State of NSC- May 2012

A monthly take on my world.

Weight:  214 (same as last month)

Current Feeling: All I want to do is kick myself.  I have a 10K on Sunday that I HAD been preparing for, but running has dropped off my to-do list recently.  Have  I run enough to really train for the race?  The simple answer is no.  I ran 5 miles back in the beginning of May and three miles last week.  I have been a bad, bad runner.  And I am totally going to pay for it on Sunday.  Oh I’m still running- mostly to punish myself for being stupid and not training.  I already know that Monday is going to suck.  Packing/moving heavy things this weekend is certainly NOT going to help, but we need to get it done to get the house on the market next week!

Running Stats

                Total Miles Run: 11.23 miles

                Time Spent Running:  2 hours, 16 minutes, 6 seconds

                Longest Single Run:  5 miles

               

Current aches and pains:  My old friend plantar fasciitis is back.  I really need to start wearing my night splints again (oh so sexy!).

Current Favorite Song:  “Watching You Watch Him” by Eric Hutchinson.  The song is off his new album and it’s awesome.

Looking forward to:  When our house is finally READY for showing.  A week is a short time to whip a house into shape-  especially with two large furry dogs.  I’m also looking forward to seeing friends next week while I’m in DC for work.

Annoyed about:  Not much these days….other than the hot weather that makes cleaning/packing quite a chore.

Proud about: Getting rid of a whole lot of stuff through Craigslist, Freecycle, and a free pickup from the Vietnam Veterans of America.  Moving is a good reason to clean out closets and give stuff away.

How are you feeling with the start of this new month?

Thursday bullets

·         CP countered the new company’s offer last week.  They verbally agreed to EVERYTHING in the counter.  WOO HOO!  He should get the employment package today.

·         CP told his boss last Thursday about the new job.  Surprisingly, the boss was really nice and said he knew that this day would come because CP was at the top of where he could go in the company (it’s a family-run company with only 11 people).  I’m glad that CP will be able to leave on a good note with his boss.

·         Meanwhile, I told my boss last Thursday that we had accepted the job offer.  She wasn’t surprised because I had kept her in the loop- she WAS surprised that the offer came in already.  My transfer paperwork was finished on Friday and we are sending it up the chain to HOPEFULLY get approved.  (FINGERS CROSSED!)  Who knows how long it will take for a decision to come down from above though.

·         We had quite a busy weekend repairing stuff at the house, buying and transplanting more plants into the front yard, power washing the house, installing our window AC units because it was HOT, and cleaning.  Our days this weekend were not exactly fun.

·         We made up for the lack of fun by doing things with friends every night.  Friday night we went out with friends for a delicious Thai dinner.  Saturday night we bought steamers and lobster and cooked them at our house.  CP also made a bone marrow salad which our friends loved (I wasn’t a huge fan).  Sunday night CP smoked a beef brisket and beef short ribs before we watched Game of Thrones and Mad Men.  Finally last night we had friends and their kids over for an informal BBQ to try to get rid of burgers and homemade sausage from our freezer!  As parting gifts we gave away frozen meat pies we made earlier this year and bok choy from our garden.  Our friends are totally going to miss us cooking for them.  Ha!

·         Monday we met with a new realtor that came highly recommended by two of my friends.  The realtor seemed energetic and highly motivated which is great.  She gave us suggestions on staging the place, will hold a broker’s open next week (serve lunch for realtors to get them to see the place) and have an open house.  She seems sure that she is going to be able to sell the house quickly- which is great, but I don’t want any promises that she can’t keep.  After all, the right buyer has to come along for the place….

·         After meeting with the realtor, she gave us some homework on the house.  It’s all fairly easy stuff- mainly decluttering and removing things from rooms.  So I worked a half day Tuesday and then headed out to UHaul to buy boxes, packing tape, etc. and start working.  CP is in MA all week and won’t be getting home until late in the evening so I have to work quickly to get things done.  We need to get the house on the market asap because CP starts his new job on the 25^th of June.  I’m taking another half day tomorrow to continue to work on getting the house ready.

·         After all of this hard work I am looking forward to tonight- dinner with friends.  I’m hoping it’s as good as last time I went to this restaurant!

Crazy people

Snippets of how crazy people are these days:

1. I put a bunch of garden/household stuff on Craigslist today in the hopes of getting rid of it (most of it in the free section). I used the first come, first serve method meaning I emailed everyone who was interested in the item my address and told them it would be next to our driveway. That way I don't have to wait around for the person to show up (or not- as has happened in the past) and I don't have to deal with them. One of the people interested said that I shouldn't conduct CL postings that way because there have been fights over the stuff if two people arrive at the same time. If people want to be crazy over free stuff, more power to them. Especially if it is in my driveway and not my house. I'm sorry, but I don't have time to wait around.

t 2. Another person emailed and wanted some bricks for the garden. I gave him the same spiel as everyone else. He was not the person to pick them up first so I emailed him (and everyone else who had been interested) to let him know they were gone. He emailed me back to let me know that I "should offer him something else in return" because I didn't hold the bricks until 5:30 like he requested. Seriously?????

3. Finally, I emailed the realtor who helped us buy this place. I let her know that we ended up going with a different realtor because she didn't provide staging in with her realtor fees and we thought it was important because of our tight time frames for moving/selling the house. She emailed back and said that she wished we had talked to her because she does include staging in her fees and that she's sorry "we didn't trust her to help us." Umm okay. I checked her marketing proposal that she sent over with the comparative market analysis and nowhere in it does it say anything about staging. Just because we used her for the purchase doesn't mean that we have to use her for the sale, especially when she described herself to us as a realtor who mainly works with first time home buyers, not sellers. I get that the market is tough, but we want an experienced seller's agent because we need to sell the place ASAP. I sent her an email telling her that I was sorry, but we didn't see staging in her proposal and that she may want to update the language for the future. Needless to say, her email back was quite bitchy. Even if we had thought to go back to her we certainly won't now! The only thing I am worried about is whether she can somehow sabotage any sale and/or interested buyers.....
Have you run into some crazy people recently?

