Baby Banana Enters Preschool

HA - psyche! But in response to Fraulein N's comment on my last update, I wanted to remind y'all: no kids for me, thank you very much! Not now, not 5 years from now, not ever. (And please don't say, "Oh, you'll change your mind" or I'll scream! I'm nearly 30 years old - I think I know what I want at this point!) Mr. Banana and I get to babysit for our friends' kids occasionally and that's quite enough hands-on time with little ones. We get to have our fun and then take a nap, too!

MetroDad recently wrote a post about how it's hard for parents to carve out any alone time for themselves, and I feel for you guys, I really do. Not to rub it in your faces but not being a parent, I've got nothing BUT free time to fill in any way I please. (Minus those pesky 8-1/2 hours I'm at work every day.) And that's become an interesting subject for me and Mr. Banana lately. How should we spend our free time?

We, like most other people, end up getting sucked into the daily routine of working, walking the dogs, cleaning up around the house, making dinner, and then collapsing onto the couch in exhaustion. (Seriously, how do people with kids do all that PLUS take care of the kids? Oh my god, I'm overwhelmed just thinking about it!)

Many nights, I would automatically flip on The Daily Show at 8 pm and then end up watching tv for two hours before bed because I felt like I deserved that break. But the truth is that 95% of the stuff on TV these days is total crap, and I was wasting precious free time staring mindlessly into the boob tube. I knew there were other things I could be doing with my time, but turning on the TV was just so easy.

Now, thanks to the excellent book I'm reading for my book club (Water for Elephants by Sara Gruen), I've snapped myself out of that mind-numbing cycle. Now instead of grabbing for the remote control, I reach for my book, turn on Slacker radio, and put my feet up on the couch while that evil TV stays hidden in its armoire. When it's time to go to bed I feel satisfied and am always reluctant to put my book down (really, is there anything better than a fabulous book?), instead of still feeling drained and frustrated that yet another day has come and gone without me doing something I actually find enjoyable - and that tomorrow will no doubt be an exact repeat of the day before. No more!

Other, more worthwhile weeknight activities I'm pursuing are:

• Painting the birdhouse I received from my Oma and Opa for the wedding (even if you say "No Gifts!" many people still insist...)
• Using the German language software that my father got me for Christmas two years ago
• Looking through my binder of recipes from Real Simple and planning delicious, healthy meals for the week ahead
• And now I can write in my blog again, too!

Thinking past weekday evenings, Mr. Banana and I have also had a wonderful, fun idea on how to spend some of our weekends! But I'll save that for another post soon...

So how do you spend your free time during the busy work week? Or are you a parent of young kids who doesn't get a moment of rest until your head hits the pillow?

What boredom at work will do to you.

Well, hello there! Thanks for stopping by this barren wasteland of a blog! Look at me - I'm actually writing! It's only been six months, so not too bad considering the length my prior hiatus...

Why am I updating now? Because I'm bored at work! It's Friday. My boss isn't in the office. And I have nothing left to plan. So here I sit! Lucky you. (*snort*)

What's new with me: a lot. Especially lately - the last two weeks have been crazy.

First of all, June 6 we got married! The planning started in November when my mom showed me this venue - a fruit and flower farm in the countryside outside of Rochester. Even though I did not want to get married in NY (DC would've been so much more fun for my German relatives to visit!) the place was just perrrrrfect. And so the planning began.

I was the most laid-back bride (no bridesmaids, no bachelorette party, no bridal shower, and we requested no presents) -- up until the wedding day. Somewhere around t-minus 3 hours to the ceremony I turned into a full-fledged Bridezilla. The stress of doing all the planning (because let's be honest, Eric - his real name - didn't take sole responsibility for ANY of the planning) and then wanting everything to be just as I'd planned it made me snap. "WHY ARE THESE PLACECARDS LAYING FLAT LIKE THIS?!? WHY AREN'T THEY IN ALPHABETICAL ORDER?!?" Oh, because the wind blew them off the table and I put them back like this so they wouldn't blow away again.

