to breakfast wasn’t bad but as soon as we left the restaurant to go to the Galeria, both C and I were FREEZING.  It was cold so we hurried along as fast as I could move.  My short legs make me have to run as C just strides down the sidewalk.  I bet it was a funny sight seeing me, a short girl, scamper down the sidewalk while C, a tall dude, was walking at a normal pace.

When we got to the Galeria, everyone and their mother needed to use the Lift (elevator) so it was extremely slow.  When we finally got to the right floor, I beelined to the section where the sleep blankets were located.  See, I kept my end of the deal with C and so did he since we did in fact go shopping.  We picked out the sleep blanket for C and got a few other things before leaving the store.

Once we got back to the temporary housing, we decided it would be a great idea to take a nap since we were exhausted.  I couldn’t sleep the night before.  I was so excited about moving that I felt like a kid who just found out that I was going to Disney World the next day.  I mean, who could sleep after that???  And C fell asleep at about 20:00 so he woke up early.  The only one who was not in on this great idea was CD and he knew that he runs the show.  So none of us got a nap until about 14:30.  Why is it that kids always want to be awake and adults would give anything to have a nap on a lazy day?  Don’t kids realize what they are missing?  Or maybe that is it.  They don’t want to miss anything because everything is new to them.

Needless to say our big day of moving turned into an afternoon/early evening move.  We quickly shoved everything into our suitcases, got the rental car and headed over to our apartment.  We had everything in the apartment by 5:30 and then C went out to get dinner.  I fed CD since he thinks it is ALWAYS time for food and while C and I ate our dinner, CD thought it was a great time to test the acoustics of our living room by screaming and fluctuating his vocal cords to hear all the new sounds he could make in the empty room.  CD loved it, C and I did not.

Here is a picture of our first night in the apartment.

First night- The table is my suitcase!

CD went to bed like a champ and then C unpacked our mattress.  We are both really happy with how comfortable it is that we can’t wait to sleep on it tonight.  Tomorrow will be arranging everything and building the bed and crib.

Side note: I added CD’s 7 month picture to that post so go back and check it out to see how cute he is!

A Little Bit of This…

Back around New Years, my sister (I was going to call her “C” but it seems like everyone has “C” for their first initial, so CS it will be- love you and miss you!) painted my toes with pink glitter nail polish.  I thought it would be great since glitter nail polish usually lasts longer than most and I wasn’t sure when I would be able to get my nail polish since we weren’t sure of when our shipment would arrive.  Let me tell you, it is still on my toes and still looks good.  Someone else also thinks it looks good- CD.  He eyed it today while we were playing with his toys on the bed and it was instant love at first sight.  He dropped his toy, his eyes got wide, his mouth opened and I’m sure drool came out of it and he was amazed at the sparkles coming from this “new” thing.  Well next thing I know, he leans forward and tried to eat my toe!  I put a stop to it right then in there.  I realized that I am going to run into problems when he is older because when he doesn’t get what he wants (my toe, power cord to my computer while it is plugged in, my computer, the cellphone or candle) he throws somewhat of a fit.  We need to nip that in the bud because I will not be dealing with that in the future.

One of our cleaning ladies was back today so I was so happy.  CD of course was happy too and let her know that he approved of her return into his world.  We got extra towels, the big garbage bag for the patio even though we haven’t needed this much lately (no poop from CD), an orange and chocolate!  Did I mention how much I love her?

In the morning I realized that I needed to do the rest of our laundry since we wouldn’t be able to have the laundry service anymore at the temporary housing.  Ugh.  The thought of having to do more laundry here after some was taken just didn’t put me at ease.  But it needed to be done .  I wrote down every article of clothing that went into the washer.  I’m not sure what that would do if something went missing, but it gave me peace of mind that when I went to collect everything I wouldn’t have to question if something was missing.  I didn’t want the foggy memory syndrome again.  I don’t like leaving my stuff since I’m now not sure if things will go missing and I just don’t like people touching my things in general.  Here they can move your things to a laundry basket if your belongings are sitting in the washer/dryer and they want to use it.  When I went to get the laundry and bring it back to the apartment I was very pleased that everything was there.  Don’t worry, I double checked it with my list.  🙂

