Tuesday, September 16, 2014

Heavy machinery, suburb soul suck and opportunities

**I'd be remiss if I didn't comment on it being 10 years today since the Mr's dad passed.  He was on loan to me as the dad I should've had for 12 years and I'm so grateful for the time we had.  We miss him every day.**

I was so exhausted from the weekend, I overslept and only got to spend two minutes with the Mr before he trotted off to work.  Sigh.  I don't know what I did but I slept wrong a few days ago and the top of my spine between my shoulder blades is all jacked up so turning my head has been a joy.   Not.

I tried getting caught up on some paperwork I'm way behind on and most of it just ended up being research.  I guess that's a step in the right direction, yes?  Nothing like deadlines to kick your booty into gear.

I don't know what's going on in the last part of the field behind the homestead but some heavy machinery was just running and running and I've got supersonic hearing so it drove me up a damn wall.  Urban sprawl is real, yo.  When we first found our place, we completely lucked out.  It was a new build we could afford as soon to be newlyweds and it was in the middle of a field.  We were the first development in a two mile radius and in the 18 years we've been here, it has been choked with restaurants, strip malls, every grocery store under the sun and gyms.  We can barely get onto the main drag out of our own place because of the heinous traffic.  It's so bad we're considering moving into the city where there is LESS traffic over the madhouse we have to deal with here.  An opportunity may open up for the Mr where a lot more options could be open to us.  So right now we have to bide our time and see what life throws at us over the next year or two.  Some days I want to move to the city.  Some days I want to move to an atoll in the middle of the Pacific and live on fish and breadfruit.  

We dealt with some business crap that left us both in foul moods and late to workout.  Well, I shouldn't say late, I should say it was the same time we've been working out and I was hoping to start changing that this week.  I plan, God laughs.  But when we went down, we did a free weight workout and the Mr threw on the weighted vest (20 lbs) so I copied him.  I forgot how much I hated that thing.  I'm sure it did wonders for my already screwed spine.  But I pushed the weight up a little and while I didn't burn more than I normally do, I'm sure walking will be interesting today since we focused on legs and upper body.  We're cutting strength back to twice a week.  They'll be good strong ones but we need to up the cardio.

For dinner we had spiced mahi mahi over quinoa duo from Trader Joe's.



Then it was time to settle in for the evening, I caught up on Witches of East End (almost poo'd myself) and Dallas which hasn't been recording so I'm super behind on that one.  ARG!  I lit my cinnamon roll candle and let the light shimmer on the mantel and the smell of cinnamon waft through the air.  I'm so ready for this time of year!

Do you live in the city or the burbs?  What are the pros and cons of where you live?

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12 comments:

  1. We'll have to take a walk and find out what the heavy machinery is up to. God forbid if every square inch of land near us is vacant. They have to fill it up with crappy commercial buildings that half the time end up closed and vacant.

    Yesterdays workout has the potential to cripple me most likely tomorrow since I seem to get a day or two delay in my soreness but I think it was a good change of pace for me to focus on the larger muscles for a change.

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    1. I know, it's like hello, animals need somewhere to live! I'm at least glad to see a few of the closed buildings being reused instead of new buildings being built or knocked down.

      I think I'm going to be in bad shape all week!

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  2. I grew up in the "burbs" and witnessed firsthand the kind of sprawl you are talking about. I still witness it every time I visit my folks. Now I live in a "city" of 7000 and work in a town of about 500, 10 miles down the road. We have few choices when it comes to services, shopping, dining, etc. which makes me crazy. On the other hand we don't have rush hour traffic either. I think I'd like to live somewhere maybe twice as big so there would be more options, but I wouldn't want to live in an actual city I don't think.

    I'm sorry for your loss. Every day is hard, but anniversaries are especially painful.

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    1. I know, I go back and forth on what I want but this eating every inch of land thing has to stop. Sigh.

      Thanks..it's always a hard day but especially seeing how long we've been without him now.

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  3. I live in a city of about 70,000 so its not too bad. The only time it gets really congested here is summer when the events start piling up. Rock USA, Country USA and EAA. That last one brings in about an extra 60,000 plus people, and my proximity to the airfield lets us see some really cool planes and acrobatics

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    1. Not bad at all! Just big enough but not TOO big. Ooh, free airshow! ;-)

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  4. We are on acreage just outside the city limits of Lincoln, NE, a town of about a quarter million. It's the best of both worlds out here--country quiet, yet very close to the semi-big city. We love it.

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  5. Big hugs to you and the Mr. on this sad anniversary day.

    We moved here 14 years ago and the house was only 2 years old. Like you, we were in a field and still have a field on one side of the house and all along the backyard. But now we have strip malls behind the field and across the street. Everything from Jimmy John's to Chipolte to Five Guys and Stone Cold Creamery are literally a couple hundred yards from the house. I SO wish we lived across the main road where isn't unincorporated because the lots are a lot bigger and there are no sidewalks and it's very cozy looking (not all houses look like exact duplicates like our neighborhood). But at the time having "new" stuff like the roof and furnace was important to us as married youngin's. I've never really liked my house, but we were new to the whole homeowner thing so now we are more experienced with what works, what doesn't and what we like. I'm a woodsy girl all the way so I'd be thrilled to live in the boondocks somewhere and could use my shotgun on my rocking chair on the front porch instead of ADT. =o) I was born in Chicago, and always thought I'd want to stay in the city, but that wore thin by the time I could drive.

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    1. I wanted all new as well and I think that was mostly because at the time we could barely afford the house much less if anything went wrong. Now I'd like something with some character that doesn't look like a copy of the house next to it. We're at the point where all of our major expenses like A/C could be an issue so we have to decide if we want to pay and stay or stay and possibly pay it for a house we'll be in longer. Not even looking forward to that but if the jerks next door keep letting their dogs bark 24/7 it's going to make the decision real easy. What I wouldn't give to live in Chicago. I suppose it could get annoying driving, well, it is annoying. But man if I could live and work in the River North area...heaven!

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  6. I live in the burbs..see my current post....also, I watched the Witches of East End but since they came back I'm not caught up. I've got to catch up on Sleepy Hollow..I missed the last 3 episodes.

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    1. Child, you MUST finish Sleepy Hollow like ASAP! It just came out today on DVD. The last episode especially the last 10 minutes will have you pooing yourself. Wear Depends.

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