News? What News?

Things are as usual here, in Raleigh. We stay busy with work and the house and the baby. And Mark stays busy just growing up, which takes a lot of energy and determination on his part. I'm trying to create some sort of a daily schedule, which takes a lot of determination on my part. Mark still sleeps with us. Occasionally, we try to put him in his crib for the night, but the most he stays there is an hour or so. It's probably better that he sleeps with us for now anyway. This way, we all get enough sleep and Mark gets his night-time feeding.

What does he do so far (other than eat, sleep, and poop)? Actually, quite a lot. He loves any kind of bright moving things (a mobile, a ceiling fan) and follows them really well. He also likes laying on his TinyLove playmat and watching the toys. Occassionally he swats them with his hands, mostly by accident. Sometimes he also grabs them and pulls. He doesn't like pacifiers. Instead, Mark has figured out how to put bring his fist to his mouth and suck on it. It's a big deal for such a little baby. And of course he makes lot of different faces, interesting noises (aghh and coo and such), etc. He holds his head very well and recently learned to dig his heels down and raise and arch his lower back and butt. This comes in handy at bath time - we don't need to flip him over any more.

The big news around is that Mark had a first date. And yes, it was with a little girl, named Olivia. Actually, the playdate was arranged by myself and Olivia's mom, Melanie. We met on-line through TriangleMommies.com. Melanie lives only minutes away. Turns out, Olivia is only 3 days younger than Mark. It's great because they have the same interests during the walks - sleeping. That allows Melanie and myself a much-needed chatting time. The first playdate was a huge success and we decided to make it a weekly thing.

This weekend is my BIG SPRING CLEANING. So far Chris and I only managed to finish our bedroom and Mark's room. But we pretty much cleaned everything from ceiling to floor, including cleaning the windows and washing the curtains. Tomorrow we'll be working on finishing the kitchen (I'm keeping my fingers crossed). If it happens, I'll finally post kitchen pictures.

2 Months

Hooray! Mark is 2 months old! I wanted to post this on Monday (9 April), but decided to wait until after his check-up. So he's really 2 months and 1 day old now :)

We found out today that he's 11lbs 4oz (about 5 kg) and 22 inches (55 cm). I was looking through some of his old pictures and couldn't believe how tiny he was - all his clothes were too big for him. And now he actually outgrew several of his outfits.

He got his gift a bit early. It was a TinyLove SuperDelux playmat. He seems to enjoy it, although his mobile is still a clear favorite. Mark also holds his head very well (even though it accounts for almost 1/3 of his body weight - a big noggin'). When we hold him upright, he doesn't even care for us to support his head. And when we lay him on his stomach, he can hold it at about 45-degree angle for several seconds. He's as cranky as ever, but he also smiles when in a good mood. A couple of days ago we gave him a binky (pacifier) and it seemed to work - the crying stopped. However, he's not too fond of it. We don't mind it too much - fewer bad habits to break later on. We're still struggling with making him sleep in his crib at night.

Today he'll be sleeping with us though because he also got a series of shots today. One shot was actually given orally in form of drops. But the other three were for real and they probably hurt too. But Mark was a real trooper - he only cried a little bit on his last shot and then calmed down right away. Of course, he's crankier than normal tonight so we don't want to make him feel any more uncomfortable.

Oh, in other news, last Sunday we went to the Raneissance Fair at the Fairgrounds. It was Easter Sunday, so there weren't that many people. Still, it was a busy place. We spent 4 hours there walking around. So first we stopped by the Queen's court and watched her knight little boys and girls (beats shacking Easter Bunny's paw!). Then we watched a magician, a team of acrobats, a dulcimer player. Slowly we made it to the other side of the fair just in time to see some sword fighting. Chris really got into this one. It took some effort to lead him away and to a tent with different crafts and period costumes for sale. Of course, there was tons of different food there. At first I wanted a funnel cake, but they just didn't look right (couldn't compare with the ones sold in Daytona). So we settled for fish and chips. By the way, not a single vendor was selling turkey legs - a big mistake! At the end of the day we watched the most important show of them all - the jousting match. And that was really cool!

TGIF

Yes, it's Friday, finally!!! The week went by very quickly and wasn't as exhausting as the previous one. And yet we're all tired and looking forward to this weekend. A lot of small stuff happened this week:

Home improvements are moving along nicely. The shelves are up, although need a coat of poly to protect the paint. The fridge is connected to the water line; so we can stop buying all that bottled water now.

I continue my get-back-in-shape program (see my other blog). Today marks the end of 2nd week of consistent effort on my part to get back in shape. Yes, it takes 6 weeks to form a habit or so they say. Nevertheless, I'm treating myself to a dinner out at a local burger joint, The Five Guys.

Chris is splitting time between work, college (he is doing awesome, getting straight As), home improvement (see above) and helping me with Mark. Here they are working out together, doing push-ups.

And speaking of Mark... He's really grown and is about 10lbs. We'll find out his exact weight on Tuesday at his 2-month check-up. Occassionally he sleeps in his crib for several hours at night. Then he wakes up for a diaper change and a feeding and we bring him to bed with us. Since he sleeps a lot in his crib now, we put up an anti-cat net over it. So the mobile had to be moved. It is now over the changing table and Mark absolutely loves it. His favorite animal apparently is the giraffe. Mark's 2-month birthday gift arrived a bit early. It's a TinyLove SuperDelux playmat. It's totally cool and entertaining even for very young babies. Plus when done playing Mark just falls asleep on it.

April Fool's Day

Mazltov! Our kitchen is now ready and all are invited to check it out!

Did you fall for it? If yes, see the title of this post and check today's date. Nope, the kitchen is still being worked on. But the hour draws near when I can finally sigh with relief and post the before and after pictures on my blog.