 Today was the big day for our Ikea delivery of our bed and mattress.  I dreaded the time slot that they gave us (between 14:00 and 21:00) but just hoped that they would come on the earlier end of it.  During the morning I got an email from C that said they should be there between 12:00 and 14:00.  This was great.  It would not interrupt any naps for CD.  I figured that while I was waiting for them to arrive I would wash all of our dishes, glasses, utensils, pots and pans that we purchased and I was able to accomplish this.  Of course while we were waiting for the delivery guys to arrive CD decides that this is a good time to poop.   I had to change him on his plastic-wrapped smooshy mattress and of course all he wanted was the plastic wrap.  Isn’t plastic bad for babies????  Then of course he got upset with me when I wouldn’t let him place his face on the plastic.  See?  Tantrum waiting to happen.  When the delivery guys arrived, they moved everything really quickly into the apartment and best of all they were cute so I didn’t mind going out in the freezing temperatures.

Yes, it was freezing here today.  When I woke up I saw snow on the roofs and in the grass.  Our walks were ok though.  I had CD bundled up so he didn’t seem to mind the walks.  My toes did get cold on the walk back from our real apartment.  I never said the shoes had insulation.  😉

I found out today that my IPhone could finally be ordered and should be at our apartment by Monday.  That means I will be able to send texts, take pictures of CD and our surroundings and in general have easy access to getting in contact with anyone.  I have been using C’s old Blackberry and I don’t see how people are addicted to them…..I couldn’t work the thing.  I will let you know if it arrives and how much I like it because I am sure I will love it.

Tomorrow is putting the furniture together…fingers crossed!

Updates

Ikea shopping: We purchased a bed that we both really like.  There is storage in the headboard and drawers under the bed.  We also found a mattress that is firm enough for me but soft enough for C.  One of the odd things in Germany is that the mattress for a regular bed is usually 2 separate mattresses.  We opted out of this and got one single mattress.  What we did not opt out of is that they have separate blankets/comforters for each person.  C asked me before we got to Ikea if I wanted one big comforter or the standard two that they have in Germany.  I hesitated a little, only to make him think that I was actually thinking about it, and then told him I want two comforters instead of the one.   My reasoning behind this, and C completely agrees with me, is that he always steals the blankets.  He doesn’t mean to, I don’t think, but he does.  This way we each can be a warm burrito all wrapped up in our own blanket.  One place that we do differ is in our pillow selection.  C wants a little more softness to his pillow whereas I say give me a wooden block to rest my head on and I would be content.  I need firmness in a pillow to rest this big noggin of mine.  We had searched through other stores for pillows for me and I could not find any.  Remember the smooshy baby mattress???  Same thing with their pillows.  The only one we found that would have been “eh” was about €130 (about $170).  Who wants to pay that for an “eh” pillow.  Well, Ikea had my pillow for about €20 (about $26).  This was fabulous.  I know for sure C won’t steal my pillow and I won’t take his.  We also got plain white dishes, some drinking glasses and 2 wine glasses for when CD is up all night.  As we paid for our things, I asked C if he saw the famous Ikea cookies anywhere.  We hadn’t seen them as we walked through the store.  Can you believe that they don’t sell these cookies in Ikea here?  Something is wrong with them because they are the greatest mass-produced cookie out there.

Ikea Cookie

By the way:  I have to say that to get a picture into this post just took me about a half an hour.  But it was well worth it because now I know how to do it and now you all know which cookie I’m taking about from Ikea.  I shed a tear when I realized that I would be leaving an Ikea store without two packages of these- one to eat in the car ride home (so delicious!) and one to save for later.  :*(

We will have the bed delivered to the apartment tomorrow sometime between 14:00 and 21:00 (get that? 2pm and 9pm).  That is how they tell time here.  So we will have some furniture to put together this weekend.  I am hoping for CD’s sake that they come early so it doesn’t interfere with his bedtime.  No one wants to be out walking at 9pm.

C faked me out today.  He told me he took the day off from work.  Well on our walk back to the temporary apartment he told me he had to go back to the office.  No hanging out together…back to the grind for both of us- C in the office, me entertaining and dealing with CDs shenanigans.

