80's Quiz.

http://www.liquidgeneration.com/quiz/images/spoongagger.jpg
To link it (the actual code):

I am so happy.

I Love My New Neighborhood
Originally uploaded by elisabethie.

I absolutely love my new neighborhood -- m ore than anywhere else I've ever lived. This morning I took Emmett to a Passyunk Square playgroup and passed the two parks (each within 5 minutes of my house) down through the top of the Italian market.

EVERYTHING is here!

Stores:

• Acme (1 block away)
• CVS (open 24 hours -- 1 block away)
• Dunkin Donuts
• Park (across street)
• Busy shoipping district (Passyunk Ave) a few blocks away.
• Fine restaurant (across from park)
• Breakfast diner (Greek and 4 houses down)• TONS of restaurants (all along Passyunk
• Great newspaper
• Weight lifting (across street in park)
• Public Transportation (5 doors away)
• Police Station (behind our house)
• Fire station (behind our house)
• Artist Group, Tree beautification group, Parenting Group, Town watch

Our House
• Big backyard
• 1 1/2 baths
• 3 Bedrooms
• Great breeze (nothing blocking backyard)
• AWESOME neighbors (mix of older and younger)
• Tree in front of our house

And more, more more!
Our friends are moving here. Emmett loves it. I love it. I wish we were all moved in.

This just in.

I don't ususally post "sales" on this site, but I have to.

Dr. Martens is having a special online sale becuase they changed their website.
Apply code DMFF4005 and get 40% off any Dr. Martens! But you should hurry. This was on slickdeals and my guess is it will end fast.

I got Emmett a pair of these. The total was $30 with $4.95 shipping.

Here's the link.

The view is better than we dreamed.

The Walk to Paradise Garden
Originally uploaded by elisabethie.

Walking into our new house was like walking over the threshold the night of our wedding.

It was a moment that was wrought with excitement, yet proved somewhat uneventful. We just stood there, looking around at the fake brick and the aqua rugs like we were in the icon section of the Met.

And within the hour, the house will filled with the people that we came here for, all of whom were excited and bustling -- making us feel more excited than we ever imagined. And sitting there, among the 6 people, I felt completely and utterly at home. Like this is it. This IS the clearing. We made it.

Thank you.

JB-For helping me pack twice, and making me pack longer than I would have. For being with me Thursday morning and not judging me, for listening to my laundry and for being so incredibly positive when you saw the house. For loving the neighborhood. For noticing the "cool" people. For your imaginings of the future. For accolades on the yard...for being "in this with us" -- completely and entirely.

AG-For your incredible positivity. For being as cool as you are. For liking the fireplace and the brick and for basically saying you like the house the way it us. For your glowing positivity on all the aspects we thought we desperately needed to change. And for the comment "This is the next Bella Vista". You have no idea of what that means to me.

CB-For skipping your commitment on Thursday night to just hang out with us and be there with us. For your confident comments and your support. For understanding the complications of everything with this move. For listening as I went on and on about how great everything was and for getting into the walks and the neighborhood.

SC-For coming over as soon as you could and talking to MG about the details of the house and how to work things out. For making me know that you truly are a dear old friend, and for being there during our first moments, even though you're not into traditional house settings.

CD-For your GLOW which was spreading everywhere. For LOVING everything in the house. For saying that it was better than you imagined. For every glowing remark you made -- from the CVS to the walls to the people to the neighborhood to the pizza corner, you were a beacon of positivity and you simply loved everything.

WS-You came at a moment's notice and are so genuinely happy that we're in the same neighborhood -- a place you love as much as we do. You were smiling the whole time, making us feel like you've been waiting for us -- despite everything that's happened.

AT: For listening as I told you the entire story, beginning to end today. For selflessly taking care of Emmett all day...and all night, knowing that you'd be missing out on something. For loving us and encouraging us and supporting us through this whole thing. You are amazing.

Thursday morning, before settlement, I was petrified of this whole process. And JB and AT were there to attest. All morning, I was frazzled and shakey, doing strange things and unable to relax. I have never bought a house before, and until the very last minute, I was acting totally weird.

Our settlement was so incredibly warm -- to the point that the owner's son was moved to tears. I adore the family that lived in that house. The memories they shared were soaked with beauty.

God has blessed us beyond relief.

I can't believe we own a house.

Tomorrow

class_trip
Originally uploaded by elisabethie.

is like a class trip for me.