But most of the work is done. The countertop is in and all the things that were wrong with it were fixed. The electrical work is done and so is plumbing. We might even put the refrigerator in its permanent place tonight. Most of the space is functional and we even cook. Today Chris is working on getting the shelves up. We ordered some from Lowe's, but they weren't the right kind. Oh well, we just went with a cheaper DIY version and I think it'll look even better in the end.

I'm totally excited about the dining area. The table and chairs are very sturdy and comfortable. They are large, but fit into the space very well. And once we put a bench under the window, it'll be absolutely awesome.

So the things that we have to finish got a bit shorter:

- paint the shelves and put them up

- assemble the bench and paint it

- hang the curtains

- put the last 3 switch plates up

- move the refrigerator and

- clean up!

But for now I'm posting a picture of the exterior of our house. It looks especially beautiful now with the crab-apples a-blooming. And they smell nice too!

Parents' Visit

It was a cold and dark morning when my parents got in their car and started driving south on I-95. Some 10 hours later, after getting lost and found a couple of times, they arrived right into the sunny and cheerful North Carolina spring.

What kind of stuff can one do when it's 80 degrees and sunny outside, flowers are a-blooming, birds - a-chirping, and everything around you is so bright and fresh, as if it all just sprang out of an Easter basket! Mom got right to cooking enormous quantities of steamed meatballs with vegetables and portobello mashrooms, creamy mashed potatoes, and spinach soup. And that's on top of various yummy home-made spreads and cheese-and-spinach pirogi she brought with her.

Dad stayed busy as well. He mostly concentrated to chilling with Mark with occasional breaks for calling friends and relatives to let them know that he was chilling with Mark. It was funny to see how nervous Dad would get every time Mark would make a sound, any sound. Convinced that Mark loved being serenaded, Dad stomped the grounds rocking him to sleep while singing old revolutionary marches mixed for full effect with old street ballads about Odessa, a girl named Murka, and the use of one's trousers as sails.

It was a surprise that with schedule this busy we managed to go on quite a few walks. Most of them were in the immediate neighborhood. But we also went to our favorite lake, Lake Johnson, on Saturday. As always, it was absolutely perfect there - plenty of people of all ages walking, running, biking, playing with their dogs, fishing. Only this time the boat house was open for business and there were plenty of paddle boats criss-crossing the lake.

The rest of the day (they really stayed only for one full day) was spent mostly at home, trying to eat as much of the fresh yummy food as possible, taking plenty of pictures, playing with Mark, playing with Xander when Mark was being changed or fed (quite often) or just relaxing. After all, everyone that comes here says it feels like a beautiful dacha here, only without all the hard gardening work.

1 Month

Mark is 1 month old today. Hooray! It's been a very short month for us. For the first 2 weeks I wasn't working, plus Mom was staying with us. That preserved my sanity.

Unfortunately, I had to start work when Mark turned 2 weeks. Some people say that it's ok since I work from home and that it's a lot better and easier than if I worked in a traditional office. These people obviously have not a clue. First of, if I worked in a normal office environment, I would stay at home for longer, at least 6 weeks - that's the earliest a child can be sent to a day-care. And then, I wouldn't have to multi-task the way I do now - raising a baby full-time (with all the feedings, diper changes, pacifing, etc) and working full-time (answering the phones, sending e-mails, handling projects, etc).

But let's talk about positive things for a change. So, Mark is 1 month old. Boy, did he change. He gained plenty of weight (our scale is not working, but I think he's about 8lbs now). And he grew too, by about an inch. So he's actually growing out of some of his cutest outfits. As a matter of fact, I'll be retiring a couple of his outfits tomorrow and yes, I will frame them and hang them on the wall in the baby's room. Mark's eyes are still blue, of course, but his hair is getting a bit lighter and looks like he just might take after his daddy and become a red-head.

All the physical changes are exciting. But the best thing is watch him develop new skills. It might seem that a little baby is nothing buy an eating-pooping-crying machine. Sure thing, he does a lot of these things. But he does other stuff as well. For example, he stays awake for quite a while now. And while awake, he looks around, lifts his head when on his tummy, cooes, pays attention to a rattle (if someone shakes it). In short, he's a busy bee.

To celebrate his first mini-birthday Chris and I got some cake (Red Velvet, if anyone's interested) and some Applebee's takeout. And of course, we drank to Mark's health - a glass of wine for Chris and a bottle of water for myself.

Spring

Finally, the spring seems to be arriving to NC. It's still chilly in the mornings, but warms up to 65F by afternoon. Daffodils, crabapples, forzicias and other flowers, shrubs and trees which names I have no idea of are blooming. And even pine trees look more cheerful.

We take Mark on much longer walks now, sometimes for up to an hour and a half. He sleeps through most of it. He is just 1 day shy of being 1 month old. I was actually going to post this on 9 March. But things are quiet today at work (so far) and Mark is sleeping peacefully in his crib. So why not take this opportunity and post some pictures. Here they are...

Busy Bees

Mom left last Saturday. And I'm back to work as of last Monday, 26 February. So I'm super-busy and at times loose my head alltogether. I type with one hand now - slow process. Wish had more toe dexterity! Mom being here was a huge help. She basically did all the house work. Also, she'd watch the baby sometimes so I could eat lunch or even go to a store real quick. I was kind of freaking out when she left, but now I'm getting used to it. Besides, she left us a freezer full of home-cooked meals :)

Chris works full time, studies full time and helps out with house work and with taking care of Mark. Oh, and there's still kitchen remodelling to take care of. The counter-tops were installed last Friday, finally. All the plumbing was hooked up on Monday (Roto-Rooter is a rip-off). Now just the back-splash and electrical stuff left.