Shoes: I was so excited because I knew that I would be wearing my new shoes to walk around Ikea and then wearing them for the walk from the apartment back to our temporary housing.  Let me tell you, they are as good as it gets so far.  They felt good on my feet, didn’t rub and I think I actually felt some cushion in there.  After the first wear they are doing good so I’m happy with my purchase.

Laundry:  I stayed in the building ALL day yesterday.  That is right.  Never went outside.  I decided I needed a day to organize our things here and to feel a little more like we live here.  I decided that I was going to do our laundry.  So I continued to lug CD and our laundry from the first floor to the fifth floor and back again.  There is an elevator but still.  My last batch was all of my jeans that I have been wearing.  I threw them in the washer and then the dryer and turned it on.  Then C came home for the day and we went out to dinner.  When we got back from dinner I went upstairs and got my jeans.  When I put them in something made me count the number of pairs I had.  Whether it was to see how many could actually fit in the European washers and dryers or if it was my own nervousness of leaving my laundry, I can’t quite be sure.  When I got them after dinner there were six pairs.  I really thought that when I put them in I had counted seven.  But it was a long day and since having CD my memory is not in tip-top shape, so I couldn’t be sure.  As I was going to bed last night, I still couldn’t shake the feeling that I was supposed to have come back with SEVEN pairs of jeans.  The update is that in the morning (today) I realized that I had also thrown in a dish towel with my jeans and that never made it back to the apartment either.  I am out a dish towel and one pair of jeans.  I guess it is more and more like college.  I should have stayed with my things so no one would steal them.  

Room Cleaning:  Ever since I have been in this apartment we have had the same two ladies come through and clean it.  We like them.  They are nice.  One speaks English.  The other doesn’t.  They realized that CD may need towels and they kindly place a set for him in his room when they see that we have used them.  They even left an extra box of tissues in his room.  They run/empty the dishwasher for us.  They fold the end of the toilet paper into a point.  They give us extra towels.  They leave the big garbage bag for the patio (CD’s diaper holder) and chocolates for us on Friday for the weekend.  When CD sees them they exchange hallos (hellos) and CD bounces up and down, smiles for them and continues to flirt with them.  Well, this week things have changed.  We now have a new cleaning lady and I’m not too sure about her and neither is CD.  CD doesn’t like change.  And I am a little concerned that we will run out of supplies.  She doesn’t give us extra towels, so the number of towels just keeps depleting.  She hasn’t given us ANY new wash cloths which I use one every night to clean the caked on food from CD’s face and hands.  This means we don’t have any wash cloths now.  She doesn’t run/empty the dishwasher.  And she doesn’t seem to think CD will need anything.  I have been using a cotton robe to put down on the floor so when CD comes out of his bath time there is a layer between his towel and the floor (which I am sure she isn’t cleaning like my two favorite people).  Well the robe had been used a few times and was a little dirty so I put it in a different area on the bathroom floor than the towels and I made sure that the building logo was visible (so she would know it was the robe and not just a towel).  We did not get a replacement robe.  Now, it would be ok if I knew we had enough towels to just use a towel instead, but I fear what will happen tomorrow since she doesn’t like to replace things.  I also may not be here when she comes through to clean to ask her for supplies since I may be at our apartment awaiting the delivery of the bed.  Will we have towels for the weekend???  She just isn’t the same.

CD’s Diapers:  He hasn’t been farting or pooping lately and I got concerned.  I could do without the farts, but I know the poop should be happening.  I know he went through a lot of changes and is eating different things now, but he should be pooping.  He had been happy and was not complaining at all so I know he felt fine.  I couldn’t remember the last time he did poop and that was what was scary.  I mean I don’t want to keep a diary of that but if I need to I will.  Some people I know have to with their kids.  I went to the DM today and got him some plum/pear food and he didn’t like the taste of it but he ate it and it helped.  We got a little something out of him today.  It is funny how you become a mom and then poop is a major thing.

Birthday Cards Anyone??

