Heat for the Seat

I'm sitting in this dark, quiet apartment on a not too chilly (and by that I mean 31 degrees) Friday night and I'm really enjoying being alone right now. I'm all cozied up under a blanket, my tummy is full of a random assortment of food (a slice of sourdough bread, string cheese, three strips of turkey bacon, apple juice, veggie straws, and cornbread), and I'm completely content. I had a really good week at work and am so thankful to have not only a job, but one that I actually enjoy.

On a personal life level, this week had a somber though not so unexpected event in the middle of it. On Tuesday morning my Grandpa Felix died after his recent illness. As I said in my last post, we knew that given his state it was only a matter of time before the inevitable happened and while I'm sad to lose my grandpa, my last remaining grandparent on my mom's side, I am relieved in knowing that he is no longer in any pain. Boyfriend and I will be flying home next weekend for the services. This is yet another example of just one of the billion ways in which Boyfriend is amazing. When he found out my grandpa was ill, he told me he wanted to be there for me when it was time to go to the funeral. And he has kept true to his word. Next Saturday, at the very crack of dawn at 7:15, Boyfriend and I are California bound.   It's going to be a busy weekend but I'm looking forward to seeing my loved ones and also introducing them all to Boyfriend. It definitely has been odd being in a serious relationship where only two of my friends (and none of my family) have met him, but due to the 2,000+ mile distance, it's not like it's been possible before now. 

My grandpa dying reminded me of when we lost my grandma, his wife, nearly 14 years ago. When I put a number to the actual amount of time that she's been gone I was slightly shocked that it's already been that long. It also made me sad at the amount of time my grandpa had been alone, having outlived his wife by over a decade. I spent a good chunk of my childhood, approximately ages 5-11, living less than half a mile away from them and my mom, sister, and I frequented their house almost daily, or at least what felt like daily. Most of my memories of my grandpa are set in their house there at the now defunct Shore Acres Motel. By the time my brain was capable of forming its earliest memories, the motel was already closed and my grandparents lived there in the main house as the caretakers. 

The motel was set on five acres of lake front property and it provided quite the playground for me and my sister and occasionally my cousins too. There was a shuffleboard (maybe? I can't quite remember) court that was a smooth concrete slab ideal for bikes and skates and the like. There was an old, creepy pool house with a drained pool that only held green, stagnant puddles of water that formed after the rain that were fun to skip old dates into. There were tons of fruit and nut trees: oranges, grapefruit, apricot, dates, walnuts, pecans. We used to pick the fruit and throw it at each other. My grandpa would later find it as he putted around the property on his golf cart and then yell at us to "Quit pickin' the fruit, goddamnit!" Goddamnit is actually the word I heard most frequently out of my grandpa's Texan mouth. I didn't even realize it was less than desirable language until later in my life because it was such a main staple in my grandparents' house. "Goddamnit, Mommy" is actually the phrase I associate with my grandpa, Mommy being my grandma. Some other phrases of his that I remember are: "I'm headed home to grab a biscuit", meaning he was going home for lunch, and "Don't make no difference", which surprisingly never bothered me considering it was a double negative :P 

Some other things I associate with my grandpa are:

Dr. Pepper 

Old trucker hats that sat on top of his head instead of pulled down 

(That's not my grandpa, just a picture of a man who wore his hat the same way :P)

His use of the huge VHS camcorder that sat either on his shoulder or a tripod in the corner to record events like family reunions 

Baseball on the TV that he always had on but never really seemed to pay attention to

The Heat for the Seat paddle he kept above the front door and always threatened to use but never did

His old blue Chevy truck with the camper shell full of tools and gadgets that smelled to me like a mix of walnut hulls and grease

(This also isn't my grandpa but it's the only Google Image search return of a blue chevy pick-up with a camper shell)

Sizzler 

Cowboy boots that usually had one or both pant legs stuck on top of them instead of over them

It's been quite a few years since I had a conversation with my grandpa where he actually knew who I was. His Alzheimer's caused him to lose the ability to remember who we all were. But I remember who he was. And I'll miss him. 

Pork!

I need to start eating healthier. And working out again. As I mentioned in my post yesterday, it has become waaaaay too easy to be lazy here. It's so tempting to just lay around, staring into those gorgeous slanty eyes Boyfriend has, relishing the fact that I'm with someone who is really, really ridiculously good looking. Yum :) 

While I typically don't buy (much) junkfood, I've been compelled to eat all things sweet during this heavenly week of hormonal rampage wreaking havoc on my body and mind. I've made a commitment to myself that after I finish off the half pan of brownies and carton of 

that I will go back to my ways of fruits and veggies and legumes and nuts and, now, the occasional lean meat. I even ate pork this week. Pork! It seriously had been at least 7 years since I last consumed some swine. I really don't think this blog needs to be full of what I eat or don't eat or have eaten or intend on eating but the bottom line is I want to be healthier and am going to put a plan into action to do so. 