I'm filled with anticipation and am consumed with thoughts equilivent to wrapping my can of soda in aluminum foil, so it stays cold.

But in reality, tomorrow's our house settlement. And somehow the only way to describe the anticipation, the excitement and the nervousness is how I felt at 7 years old, knowing that tomorrow was the day I'd been waiting for since I brought in my signed permission slip.

At a wedding I went to this weekend, I stood in an unairconditioned bathroom with 2 girls from high school and talked about anxiety -- something all 3 of us share. Since I was 7 years old, I've gotten an anxiety attack on almost every class trip I attended. This analogy for me isn't just about the excitement. It's about an anticipation so great, it swerves into nervousness.

I feel slightly unable to do anything. Jessica and Faith have been the air in my windmill. They are the ones that helped me get anything done. Other than that, I'm just sitting around with flies in my stomach, unsure of exactly what to do.

I took this from Fritz's blog:

What Famous Leader Are You?
personality tests by similarminds.com

I LOVE the Kennedys as a few of you know.

And here's the other one on the site:

What Classic Movie Are You?
personality tests by similarminds.com

& Me.

Melissa, Donna & Me
A McDonalds commercial song from the 80's

Melissa, Donna & Me
(really havin' a ball)
On a Saturday Spree
(for the fun of it all)
Every shops full of fun
Trying everything under the sun.
There's one more stop to make today
Cause you deserve a break today...
at McDonalds.

_______________________________________

It occurred to me recently that this 80's McDonalds commercial, featuring 3 pre-teens gliding through the mall, is constantly (and forever) stuck in my head.

The picture above is of two girls named "Melissa and Donna" who I don't know and have never met. I pay homage to this insignificant commercial with their photo.

Quick Update.

Everything is a mess.
Originally uploaded by elisabethie.

I'm in packing mode, yet walking around in circles.

I cannot post right now, but I just wanted to say hi and stir up some thought on this blog.

So here's your question:

What is hell?

I feel like the ride is stuck

dizzy
Originally uploaded by elisabethie.

And everything is still spinning. And the ground feels like it's moving. And we're just slowly twirling and I can't really stop it.

I miss everything being normal.

FHG came over yesterday and helped me pack.Having a baby and figuring out how to pack is impossible. She did so much. Thank you.

At the same time as all of this is happening, we have fleas.

We are vaccumming and washing every night. Mike says I should keep this private. That people with fleas connotate messy, dirty people. I never even knew that before and it's enough of a problem to disregard this.

Last night I had a dream that there was some man that I got along with pretty well and he wanted to marry me. I casually asked aboutr money and I learned that he was worth 5 million dollars. The rest of the dream was dreaming about how much easier this would be if we were moving into a place that was "ready" for us.

My parents are busily packing.
They are moving in here when we leave, and this is complicating everything.

We still have work to do. And it's work we're not being paid for.

Our marriage is OK. We are stressed and if you hung out with us, you'd never know it. But we are a mess right now.

Here we go.

3girls_on_boat2
Originally uploaded by sabbeth.

Jumping into something that none of us can really steer.

Last night was the first Bible study I had with JB and CD and we decided to deal with one of the hardest parts of this faith; The fact that in Christianity it says the only way to God is through Jesus. It's something none of us fully understands. We're going to read Hebrews.

I want to stay this interested in Christianity forever. I don't know what's driving me right now, but I want to figure out how to keep it. Reading the Bible is helping in massive amounts. It's amazing how interesting it is to me now...especailly because for so long it was boring. I credit a lot of this to the Orthodox faith. I think I finally get it.

It was like a fire

Aftermath
Originally uploaded by elisabethie.

last night. My fury burned up everything I have been working toward. All these Christian posts...all this effort toward trying to be a good person...it was gone in like 5 seconds when Mike said some side comment about needing space. (this is an add-in after I finished my post) Mike is by no means perfect, but the crime was not worth the punishment.

I feel like I burned down everything -- but most tragically -- I burned him down. I flattened him with the worst insults I could think of.

The worst thing is that God gave me what I needed to stop this rage. I kept thinking of what I wrote on my own kitchen dry erase board. That whole chapter that addresses Love -- Love is patient etc. But it meant nothing to me.

