8:56pm on a Friday night...what are you up to?  Getting snuggled up into bed to watch Dateline (even though it gives you nightmares)?  Me too!

It sounds like this blog is my pretend friend....whom I haven't talked to in 7 months.  I missed you!!  WHat have you been up to?!?  Oh me?  Ok. Let me fill you in on the bulk of 2011.  You really didn't miss much.

Clearly, my last post was just shy of my quarter life crisis.  If I remember correctly I had a week off 'in between jobs' and cried for the better part of that time.  I cried about not wanting to work, wanting to be a stay at home mom, wanting to be married, wanting a house, and feeling old. The update is a lot of those things are coming true. Minus staying at home and not working.  And the marriage and house are pending. But we're on a good track and I am feeling as old as ever.  I use wrinkle cream and went to bed at the same time as my 15 month old last Friday night.  Old.  

And I did indeed start my new job.  I even worked up enough courage to start riding the bus...only 4 months after I started.  That's $5.75/day + gas + about 20 minutes of skyway walking + a $6-$10 lunch everyday.  I'm such a penny pincher, aren't I?!  Luckily I snapped back into my reality of student loans and car payments and sucked it up and began riding the old 781.

I quickly was initiated into suburban bus riding.  Sat by a man who smelled like tuna.  Sat so close to a man who was so sweaty, he had to stand up to remove his jacket.  Then he sat back down and my arm was conveniently under his armpit.  I left smelling like his body odor.  Bus riding is so glam!

Lukey turned one. He learned how to walk & talk, hit & scream.  We took away his pacis per Dr. P's lecture at the last appt.  Lots of tears & screaming....and it wasn't easy for Lucas either.   I would have previously remedied any unwanted sound from Lukey's mouth by popping a paci in.  Not so much anymore though.  (although, the tv remote just so happened to need new batteries today and I just so happened to go where we keep batteries and found where Derek just so happened to hide the bag of pacis from me & Lucas. Yes, they needed to be hidden from me.)

We got engaged.

We put an offer in on a house.

I panicked.  I don't want to clean, organize, pack, unpack, decorate, or buy anything.  Maybe "panicked" should be updated to....I'm panicking?

I felt this way the last time I left my old apt.  and every other time I've ever had to move.  I always second guess the move and start thinking of the good old times with the place I'm leaving.

The old MR Apts have been good to us.  They switch the air fresheners in the hallway & garage according to season.  It was switched to cinnamon today.  Merry Christmas!  Speaking of Christmas, we got a note from a neighbor asking if we took their rubbermaid storage box of handmade ornaments and fall decorations.  Speaking of notes, we got a note from the leasing office requesting us to stop smoking.  A neighbor had complained and said they saw us smoking in the hallway.  Clearly the neighbors have never seen us.  And clearly it's the lady across the hall who's apt reeks of smoke.

Things I will not miss- the garage door going up & down and shaking our walls. The slamming door.  The ukrainans above us who push their 8 year old in a stroller.  The doll size washer & dryer that takes 3 loads to do 1 week worth of Lucas's clothes.  The way our bedroom wall shakes to the beat of people's music when they are at the stoplight outside our window.

I've told Derek that sometimes I wish I could get outside fast enough to shake my fist at people who have loud cars, loud music or drive too fast.  Again with the feeling old thing I guess.  Maybe it's more than a feeling?

The highlight of my week has been a tie between two skyway sightings.
1. woman wearing white tights in November.  She encompassed everything I can vaguely recall from the year 1990.
2. Following a woman who wore a tan/camel colored business skirt suit, with a matching "Madeline" style hat (you know, round with a brim sitting kind of on top of your head but kind of looks like it's going to fall off) and carrying nothing but a bag of hamburger buns.