Sunny Tradition

I would love to make it a yearly tradition to take a sunny beach vacation in January or February. Nothing fancy, just the sun, a beach or pool, and a few days of doing absolutely nothing.  It's just too much with the cold and lack of Vitamin D ... I think everyone gets a little S.A.D. and stir-crazy this time of year, don't we?  Maybe we could just get a group to rent a house every year somewhere for cheap. Who's with me?

Spring couldn't come soon enough.

Little Black Rain Cloud

So Friday night, (or very early Saturday morning, whichever you prefer) at about 3:30 AM, Brody and I are jarred out of deep sleep by our apartment building's fire alarm. There were a lot of things going through my mind, a lot of emotions--fear, anger, cold, being super tired, but mostly a profound sense of severe incredulity--how was this happening? What are the odds that we get a flood and a fire within two weeks of each other??

I  had to shake Brody awake (such a lucky deep sleeper), and it took him a few moments to realize that it was the fire alarm and not his phone's alarm.  And as I clumsily put whatever clothes on I could find, because it was a balmy 16 degrees outside, we also got to experience an interesting psychological 'what would you grab in a fire' moment, but for reals.

Brody and I keep all of our most important documents and files--like birth certificates, social security cards, marriage license, etc.--in a box that I made him grab (it's too heavy for pregnant me), and then I grabbed our wedding sign-in book and albums that we keep on our coffee table. Brody grabbed our phones and ipad and stuffed them in my purse and we headed outside to join the rest of the confused tenants out in the freezing cold.  The fire department showed up really quickly, and about a half hour, they let us back in.  I'm not even sure what actually happened, I was too tired and out of it to really care, but I think someone on the 6th floor had set it off. Thankfully no one was injured, and I don't think there was any major property damage.

One other little tender mercy of the night was that literally for the first time since the day we moved to DC, our car was parked right in front of the building, so I got to sit in it instead of standing out in the cold for that half hour. Which felt like a nice win, and at this point we'll take what we can get since this little black rain cloud seems all too comfortable hovering over our heads lately.

Feeling George Banksy

I don't understand why it's so difficult/almost impossible to buy a two-sided mattress. You know, the kind you can flip--the ones that last twice as long as the stupid one-sided pillow-top crap they make now almost exclusively. The thing is, the hotel industry won't put up with that so retailers will sell the two-sided mattresses to them, while giving you and me the salesman BS about how mattresses are designed nowadays not to need to be flipped....blah blah blah... yeah right.  We all know exactly what is going on. The shady mattress people have a monopoly on two-sided mattresses, so they only sell us the one-sided junk so we have to buy them twice as often. It's the same attitude that almost completely bankrupted the american auto industry.

I've been searching high and low for a good deal on a double-sided mattress and I think my only option is going to be to buy it online. Is that completely insane?? I've checked every store I can think of in the DC metro area and the only ones that sell a double-sided mattress are Sams Club (but they only sell them as a two-pack, because, again, they are selling them to hotels) or Bloomingdales, which would cost triple what we would pay almost anywhere else.

Out of principle, and not wanting to be a complete sucker, I refuse to buy a one-sided mattress. George Banks is saying NO!

Wish me luck.

*This whole flooding fiasco has apparently aged me about fifty years and turned me into a super cynical old maid

Some Positives

After checking out of the hotel Monday morning and returning to the mess that is our home right now, I kind of had a little mental breakdown of sorts. You know when things are just past the point of overwhelming and all you want to do is go into the fetal position?  That's how Brody and I felt for most of Monday. Physically and psychologically. Mondays are bad enough, but Mondays in January, with the rest of winter ahead of you....gag. On top of the ridiculousness of our apartment, and then the stupid clean-up guys never showed up to come get their fans. It just didn't bode well for all the rest of the hassle yet to come...

But Tuesday night, after a long day of work and then going straight to the ward for YW and the bishopric meeting (for Brody). We finally got home around 9 pm and I just broke and thankfully got the clean-up bug and went to town on the mess.  And finally, around midnight I had basically organized and cleaned to the point where my sanity was coming back, and everything seemed manageable again. Phew. Even though they found more places that needed to dry and a few of the fans are still going. It's going to be okay. It's all going to work out.  It's still going to be annoying and tough for a while, but I can sense the light at the end of the tunnel again.