And believe it or not (and Mike will read this here for the first time), this whole fury was brought on by Sex in the City -- I show I never watched before. Last night I watched it two episodes in a row and felt jealous of THEM and the freedom I used to have. I can't believe that at this age a TV show can affect me to the degree it did.

I have to remember again that even though some people may not be, I AM affected by what I see and what I hear.

This picture reminds me of my dad

Furrowed brow that reminds me of my dad.
Originally uploaded by elisabethie.

and the way he looks at me sometimes.

Awhile ago, I dealt with this whole thing about being rejected by men -- 3 men particularly, that it seemed like little actions or words would send into a fury. One of these people is my father. And at this point, he's the only one that carries this irritation with him.

Last night I talked to someone that reminds me of my dad (and has gotten irritated with me in the same way) and really asked what it is that I do that can cause this kind of reaction to little things (not putting a tape in a player right or not measuring something correctly). For a very long time, I have felt that I'm just an irritating person to this type of man and I have faulted myself with a deficiency.

The conversation last night didn't make me feel like everything was okay, but it did allow a little more room for the fact that it's not always me. That these men are moody and dark and get irritated with everyone. There's something in my personality that irritates them to the point of a snap.

It is the worst to "irritate" someone when you don't know what you're doing wrong. This look (above, minus the knife) is the worst feeling you can ever imagine getting -- especially, when you have no idea of what you're doing wrong. The conversation (unfortunately) led me to feeling like I should separate myself even more from my father, and not talk to him as much.

Packing is hard.

I_Feel_Stuck
Originally uploaded by elisabethie.

I was amped this morning and I got like 10 boxes packed, but I feel like I can't do anything. Emmett finally took his nap...I'm not taking him to swim class (it starts in 20 minutes) and I don't know what to do. I hate packing and I feel like I'm doing nothing but checking blogs in an effort to not have to figure out what I'm doing.

There are some pretty

Amazing but true web
Originally uploaded by elisabethie.

amazing things that happened this weekend. In all reality, they're probably not amazing enough to deserve a stamp like this one. But in my life, they're amazing.

New Blog Friend: I found another blogger that's "like us" and not only that -- her name is Elizabeth and her boyfriend's name is Michael.

It was in a desperate attempt to find anything new to read (becuase there has been great silence in Blogland lately) that I decided to hit "View Next Blog" and stumbled upon hers. She seems to have the same type of analyzing qualities that we do. Plus she's funny. Plus she writes well. Check her out HERE.

The Bachlorette Party: I'm not really into these anyway, but we went becuase Vicki wanted us to. And I admit, that when we got there, Chris, Stephanie, Seema and I (the latter two were girls from our high school) we did feel sort of superior when seeing the "other" party attendees.

They were soccer momish, with soft coral scoop neck shirts, thin gold necklaces & glittery charms, tapered pants, curled under hair with thin sheets of curled bangs, and pumps. In fact, I couldn't tell which ones were there if you gave me a line up of 10.

Our group, the Upper Darby group, was the "cool" side of the table. We were all dressed a little freaky. We were all well cultured with unusual discussion and conversation. And I admitted (and the other girls admitted) that we weren't really interested in that other group of 7.

To make a long story short, some people got alcohol and some people didn't and when the bill came, we split it into 11. The total was $55 each (for everything).

When the 4 non-drinkers heard this, they hit the ceiling. They REFUSED to pay for drinks they didn't have. Hand on hip, one woman declared that "$55 for that!". Another said "I only had one drink from the pitcher!"

In retrospect, I wonder if this reaction had less to do with the money and more to do with our snobbery. I feel badly about this. It shows how totally close-minded I am.

Being Called Hott: This is the second time in the past 3 months. As a mom, you have NO IDEA of how much this does for my self-esteem.

My conversation with Chris: On Sunday morning I had an impromptu Bible Study with Chris and it was AMAZING. We talked and prayed for 3 hours and God was with us and we both feel 'on track' becuase of it.

J & F -- I want to start driving into Philly once a week and we can have a Bible Study at Chris' house one night. Are you guys interested?

Other Events
• I found out Phil is pulling back from me becuase of my religion. When I heard about this, I got upset and again realized how hard it is to be a Chrisitan.

• Audrey is coming in this weekend and I want to make it fun and special for her. Any ideas for a Fun Club event Saturday?

• I went to Yard Sales and bought some furniture for our new house.

• I am going to start packing today.

• Fritz, my new online friend, has made me really happy. I want you guys to meet her.