First of all I have to say “Happy Birthday Aunt J” from CD.  In honor of you, I have CD in his Christmas monkey outfit.  Perfect for today since it is supposed to be cold.  The sweatshirt without the hood is wonderful since I can then make a hat stay on him to cover his ears.

Since many birthdays are coming up soon, I have been looking for cards and can’t seem to find ANY.  I am literally moving away from cards.  In PA they have good cards and a ton to pick from, DE has very, very slim pickings and Germany has none to be found.  It must be because of their strict garbage/recycle  rules.  No one wants to deal with extra “stuff” to decide where to put it.  Check out how serious they are about it:   How To Germany – All About Recycling.  LOVE this site by the way.  I love the fact that they follow these rules, but it makes it very difficult for someone moving here to remember what goes where.  In the long run, I wish the States followed this.  It is great.  Could you imagine not as many landfills and reusing almost everything???

C took the day off so we are going SHOPPING at Ikea today.  More to come on this trip later!  I hope it is a success.  It will mean we are one step closer to moving into our permanent apartment.

The Hunt for…Shoes

I had only packed a pair of clogs and ballet flats.  The clogs were brought since they would be easy to slide on and off while moving around and the ballet flats were meant just for the airport but quickly became my favorite pair of shoes.  After wearing the ballet flats around all the time and having no real support for my feet, my feet became really angry and have been very painful anytime I stand on them…which is all the time.  The clogs don’t work on the cobblestones because I end up falling out of them.  I knew I needed to get shoes but the thought of walking hurt my feet.  I sucked it up and went today since I know I will need a pair for Italy and our shipment will not be here by that time.

CD and I bundled up and headed to the Galeria (mall).  They had a lot of shoes, but none with real cushion support.  Maybe they could use some of the baby mattress smooshiness for there shoes.  They had a bunch of cute heels and boots, but I was not looking for those.  I then found a pair, but they were 2 different sizes.  One shoe was a 38 and the other a 39.  Welcome to European sizing!  I asked an employee if they had them in my size (39) and she looked through the boxes only to tell me there was no matching shoe.  I knew the matching shoe had to be somewhere and since this was going to be my only saving grace for my feet for the next few weeks, I went through EVERY box (about 75) to find the mate.  And wouldn’t you know…I found it!  I quickly left there with the matching pair (both 39s), paid for them and wobbled home.  Tonight I will be dreaming of wearing them around town.  I should have bought the black pair since everything here is black, but it just looked too harsh on my foot.  And let’s all be serious, if you know me, I’m more of a brown fan anyway.  So I bought the brown ones.

I hope that when I actually wear them a few times they hold up to my expectations that I have for them right now.  I can only hope.

Now if only I could find cushioned house slippers I would be set!

First Trip Booked

C and I just booked my flight to visit our friend L in Milan, Italy.  CD and I will be gone from 5 February to 10 February.  I can’t wait to see her and the girls!  I hope he is better on this take off than the last one.

Laundry Time

I feel like I’m in college.  I wake up today and quickly get my laundry together.  I need to stake my claim on the only washer that is in the building.  When I went to see if I could work it last night, someone was doing laundry so I made sure I was the first one to get there this morning.  I stumble out of the apartment with my laundry and laundry detergent in a bag and CD in the stroller (ok, now that would be different from college).  I don’t even worry about getting dressed.  I am in my pajamas with the apartment issued slippers on my feet.

I arrive upstairs and try to follow the directions.  I put in the whites and pick a cycle, not sure if it is the right one.  It takes a few tries to get the washer to start but I see water pouring into it and I can only hope it doesn’t pour out of it.  It doesn’t so I quickly leave and head back to the apartment to feed CD his morning oatmeal.

Of course after I make CD’s oatmeal, he doesn’t want it.  More wasted food.  He then goes down for his nap and C and I make breakfast (french toast) using the leftover bread from the wonderful pasta meal.  It turns out great with a little Nutella and raspberry yogurt.

CD refuses to nap the rest of the day until about 4pm when he is overcome with exhaustion.  We both end up crashing and C heads out to see “The Muppets” original version movie.  He said it was great and the movie theater has really nice plush red velvet seats.  I can’t wait to see a movie while sitting in one of them.  Hopefully when I do I don’t fall asleep.