Annoyed at doctor

Boy I’m not starting off the day after the holiday on the right foot!  CP got up early to head to MA for work and I thought my alarm would go off at 6:15.  I must have hit the wrong button or something because I woke up and thought to myself, that’s weird I feel well rested…..because it was 7:25am!  I made it work by 8, but my plan was to get in earlier….  Whoops!

So…..IUI #3 on Saturday.  CP’s contribution wasn’t fridge worthy like last time, but it was still above average.  I had one follicle of a good size and good lining.

The one thing that annoyed me was that the doctor that turkey basted me said that I will definitely get pregnant.  Not necessarily from this IUI, but that I shouldn’t worry too much.  I told that she probably shouldn’t say that to infertile people (she is a young doctor).  I know that she is trying to keep my hopes up, but PROMISING that I will get pregnant?  That is a recipe for disaster.  So I asked how she could say that, even when people who have unexplained infertility never get pregnant.  She said that because I am still fairly young, there are all kinds of things they can do to help me get pregnant.  It’s the people that are pushing 40 that make it harder. 

I’m still bothered by the comment.  There are infertility blogs out there about people who are younger than me that haven’t been able to get pregnant, either through IUIs or IVF.  What if they saw this doctor?  Maybe she said that because as of right now we don’t have any problems (that we know of)?  Still.  That is a dangerous thing to say.

IUI #3

Yesterday afternoon I got a surprise smiley face on my Ovulation Prediction Kit. I almost didn't test yesterday because I am only on Day 12 and I have never ovulated this early. I guess the Clomid is helping to move my ovulation to a more normal day of the month to ovulate? My worry is that I actually ovulated yesterday....but because I didn't test on Thursday I missed it this month. CP has already done his job this morning- I have to wait until 11am for my ultrasound to find out if I screwed up and missed this cycle. Fingers crossed my follicle is still hanging on, ready to pop AND that our good luck from the job offer extends to baby making! Have a great Memorial Day weekend! We are cleaning/editing/fixing small things around the house this weekend. We meet with a realtor on Monday with hopes of getting the house on the market next week!

Job Offer

The offer for the Chicago job came in yesterday!  The salary was a little less than we were hoping, and instead of saying they would pay for our moving expenses, closing costs, temporary housing, etc. the company is willing to give us a flat fee for everything.

So now CP and I have to do our homework.  We have to compare the cost of living here with the cost of living in the suburbs of Chicago (most importantly how a comparable house there is more expensive than our house here) in order to justify asking for more money.  We also have to push back on the moving expenses.  I understand why they would only want to give us a flat fee for everything, but I don’t think that it is going to cover all of our expenses.  After our last move that we did with the help of friends, CP and I said that our next move (which ideally wouldn’t have been for many years) we would use movers.  And if they just give us a flat fee for everything, we are going to try to scrimp and save- which means not hiring movers and having to do a lot of it ourselves.  No bueno.  Also, who knows how long it is going to take to sell our house?  We may be in temporary housing for a while simply because we can’t sell the house (and therefore buy another house) and that could get very expensive (along with potentially having to store our stuff somewhere).  Tomorrow CP will talk to the headhunter and they will counter the offer using all of our research.  Fingers are crossed they work with us!

My parents are ecstatic and I feel like I should be happier than I am.  Maybe it is because this whole moving, logistics of moving, selling the house, moving to a new area, etc. is going to be EXHAUSTING.  And yes, because it is my personality, I have already started worrying.  Mainly on how much money we are going to lose on trying to sell our house and how much money we are going to have to spend on a new house.  Yikes.  I truly love our house here, our town, and our friends here.  We were finally starting to get settled.  *sigh*

Now we have to start all over again.  New house, new jobs (different office location for me), new friends, etc.  Thinking about all it makes me want to curl up in my bed and pull the comforter over my head.  Or drink a lot.

Now we wait

Despite my excitement yesterday, I did manage to hop on a webinar and work for the rest of the day.  I checked my phone once in a while but CP didn’t respond until after he left the building.  He said that he thought it went well, but it was nice to hear from our “insider” that he did well and impressed people.  A couple hours after he left the building for the airport, he got a text from our “insider” that said that he should be getting an offer.  We are not sure if she just thinks that he is getting an offer because he did so well OR if she overheard managers saying it. 

The only thing that would hold us back from taking the job would be the salary.  CP was asked how much he currently makes in one of the interviews, so we are a little worried that they are going to lowball the offer.  CP works for a tremendously small company (11 people) so his salary should be bigger at a big company.  The headhunter will negotiate the best salary for CP, but frankly, it has to be a lot more than his current salary for us to pick up and move for this job.

And now we wait.  The guy that would be CP’s boss is on vacation all next week so it’s possible that we won’t hear anything until at least the week of the 28^th.  So I guess this is very similar to our monthly TWW.  Gah.  At least we are pros at that!

Random Friday question:

Why are bloggers/people on Pinterest so in love with moustaches?  You know, the people that think it hilarious to get a tattoo  on their second finger so that they can hold it up to their face, moustache mugs, moustache necklaces, etc.  Did I miss something?  Because last I checked there are many women out there that wax their upper lip to get rid of their moustache.  Can someone enlighten me?  I DON’T GET IT.