Mark is growing fast (tfu-tfu-tfu). Last week we went to the doctor for a check up. Mark was already 7lb and he wasn't 2 weeks old yet! Remember, he started with 5lb 15oz. The circumcision healed completely in less than a week. His umbilical stump fell off on 26 February. So now he's ready for a real bath, not a sponge bath. He sleeps a lot, but also stays awake more now, sometimes up to 30 minutes at a time. And his gaze is a lot more focused and alert. He also lifts his head a bit and can hold it for a sec or two whn on his belly. His hear is getting lighter. I think he'll be a red-head :)

We go on walks every day. It's hilly here - great butt work out. I'll have buns of steel in no time :) I'm desperate to loose weight and get back in shape. Last Saturday I walked all the way around lake Johnson pushing a stroller. It's about 3 miles and gets very hilly too. But I still have extra weight. My highest pregnancy weight was 148lbs. I'm down to 129lbs now - a far cry from my original 116lbs. But I'll start working out as soon as the doctor allows me.

With all this Xander fills a bit neglected. I hardly ever pet him and Chris has almost no time for him either. At least Xan still comes over and sleeps in our bed at night (and sometimes during the day).

It's not DiGiorno, it's delivery

Ok, so on Friday, 9 February, I was going to stop by my doctor for a weekly check. Then I was going to get through an uneventful work day and in the evening - kick back, order some pizza (we still don't have a kitchen), and watch a movie with Chris.

Instead, at 9:30 am my doctor sent me straight to the birthing center at Rex Hospital. I was going to have labor induced after all. Both Chris and I were in shock, to say the least. After all, I was so confident that it wasn't time yet, that I didn't even bother taking my cell phone with me or eating breakfast for that matter. While I was checking in, Chris rushed home to pick up my hospital bag, call my parents, and do all the last-minute stuff. In the mean time, I realized that I might be going without any food for as long as 24 hours (and I was starving already!). My pizza night was cancelled! Mercifully, my doctor thought that it was a bit unfair for me to go through the whole day without any food. So she allowed me to order a small breakfast from the hospital's cafeteria.

Right after I was done with scrambled eggs and turkey sausage, nurse Rachel hooked me up to an IV and to all sorts of monitors. It was all rather exciting, to be hooked up to all sorts of machines. But the novelty wore off and I decided to catch up on TV viewing. Chris got back and we just spent time in the birthing room chatting, flipping through magazines and watching Discovery Channel.

I'm not going to talk about my labor in all the details. Let's just say that it wasn't nearly as bad as I thought it'd be. The hours went by very quickly and next thing I knew, it was already dark outside. The pain grew steadily and at some point got pretty bad. But epidural solved this problem and once again I simply laid there and watched TV. The whole thing seemed kinda unreal. I still couldn't believe that I was about to have a baby. Even when I had to start pushing, it still seemed like just some odd procedure completely unrelated to having a baby. (By the way, I was asked if I wanted a mirror in the room so I could watch the delivery. NO, THANK YOU!)

Chris was with me the whole time and it really helped me a lot. He didn't faint or any such thing and he got to see the baby before I did and cut the umbilical cord. Little Mark was born at 11:01pm on 9 February 2007. He was 5lb 15oz and 19.5in - a perfect size little baby-boy as far as I was concerned. Immediately, he proved that he's got a great pair of lungs and that he could kick real well. Just as I was ready to be moved to the recovery room, my parents showed up (I think they set a new record driving from New York to Raleigh). Mark was taken to the nursery for some tests while I was transfered to the recovery room (in a wheelchair too!) flanked by my parents and Chris.

What It Takes to Remodel a Kitchen

When we bought this house, one of the first things that we knew we would have to take care of was the kitchen. It was ugly, unkempt and hopelessly outdated. Did I mention that this house was a rental property for quite some time? And it was rented out to a bunch of college students who apparently didn't bother cleaning up, like, ever.

So we were looking at a big project - installing all new cabinets, new counter top, sink, faucet, new stove and refrigerator, new lighting, not to mention all the painting and such. It definitely sounded like a big pain in the neck and an expensive one as well. Of course, we had no idea how big and expensive it would turn out to be. Or how long it would take for that matter.

First, we contacted a kitchen designer. I won't mention her name because what happened next was really not all her fault. We paid her $300 to come up and listen to our laundry-list of needs and wants. She make some suggestions, criticized our $10,000 budget as unrealistic, and took some rough measurements. In the end, she produced a very rough drawing of what the kitchen would look like and said that a more detailed blueprint would be available at Lowe's. At this point we decided to fire her and deal directly with Lowe's. Should've thought about it sooner - would've saved $300 bucks! And here's the thing - if you're planning on keeping the same footprint, just spend 2-3 evenings at a book store browsing through remodeling magazines and books for design ideas that can be copied. Even if you are planning on changing the layout of the kitchen, it would make more sense for me to hire a contractor, not a designer, for sound advice and estimates.

To make the long story short, we had to increase our budget to about $15,000 and try to stick to it. To accomplish this, Chris would have to do a lot of work himself - all the demolition and a lot of construction work as well. We also decided to keep the footprint the same and not move appliances or walls. All these savings allowed us to upgrade to semi-custom cabinets and a quartz counter top.

All this was ordered at the end of November. The refrigerator and the smooth-top stove arrived in the first week of December and the cabinets - shortly before Christmas. We had to use our empty living room as a staging area to a great delight of our cat, Xander, who thoroughly explored each box. With the cabinet installation scheduled for the second week of January, Chris started demolition. First, he removed ugly popcorn ceiling and worn and torn bead board. Even though he tried to isolate the construction zone by hanging sturdy plastic curtains and taping them to the floor, there was still a lot of dust all around the house.