And in the meantime, there are some positives to look forward to:

• It's a long weekend thanks to MLK Jr day on Monday
• Which also means there should be some good sales happening because I've noticed maternity stuff just doesn't seem to want to go on sale ever.
• A long weekend means a short work week :)
• It's supposed to get up to 52 degrees on Friday and Monday
• And apparently there are some major perks to not living in Utah as far as Cafe Rio is concerned....I think we might have to buy at least ten and then just freeze them.

Un Update (with pictures)

So we are still living in a war zone. There were a bunch of de-humidifying fans going all weekend and thanks to our insurance we were able to stay in the hotel right next to our apartment building.  Having a King size bed for those nights was very much needed, but we were back in our apartment last night and have to see what they say today. We have been trying to stay positive but it's really really trying my patience and with the future so uncertain and no end-date in sight, it's really hard not to want to just break down into tears (that's probably more prego hormones than anything).  I have a lot more pictures, but here are a select few to give you a sense of what it's been like...

In case you were wondering---no, 6'2" Brody and 5-months pregnant Lindsey do NOT fit comfortably on our little full-size sofabed. Thanks to the love sac, the far end of the living room was spared from the waters so that's basically where we and all of our crap have been relegated. Doesn't just looking at the mess and chaos in these pictures stress you out??

Sorry, I know this has been a really whiny and complainy post, so in the spirit of not being completely negative, I took some pictures at the hotel too to show the contrast.

Aahhhhhhhhhh yes.  King size.
And I took a picture of my bump in the full-size mirror. Speaking of which--Brody felt baby girl kick for the first time over the weekend!  So that was a definite highlight :)

And I met up with one of my favorite friends on Friday for lunch and she was sweet enough to bring me a red velvet Georgetown cupcake so it hasn't been all bad.

Highs and Lows (oh yeah, our apartment flooded yesterday)

It has been an insane week and it's only Thursday morning.

Tuesday was such an exciting, awesome, life-experience day when we found out we were having a baby girl. We were riding high on congratulations, thoughtful notes and refining our list of girl's names.

Then Wednesday happened.

Our upstairs neighbor's pipe burst, (thanks to the crazy, record-cold temperatures and some bad decisions), which flooded our apartment. For reals this time.

There was water coming out of the light sockets, which soaked our mattress. It was seeping out of the walls and there was a few inches of water on the ground throughout most of our apartment. The poor love sac was basically a giant sponge, and is beyond saving. She had a good run and it may just have saved our computer so at least she went out like a hero. Luckily, our bedroom is the only room in our apartment with carpet so clean-up wasn't too awful--though it was pretty awful don't get me wrong, and there are a team of strangers there right now doing all kinds of stuff, so that's always fun. A lot of little things were ruined. A lot of the walls will have to be replaced, as well as the entire wood floor. They've already started tearing down the ceiling in our bedroom so yeah. To say that the last 48 hours have been a roller coaster ride of emotion, is super cliche, but really fitting.

We aren't sure if we will have to move when they start fixing everything. I'm still trying to wrap my brain around the fact that this is now a decision/thought we will have to worry about. I don't really know how to think or react. I definitely cried yesterday, and definitely wanted to shank our upstairs neighbor at one point too. I just don't know what will happen and I just don't know what to think.  Meanwhile, after one of the longest and funnest days of our lives, Brody and almost 5-months pregnant me got to share the full-size sofa bed last night. So I may just be deliriously tired, but I think this is all going to work out.

At least we aren't liable, right?? Silver lining...?

It's a Girl!

We found out we are having a GIRL!!! She was quite the busy-body and not super cooperative for the ultrasound technician (she refused to roll over) and we love her already :)

We have a short list of names but aren't going to decide for sure until we meet her in the spring!

Pedestrian Lifestyle

There are a few times when I truly hate living a pedestrian lifestyle:

1. Any time we need groceries
2. Tomorrow morning

Can't wait to walk to work in this :(

Digital Nesting

Since we live in a one-bedroom and there just isn't really an opportunity for doing any real "nesting" in our apartment, I've channeled that instinct into a form of digital nesting instead...

The dresser is actually my parent's, (there's a lower chest version too but I didn't have a picture) where I'd have the changing pad, etc. And they even have a beautiful bentwood rocker like that that I'd love to borrow. And it's pretty gender neutral if I do say so myself, since we still aren't sure if we are having a boy or girl (we had to reschedule our ultrasound for next Tuesday since the technician was sick today, ughhh).

Pretend #2

As another addition of me daydreaming... I would snatch this house up in a heartbeat! Just needs a little paint, a portico, new chippendale balustrade, some white trim. And don't get me started on the interior...