I also have a plan to get...drumroll please...BRACES!!! I feel SO fortunate that I am finally in a situation where I'll be able to get the perfect smile I've always wanted  to compliment my amazing 1.5 dimples :P I know it will be a long process, that must first involve the removal of all four of my wisdom teeth, but I am so, so excited for the end result. I'm already a confident person but I can only imagine what feeling completely content with my physical appearance will do for me. Yay! This braces adventure of mine is still in the pre-planning stages right now, but I will most definitely post details as they unfold. 

I'm trying to come up with some decorative ideas for the house. I want simple, yet classy and unique, projects that I can put into action and complete myself. I don't feel like I'm overly creative when I'm left to my own devices, but I'm really good at following directions or replicating something I've seen in a magazine and such. We're going over to the house this weekend to start getting it ready for us to move into and while I'm there I'm gonna try to come up with some color schemes. This kind of decorating makes me so happy. I even read Martha Stewart Living at work yesterday. And may have looked at her website last night. One of the other 203940980751 million reasons I'm excited to move into the house with Boyfriend is that we'll have room for a garden. He and I are both absolute garden geeks and I cannot wait til I can get in there and plant my veggies and fruits and herbs and flowers. Eeeeep! Spring, please come quickly!! :) :) :)

And now, if you'll excuse me, there's a warm brownie with a dollop of mint cookie crunch ice cream on top calling my name! ;) 

I'm tired of being sloth-like

I didn't mean to not blog for two weeks. And now that I haven't posted anything since January 30th, I feel overwhelmed by the amount of days that have passed and worry that I've forgotten something worth actually blogging about instead of my usual meaningless ramblings. Blehhh. 

This month has been pretty busy. Work is fantastic and I really like the family. I feel like my personality meshes with the household dynamic really well so going to work is actually enjoyable. Aaaaand it doesn't hurt that I only work for about 3.5-4 hours a day and make way more money than I did working nearly full time for the Y. Hah. I am definitely looking to find a second job, 'cause I've got my sights set on quite a few things that I want/need. After we discovered our mutual love of Dyson vacuums, Boyfriend and I made a list of must-haves. And what a hefty list it is. It's comprised mostly of a wide variety of kitchen appliances/accessories but it's also peppered with some pets, a few pieces of furniture, and some choice electronics. By this time next month, Boyfriend and I will be undertaking a new challenge of living in a house in the city! I am so, SO excited for so, SO many reasons! We've been living together for about a month and a half now and the transition so far has been seamless. That's probably because he and I are essentially the same person. Like, for real. While living together permanently was not at all the original plan when I decided to move out here, this house opportunity has presented itself and going into it together feels right...so away we go! (Loved that movie, Away We Go, btw)

I survived the third worst storm in Chicago's history! I honestly was not too affected by the blizzard and was actually kind of excited to sit inside and watch it all unfold from the comfort of this cozy apartment. I was scared to drive afterward since it took quite a few days for the streets to become completely snow-free. Especially the streets in Elmhurst. I know there was a ton of snow, but they did a fail job at removing it. I have a picture of the street where Boyfriend's bar is that shows how the snow was literally plowed into the middle of the road and stood about 4 feet high, creating this faux center divider. Lots of parking lots had snow mounds that were upwards of 15 feet high. It was crazy. Digging my car out was  not as bad as I anticipated. We used the two saucer sleds that Boyfriend keeps in his trunk and had our cars dug out in less than 10 minutes. After our cars were free from their snowy fortresses, we used those saucers for their intending purpose and got in a fun night sledding session! So much fun. We went to an actual sled hill and were the only people there. At first I was super scared just because I'm an old woman now and know that getting injured as an adult hurts a lot worse than it did as a kid. Fortunately, I survived my first experience with night sledding unscathed and really can't wait to do it again. Most of the snow has melted away with the super warm weather we've had this week. And by super warm I mean that it was over 50 degrees today, which is still jacket weather at home, but is typical weather of May here, definitely not February. It's supposed to be even warmer tomorrow and there's rain predicted so I imagine most of the snow will quickly disappear. I can't decide if I'm gonna miss it or not 'cause I'm really not a huge fan of the cold but the view from these sixth story windows is just gorgeous when the everything is covered in white.

Family-wise this past week and a half has been filled with uncertainty and the unknown. My Grandpa Felix, my mom's dad, my favorite grandpa, has recently become very, very ill. So ill that his 7 children have gathered in Texas to be with him from their various corners of the world. I'm thankful that they were all able to go. He's in hospice care now and at this point we're just taking each day as it comes. That's all we really can do.

I'm ready for it to be the weekend. And I get a three day weekend :) Yay, I need it. I also need some yoga. Stat. I really want to get back to work on my skinny mission. Luckily summer comes later here than at home so I've got some time to get back into shape ;) So much going on. So much to do. C'est la vie, right?

I think there are only like, five people who regularly read this, but to those five extremely well-loved individuals, I promise to get back into the habit of writing more regularly. I'm looking to do a schedule/routine overhaul here soon. I'm tired of being sloth-like :P