The next step was to remove the existing cabinets and appliances. We were very nervous about it. In our old kitchen, we had a soffit going along the wall on top of the cabinets. These had to be removed as well to accommodate for the tall new cabinets. We were afraid that we'd find open ceiling joists. To our huge relief there was an existing ceiling underneath all but one of the soffits. We still had some nasty surprises. For example, we found out that the exhaust fan over the stove was simply a bathroom fan, rigged with, get this, a piece of an extension cord and vented to the outside. It was clearly not in compliance with any fire codes and Chris tore it down. He patched the ceiling with new drywall. For now we decided to live without an exhaust. The kind that we need, an island-style hood, is simply too expensive. But Chris made sure that everything was rigged right for when we do get one.

Another big thing was converting an existing under-the-stairs pantry to house a counter-depth refrigerator. Our designer made it sound like a very simple thing - just take the door down, remove the shelves and voila! In reality, Chris found out that he also had to enlarge the doorway, build additional supports, do extensive drywall repair, not to mention to wire a new outlet and connect a copper pipe for water.

The cabinets were installed in 2 days and they look absolutely wonderful. As soon as they were in place, we had the counter top templated. In the mean time, Chris was working hard on the pantry conversion, painting the entire kitchen, wiring new lights, and installing new bead board and chair rail in the dining area.

So far it's been one full month since the remodeling started in earnest. And we are still a few weeks away from completion. The reason is that the counter top installation is being delayed! Instead of 4 weeks we were guaranteed, it's taking close to 6 weeks. And of course, we have to wait for that to be done before installing a stove, a dishwasher, and a sink. And after all that's done, Chris will still have to work on installing back splash (we decided to do a bead board back splash) and hang some shelves.

In the mean time, the kitchen is absolutely unusable. We survive on hot dogs and frozen dinners. Saves on cooking time, of course. Plus in our search for the home-style frozen dinner, we have different menu every night. The other day I was flipping through "Every Day with Rachel Ray", reading through cooking instructions and just imagining myself cooking again. Pretty pathetic, isn't it?!

Happy-Happy Birthday, Chris!

How many people get depressed when they turn 30? I bet, I'll be one of them. But then you'd think it'd be a bit easier every year, until you hit 40, right? But seems like you just can't get used to getting another year older. So Chris was a bit bummed last week before turning 32. Which was a big waste of time because, as far as I'm concerned, the 30-40 age bracket is the sexiest when it comes to men (with an exception of Sean Connery). That's when their looks, brain capacity, sense of humor, and financial situation are most balanced.

As it happens, February is not such a good month for birthdays. I mean, it'd be ok if not for the cold. And this year it snowed too! Right before Chris' birthday there was a winter storm advisory. The schools got cancelled and all that. So Chris was prepared to sleep in and not go to work. At 7am on February 1 it was a beautiful almost spring-like day - sunny, few clouds, not a sign of snow - no excuse not to go to work. But by the time Chris got to his office, around 8, snow started falling. It was very light snow, nothing like a blizzard that we were promised the night before! And it didn't even stay on the ground since it was too warm. Then it changed to icy rain and finally, to just rain. Again, nothing scary or life threatening. But when Chris went to pick up his ice-cream cake at a local Carvel, the place was closed "due to inclement weather" (that was at 5pm, with not a trace of snow on the ground). Bummer!

Screw Carvel, then! Instead of munching on a cake at home, we went to an Olive Garden. Olive Garden is ok, if you ask me. Not too classy, yet a step above a diner. Plus you can eat as much salad as you want [good deal]! All in all, since the nearest Bucca di Beppo is 3 hours away, an Olive Garden will do. Their desserts are pretty good, especially if you order anything with chocolate (how can chocolate go wrong!). Chris was pretty happy about his super-chocolatie ice-cream and that's all that counted. And best of all, he took a day off from kitchen remodeling. So after all, something good always comes out from getting a bit older.

Renovations

Ok, we're still in the process of renovating the kitchen. And by "we", I mean Chris. He does all the work and I can't even help with simple things such as painting. I'm happy to say that the new cabinets are in and look great. Also, Chris widened the existing pantry and is turning it into a niche for our new side-by-side refrigerator (and it's counter-depth too!). He moved beyond cosmetic touch-ups (paint, minor drywall repairs, etc) to bigger and better things - some carpentry, some electrical work, doing new drywall, etc.

This is work in progress for now. Today Chris is fixing drywall and doing some electrical work. We should be getting our new quartz counter-top in a couple of weeks. After it's in, we'll be able to put in our new ceramic-top slide-in electric range and our almost new dishwasher. Hopefully the fridge will go in place within a week or so. As soon as the plumbing gets hooked up to the new undermount Corian sink, we'll be in business. And I can't wait since all those microwaved dinners are aweful!

Cold Snap, Flowers, and Melted Cheese

... all happen to be signs of our wedding anniversaries. First, it gets predictably cold. Just last weekend, it was a balmy 73 degrees here in Raleigh. But a couple of days before our anniversary the weather soured and temperature plunged to lower 30ies. Finally, we even got some snow that stayed for longer than 5 minutes. This is nothing new to us. After all, on the day of our wedding in Key West, with its average yearly temperatures of around 75 degrees, it dipped down to lower 50ies!

Last year, I thought that we'd turn this anniversary into a mini-vacation and go on a 3-day cruise or something like this. But with me being too pregnant, we can't even drive to the mountains for a weekend, since it's more than an hour away from my doctor's office. Which, after all, is not all that bad considering how much money it saves us to stay home. And Chris has been spoiling me with all the gifts. I already wrote about the spa package. He also got me these nice flowers. Look closely and you can see the coded love message. I guess it says that I'm fun like all the yellow and pink flowers, bright like the white ones, beautiful like the lilly-looking ones, undemanding like ferns, fragile like baby-breaths, and am overall the most adorable thorn-in-one's-side a husband can wish for (that's the prickly flowers).