Oh. Whoops.

So aside from being stressed out for half of the wedding, it was lovely. The weather was absolutely amazing, the food was great, and everything was beautiful. The reception was in the orchard's 200 yr old barn! We got to eat - which lots of people told me they barely got to do at their weddings. At our wedding food was the focus of the party. We didn't dance (there was just background music played from our laptop through computer speakers) - so no first dance, no father-daughter dance, no Macarena - none of it. And it totally felt right. The only thing people warned us of that came true was that it went by too quickly. It really did feel like it was over in a flash. (Oh, and by the way: because it was D-Day, the town we were in for the "after party" had fireworks that went off just as we were arriving there! It was perfect!)

(Click on the photo collage to view it full-size.)


We didn't go on a honeymoon because we'd been in NY for a week before the wedding to visit with my German relatives. We finally figured out where we're going to go - but I'll save that for a surprise as we haven't booked it yet and if I tell the internet then someone else might see our plan and book it before we can! But trust me - it's going to relaxing and lovely...and way too far away from right now. January 2010 seems like a lifetime away!

So we came right back to DC after the wedding and shortly thereafter, our dog 11 yr old Blue starting acting very lethargic. He'd suddenly seem better - and then go back to walking at a snail's pace on walks or hardly even wagging his tail (a sure sign something was wrong). After a particularly low day, we made an appointment at the vet for him - and after x-rays and an ultrasound, they told us his spleen had to come out. Um, what?

Two days later, he had major surgery to remove the very large organ (he came out weighing something like 6 lbs less). Amazingly, he recovered like a champ. They even walked him into the exam room when we came to the vet hospital that very night! The poor guy had to wear a cone on his head for TWO WEEKS while he covered - but man, did he need it. I would often take the cone off to give him a break from him and sure enough, seconds later, he'd be trying to lick the staples in his belly. (Don't get mad, I'd keep reminding myself. He's just a dog and he personally doesn't care if he's going to infect his wound.)

Three days after his surgery, we got the call from the vet that the tumors on Blue's spleen had been biopsied...and one of them was a hemaniosarcoma. Cancer. *sigh*

Here's the real kicker. A few hours later, Eric's mom called to tell us that she had also been diagnosed with cancer.

Are you f&*%ing kidding me?

Thankfully, I can tell you now that she had successful surgery on the lump on her arm (Merkel cell carcinoma) and the biopsies on her came back and showed that the cancer had not yet spread to her lymph nodes. THANK GOODNESS!

Plus, on top of that - two days before we got the news about Blue and Eric's mom, my best friend and her husband had been out at a baseball celebrating their wedding anniversary only to come home and find their apartment - which they were in the process of packing up to move into the house they just purchased - had been robbed.

And keep in mind, this was also the week that celebrities were dropping like flies - and there was a terrible, terrible metro crash here in DC.

We were reeling!

It felt like all the bad news had passed, but then we got hit again last night. My mom called to say that early yesterday morning, thieves had broken into her house while she slept upstairs. They took all of the keys by the back door and then proceeded to steal her car from the garage.

Seriously - what the hell is wrong with people?!?

All this has us really put us in the mindset of "Life is short." So tomorrow morning? A guy is coming over to our house to give us an estimate on an in-ground pool. Yes, I'm sure it'll be very expensive. But we've both always wanted to have a pool, we don't forsee moving out of the area ever - if not for a very long time, and it is really freakin' hot here. Let's do this!

I hope you're all doing well... I do check in on people's blogs from time to time, and I imagine I'll be able to do it more often now that I'm done planning the wedding and the honeymoon! The only thing left to occupy our time is our garden and dealing with the produce that's coming out of it (starting to become a full-time job at this time of year)! So here's to hoping that I will be able to update more than twice a year. See you again soon!