We also went out to our traditional anniversary restaurant, the Melting Pot, for dinner. Of course, there are plenty of choices around here for a decent restaurant. And for a while I struggled between the Pot and the Angus Barn (which only sounds suspicious, but is apparently very classy and its chef defeated Iron Chef Cat Cora on the Iron Chef show). Ultimately, the Melting Pot won because fondue rules! So we had a 4-course fondue meal consisting of a four-cheeses fondue, a California salad, a Mojo style entree with a mix of shrimp, chicken, raviolli, and beef, and a chocolate-marshmallow fondue for desert. Since it was our anniversary, the hostess snapped our picture, table-side, and even framed it in a nice frame. And then on the way out, we asked her for another picture, this time - with our camera (it's taken in the wine-cellar, so the lighting really sucked).

Spa 101

For our upcoming anniversary, Chris gave me an early present - a spa package. It included an hour of massage, a manicure, a pedicure, and some other nice things. So I finally, for the first time in my life, went to a real spa.

I tried very hard to listen to all the instructions, not be late, do the right things, and in general not to embarrass myself. Oddly, I succeeded. First of, I arrived almost an hour ahead of time. I was shown into the changing room and handed a key to my own personal locker. I was to change into a soft white rob with the spa's logo and a pair of comfy white slippers. In the locker, I saw another matching piece of fabric that looked like a sarong wrap. Eager to use 100% of provided services, I put it on as a skirt underneath the rob. Then I proudly shuffled into the relaxation room where the patrons wait between the treatments while helping themselves to snacks and water. To my utter surprise, I noticed that none of the other women were wearing "skirts", only robs. I sensed danger and quickly retreated back to the locker room to get rid of the "skirt". As I put it back into my locker, I realized that it was indeed a body wrap of a kind used when getting a neck and decoltage treatment! Humbled by a near-miss, I returned to the relaxation room and stayed away from snacks for fear of committing another faux pas. Finally, the other women left for their treatments and I hurriedly ate a saltine cracker and some grapes.

Then it was time for my first treatment - a massage. Since I can't get a real deal right now, I had to settle for a Mother-To-Be special massage. Actually, it was absolutely great! The massage bed was extremely comfortable complete with an oversized and, get it, heated body pillow! A warm blanket, dimmed lights, and soft music relaxed me and almost put me to sleep even before the massage session began. As for the massage itself, let's just say one thing - the following night was the first time in my pregnancy when I did not have any back pain!

After the massage and a brief stop at the relaxation room, I continued on to the next station - the pedicure. I'd never had one done before so I have no basis for comparison here. I thought that everything, from a cushy chair that not only reclined, but also massaged, to hot oil treatment to the color of nail polish, was wonderful. I traded my fluffy slippers for a pair of pink flip-flops and merrily flopped across the hallway to the manicure room.

All my previous manicure experience was limited to Vietnamese salons at various malls across the country. These are usually very crowded, noisy, and smell of acetone and other chemicals. This was a whole different affair altogether. There was no unpleasant smell and the only sounds were soft music and trickle of water from the fountain. The treatment that I got was also much nice and more thorough and included an exfoliating rub, a hand massage, and a parafin treatment. The last one gets to be boring since you sit there for 5 minutes with your hands wrapped in plastic bags wrapped in fluffy mittens. But I entertained myself looking at my newly painted toe nails.

After the manicure, I got an eyebrow wax and a haircut. Oh, and all the while, I was sipping cucumber water. I'd never had it before, but it is really pretty good. It taste more cucumbery than the cukes you buy at a grocery store and is very refreshing. Plus it has a certain snobby spa quality to it unlike say lemon water.

So all in all it was a great experience! Now I'm spoiled for life. I'm already looking forward to returning for more massages (hot stone one would be nice) and maybe some exotic facials.

Our Neighbors

We finally met most of our neighbors. No, we did not go door to door with a basket of freshly-baked muffins. I always thought that it was a bit lame. Instead, on Thursday night, one of our neighbors, Ellen, stopped by and invited us for a social at a local restaurant the following night. And so, over some really good food (mine was a monster plate of tilapia and grilled shrimp over pasta) we met and chatted with Ellen and Doug, Heather and Will, Sybil, Amanda, and others. Yes, we were all wearing name tags, but I still managed to forget some of the names. The entire social went so nicely, that we decided to have another one a couple of months down the road.

The next day, Saturday, was one of those perfect-weather days, that makes you want to get out of the house and do something, anything, just to be outside. Unfortunately, Chris also had to start demolishing the kitchen. We still managed to get out for several hours and go on a walk and have lunch at the Village Draft House, a sports bar in Cameron Village. When we got back, we were basically assaulted by girl scouts trying to sell us boxes of cookies. I really-really hate this whole thing. First of, why don't girl scouts think of something creative for once to raise money. The whole thing of turning little girls into peddlers of sugary trans-fats filled crap made by some ABC Foods or Little Brownies Bakers is pretty disgusting. Not like boy scouts are far behind with their popcorn and candy bars. And it is virtually impossible to say no to them either since their neat appearance and a pleading look make you feel like Grinch that's about to steal not only Christmas, but Easter and 4th of July as well.

New Year

Our first New Year's Eve in Raleigh turned out a lot better than I thought it would. I guess, I should take it as a sign of great things to come and adjust my usually rather pessimistic outlook accordingly.

First of, I got a very pleasant surprise at work - a promotion to a Project Manager (up from a mere Project Coordinator) and a very nice raise. Better yet, even though I went in fully prepared for some serious negotiating, it was not to be - my boss brought up the promotion and the raise himself. And since what he offered was about twice what I hoped to get out of the year-end review, I was simply stunned. Miracles do happen :)

Another nice surprise was that we were not busy at all on 31 December. And we even closed early, at about 3:30pm. That never happened before. Usually we get these awful last-minute projects right before a holiday that keep us busy until all hours. For example, for Christmas in 2005 I didn't get off work until after 7pm!

But the biggest nicest thing that happened was that my parents finally made it to NC. They arrived on Friday afternoon bearing gifts. Their blue Toyota, quickly dubbed "Welcome Wagon" was loaded with enough food to serve a holiday feast to a small and ravenous nation. Along with food, some baby stuff, and IKEA furniture, they brought plenty of crazyness and disorganized authoritativeness that distinguishes my family.

In the next 2 days we tried to show them the area, secretly hoping that they would like it enough to consider moving within the next couple of years. We already had rosy pictures of free baby-sitting on select weekends and generous helpings of freshly baked four-cheese pirogis (my Mom's specialty). And so we tried to go to the Monet exhibit, which was, as usual and to my father's great relief, sold out. And we took them to several of the stores that they do not have in Rockland County, NY (i.e. Trader's Joe). And we fed the ducks at Lake Jonhson. And we went on short walks along the greenways and around the neighborhood. And we drove through the downtown, pointing out all the advantages of living in the capital city. And did I mention reviewing real estate prospects in the area? Alas, that was not to be. It's not that the parents remained completely unresponsive to the area's attractions. It's just considering our past, they don't entirely believe that we'll stay put for any significant length of time. To be honest, we're not that certain either, again, given our previous history of almost semi-nomadic existence.

For New Year's Eve Mom pretty much took over the kitchen and I was not going to object either. I was a bit sick and anyway, it was getting rather difficult to move much with a size 42 belly. But I did my fair share of holiday cooking. I made a pot roast (ok, so it was pre-marinated and then done in a slow cooker; but I did cut the veggies) and an apple pie (ok, so what it had crust made out of Pillsbury sugar cookies). And Mom made a traditional "Olivier Salad" and tons of little sandwiches and other yummy stuff. So our little card table was positively overflowing with food. Chris made me proud by eating not one, but two herring sandwiches! I think he's getting more and more used to weird Russian food. Mom drank two tablespoons of champaign and got tipsy. Dad entertained us by calling all his friends and acquaintances to wish a happy New Year.

Xander, oblivious to the holiday, stretched out on the floor acting cute. We stayed up until midnight and heard fireworks at the FirstNight Raleigh celebration in the downtown. All in all, it was a very nice New Year's celebration. And the important thing was I finally didn't bother making any resolutions!

New Windows

The new windows are in! They were installed yesterday and we're already seeing improvement, quite literally. The old windows have not been washed for some time, especially on the outside. And plus their seals were worn out, so the condensed moisture collected between the panes. So it all looked very crappy. But with the new windows (and a large patio door) we can see clearly now!

Also, these windows seem to provide a much better insulation than the old ones. First, these are energy-efficient argon filled pure-vinyl windows. Second, the installers caulked all the little cracks between the windows and the house frame. So now we can sit/stand near any of the new windows for quite some time and not freeze. And did I mention that unlike our old painted-shut windows, these ones are very easy to open?

It's too bad that only half of all the windows in the house got replaced though. But hopefully we will come into money (miracles happen, you know) and fix this issue.

Greenways

Raleigh is a great city to live in. So says Money magazine and after being here for only a couple of months, we agree. What makes it so great? Well, there are plenty of places to go make money (jobs) and then go spend money (shops, movies, clubs, restaurants). It's still relatively warm here in winter, compared to New York, yet the seasons are more pronounced than in Florida. There are more country radio stations than hip-hop ones (something I personally am very greatful for). The schools are very good and there are several good universities in the area as well. And it's beautiful here too except for newly developed North Raleigh areas.

We knew all this even before we moved here. What we didn't know was that the Triangle in general and Raleigh in particular have a well-developed system of greenways and hiking and biking trails. In my present condition, I can't really do any biking or off-road hiking. But lucky me, I have miles and miles of nice paved greenways here! What are those? Those are trails, mostly paved and interconnected, that go through the woods, around the lakes, alongside the creeks of the residential and even some commercial neighborhoods. These are neither side-walks nor parks, but nature corridors that were left undeveloped for everyone's enjoyment.

The first greenway that we found was the Alleghany Trail. It starts at the North Hills Park with a steep decline and follows Crabtree Creek. It is tree-lined and quiet, except for a 20 or so yards of the Beltway underpass. Closer to the end of the trail, around Lassiter Mill site, there are large houses on both sides of the creek. We didn't mind those since they actually were very pretty and added to the scenery, especially around the old mill site and the Great Falls of Crabtree. This greenway also connects to several others, which we're planning on exploring in the future. But it is a very nice 2.4-mile walk/run/bike ride by itself.

Retail Woes

I don't go to stores on Black Friday since it's a rather stupid thing to do. First of, people do get injured and killed there. But suppose you do get a parking spot and make it into a store alive and in one piece. There are still suffocating crowds, maddening lines to changing rooms, restrooms, registers, exhausted sales people, and irritating Christmas jingles every which way you turn. The sales are not that good either. 10% off here or $20 off there - same as with any other holiday and even some non-holiday weekends. And the so-called "door busters" are mostly crap that otherwise noone would buy anyway. So I stay home on Friday after the Thanksgiving. Whatever I loose in terms of money, I save in terms of sanity and emotional well-being.

We did get to the stores this weekend though, simply had to. As I mentioned many times, our house is mostly empty. And we are remodeling. So we do need to go to stores to buy basic stuff. And then of course we find out that we don't need about half of it because it's the wrong color or just "doesn't go with anything else" and we go back to the stores to return it. Most of the times, it is not a problem. And then there's a case of Cost Plus World Market:

We had to return a seat cushion for a chair, but we lost the receipt. Not a problem, we figured, we'd just get a store credit. Right... They refused to take it back, even though the thing had all the tags attached and all. The reason - we don't have a receipt and since it's a PILLOW, they can't take it back without a receipt because it's a sanitary issue (or something like that). Ok, I can sort of understand how a seat cushion can be mistaken for a pillow by some dim sales person. What I fail to understand is how can presenting a receipt alleviate sanitary concerns that apparently arise without such a piece of paper. After some protracted arguments we did return it for a store credit. McManamans score 1-0 and take the lead!

Then on Sunday we decided to finally get some furniture for either a living room or an office. We aimed for a sleeper sofa. But first we decided to have breakfast at some greasy spoon. We drove to one such place, the Waffle House, and since all the tables were taken, got seats at the counter with a full view of the kitchen area. A Waffle House eatery is a place that we only go to once every few years. And every time we say to ourselves - never again! But the horrors wear off eventually and we return, attracted by irresistable smell of grease and the yellow shine of American Singles cheese. The strange thing is, it seems like there's a certain standard for employee selection for Waffle House franchise. I mean, every one of the places has the same crew - a mean middle-age manager with greasy hair; a fat and pimply white chick with glasses and piping voice; a disgruntled white guy in an exceptionally dirty, even by Waffle House standards, uniform...

The best seat in the house is not in a booth, but right at a counter. Your order will be taken much faster which by no means guarantees fast delivery. But more importantly, you get a chance to see your food being made. And believe me, this opportunity is absolutely priceless. Our server first searched for a stubby pencil while holding the order book in her mouth. Upon locating a pencil somewhere in the fathomless depths of her dirt-covered apron, she wrote our order down on a saliva-moistened page of this book. We then saw the same girl flipping someone's buttermilk waffle with her bare fingers - no gloves and yes, she did have what looked like an open sore on her thumb. Someone's order of hashbrowns got mixed up and the manager peeled already-melting slice of cheese off the top of hashbrowns, again, with her bare hands, and threw it violently right back into the alluminum prep basin, for the next order. We quietly paid for our orange juice and left without waiting to see how our order would turn out. Score: 2-0.

Thanksgiving Update

Our first Thanksgiving at a new place was pretty good (there's always room for improvement). My parents were going to drive down for a short visit. However, we figured out that since we had no furniture in the house except for my work desk, 2 chairs, and our bed, it was probably not the best idea for them to visit us right now. Of course, both Mom and Dad protested and assured us that they would be quite comfortable sleeping on an inflatable mattress and eating while standing up. Only with great difficulty did I manage to pursuade them to not go through with this folly. We agreed that they'll drive down here sometime in December when we're going to be better prepared to entertain.

This change of plans happened at the last moment (the day before the Thanksgiving), after I bought all the food. Not like I bought a lot of it. After all, we are still living out of a tiny dorm-size fridge (the one for beer and soda). So, for example, I didn't get a whole turkey, substituting it for a small turkey breast instead. Nevertheless, I had a task of cooking all this food last Thursday. The menu called for all the traditional stuff:

- roast turkey breast with honey-mustard glaze
- celery and mushroom stuffing
- cranberry relish
- mashed potatoes
- baked herbed sweet potatoes
- sweet and spicy green beans with turkey bacon
- pistachio salad
- and 2 pies (store-bought)

Even though we stayed in bed until 10am and then spent some time going to the Blockbuster for some last-minute rentals, I still managed to finish all the cooking by about 3pm! By about 3:30pm my work desk was transformed into a dinner table. Yes, it was not very elegant, but as I mentioned, there's a lot of room for improvement. The important thing to know here is that everything was very tasty and we totally pigged out.

Our bellies after the meal looked something like this:









And afterwards, Chris got the fire going in our fireplace and we made ourselves comfortable on a couple of blankets in the living room (remember - no furniture yet) and watched some silly movies. All in all, it was a pretty darn great Thanksgiving and that's something to be really thankful for.

More Money

Yes, that's what we need around here - more money, a lot more as a matter of fact. We don't really do much for entertaining any more (except for going to see the new "Borat" movie which by the way was hilarious!). Nor do we eat out or even spend much on groceries. And yet, with all the home improvement projects going on, we are spending way more money than we're making. And I still can't post any pictures of finished rooms.

The master bedroom is almost done though. I know, I've been saying it for some time now. But we had an unexpected problem hanging a very heavy and stupidly designed ceiling fan. So it definitely slowed things down a lot and required extra work. But it should all be ready by the end of THIS weekend. Then I'll take some pictures, if I find my digital camera.

Chris is alternating between working on the master bedroom and the office. He just started on the office, but is making quite a progress. The plan is to finish everything (remove popcorn from the ceiling, paint everything, and bring in new furniture) before the Thanksgiving. Hmm, dunno if it really is going to happen, but I'll keep you posted.

Big progress with the kitchen - we finally ordered all the cabinets and the appliances yesterday. Who would've thought that it'd take almost a month to get this part done! But we're still going to be using our tiny dorm-style fridge for a while since the new one, along with a new range and a range hood won't be delivered until the beginning of December. So, due to the space limitations, we won't have a big stuffed bird for this Thanksgiving. Instead, we're going to have just some turkey breast. Also, not much room for leftovers, which some might consider to be a good thing.

This weekend we are going on a scenic drive around Raleigh area to look for inexpensive and not overly ugly furniture. We desperately need a sleeper sofa (or a loveseat), some bookshelves, and a dinner table w. chairs. Wish us luck!

Slow day at the office

Yes, this is another slow day at the office. Of course, it's Friday, which means that we might get something big or complicated or just plain pain-in-the-butt right at 5:25pm. Our clients have done this to us before, so why should today be any different, right?

Anyway, I know, I haven't posted for a while. But here's the thing - there was nothing new to talk about. My days are spent in the house, more specifically, in the kitchen. Not like I cook that much, but my work desk doubles as a dinning-room table for the time being. So as I said, I sit here all day, staring at the computer screen or at the bushes in the yard, which is a much nicer view with all the little birds and squirrels and sometimes a big grey cat. And then in the evenings, after Chris comes home, I cook food and then go upstairs to the only other piece of furniture that we have, the mattress, to read.

The only distractions from this routine that I have are tours of the house that I give to the contractors. Yes, the renovation saga has started with no end in sight. Chris does not have much time, between full time work and full time college, to do much work around the house. Plus a lot of it is pretty specialized. So I called around and so far had 5-6 people stop by. I wouldn't call it fun, since after the first couple of tours it gets very repetitive and boring. But I'd definitely say that it's an appropriate activity for the Halloween, since most of the quotes sound very scary.

We started with our master bedroom. Chris took the nasty popcorn off the ceiling. That didn't take long nor was it very difficult. But then he had to mud the drywall. Hmm, who knew that it'd be such a complicated process. So he spent his whole weekend last week on mudding the drywall and then priming it. Some butthole advised him to not waste time on painting with a roller and a brush, but get a sprayer instead. Right... After countless hours and many cans of primer, the room looked downright scary. You see, one needs to spend several hours practicing with a sprayer before starting a job and even then, each sprayer is very different. Of course, Mr. Butthole forgot to mention that to Chris. It's a good thing Home Depot has a great return policy.

Finally, today the contractor sent his crew in and they mudded the ceiling. This took them about 2 hours and cost us about $200. It should all be dry by tomorrow and Chris plans on sanding and priming/painting it himself. Thus he'd save us about $300 - our furniture fund.

In the mean time, we met with the kitchen designer, Susannah. She came over and measured our kitchen, something that we proved to be absolutely incapable of. Now we have to go see a guy at Lowe's since he's the one actually developing the plans for cabinets. So that's going to happen this Saturday. After that's done, we'll be pretty ready to order the cabinets and appliances and countertops and a sink and a faucet and light fixtures and other odds and ends that make this project such a nightmare.

Other than that, things are going pretty well here. It's been rather cold, so I mostly stay home (since I don't have a lot of warm clothes). Yesterday I finally bought a cheapy fleece jacket. Usually it means that the next day it would get considerably warmer. It sure did, but also it started raining. So I'm locked in the house again and my only escape at the moment is a potential trip to one of the area's malls.

More About the House

So, we're settling into our new surroundings. A couple of days ago we had a new washer/dryer delivered and installed and now I can finally do laundry (can't wait, right!). Other than that, we just committed to spend some major dough to replace half the windows in the house. Why only half? Well, some day, when we get rich, we'll take care of the other half. But for now, at least we'll have nice new well-insulated windows in the kitchen and in both rooms upstairs. We hope it'll all be in place by Christmas.

The much-needed kitchen renovation is not happening right now. We tried to contact 2 designers to come out and do measurements and just kick some ideas around. As luck would have it, one was sick all last week. And the other one is waiting on some additional information from her sources in order to come up with a ball-park estimate. So there goes my plan of having a great new kitchen just in time for the Thanksgiving!

Chris started work at CarQuest. He didn't do much yesterday since they hired so many people at once that they didn't have enough computers ready for everyone. So I imagine it was pretty boring for him. The good news is the work hours are flexible - he can start any time from 7:30am to 9:00am and can even take 30 min for lunch instead of the full hour, just as long as he works his 8 hours a day. And since he has no problem waking up early, he plans on starting at 7:30, cutting his lunch break short, and being home early as well. Great plan!

I'm not posting any pictures yet because there's really nothing to post. But hopefully we'll be starting and finishing our bedroom re-design in a couple of weeks and then I'll post the before and after pix.

OUR NEW HOUSE

We finally moved to our new house in Raleigh, NC. Well, the house is actually not new at all, it being almost 30 years old. But it's new to us, so there you have it.

The first couple of days were pretty miserable, to put it mildly. We didn't get here until Saturday night and there's nothing worse than arriving to a new place at night. It is completely disorienting and demoralizing. Plus the weather was really bad - rainy and cold.

My brother, who was helping us move our meager belongings, and Chris brought all the boxes into the living room. I brought Xander in. He got so scared, poor thing, that he ran straight for one of the closets and refused to come out even when I was trying to coax him with his favorite treats. That was very much like the episode of the South Park in which Tom Cruise locks himself in the closet - very funny, but a bit sad too.

We had cold water and electricity, but no heat since our forced air system and water heater run on gas. We also had no phone service and no Internet. And did I mention we had no furniture at all? If this did not add to the misery of the whole thing, then I don't know what would've. Our realtor, Galina, stopped by with some home cooked food which we ate off of paper plates and with our hands (couldn't find any silverware).

It was really getting late and very cold. The best thing seemed to just go to bed. My brother rolled out his sleeping bag and made himself semi-comfortable in the corner of the kitchen. Chris and I huddled under a couple of blankets on a squeeky air mattress upstairs. All in all, we looked much like some bums at a bus station.

The next morning, after my brother left, we went shopping. Basically, we need pretty much everything for the house and it does feel like we're starting completely over. There were so many little everyday things that we had to buy, that we kept forgetting something or other.

But today is day 3 at our new house and things seem to be getting back to normal. Three major achievements were getting Internet connection, hot water and heating (read - showers and warm bedroom), and a new mattress. Yes, we're the proud owners of a brand new and a very comfortable Sealy and since we upgraded to queen sized one, there's plenty of room. It feels so good after months of sleeping on an old crappy mattress and especially after a couple of nights on a tiny air mattress.

Xander is back to normal and he runs around exploring all the rooms, jumping on counters, tearing toilet paper to shreds and being in general a pain in the neck, but still adorable. And that's all the news for now.