Holiday Ick

[DCJenn]

Ok, in the spirit of being all smarmy and mushy and insipid- and to cheer up our fellow spouses who are in the dumps- let's list three things that we are thankful for and the three things that suck the most at this moment. Start with the sucky stuff and then list the good stuff. Hopefully the good will help put perspective on the bad!

Jenn

1)This holiday blows, wife is working this holiday, both boys are ill with fever up to 104 and vomitting, I am getting sick too.

2)The AF has decided to take out twice the agreed to amount from our pay, per paycheck...what a bunch of )*(&$)(&@$)(@&#%&#$*&

3)No family is coming....even though they were supposed to.

good things.......

1) the sun is shining
2) the dog hasn't had an accident in the house in a long time (probably just set myself up for that one.....)
3) we haven't had to run the A/c for about a month now.


what a lame list.....someone please inspire me.

[DCJenn]

OK- I'll go first.

My top three sucky things:

1) We don't know yet where we will going. In fact, this program is so ill-managed that my husband doesn't know what he's doing in December. (yes, this December, the one that starts in a week.)

2) I am starting to have heart palpitations at the idea of everything that has to be done before we can list the house to sell. Even making lists doesn't help because they just get longer and longer. and the market sucks ass in DC right now.

3) There is no 80 hour work week for staff. and there is a severe shortage of child neurologists in the military. I'm afraid that our staff years are going to look, act and smell like internship but with more money.

OK- the three fab things:

1) Nikolai- I'm totally in love- who knew. (OK, everyone who is a parent knew. and if I hadn't become a parent I certainly would have lived a happy and fulfilling life- but damn, I love this kid!)

2) We celebrated our fifth anniversary this year and despite all of the snags, he's still the hottest man in the world to me. (ok, Brad Pitt is also aging like a fine wine, but reality? My hubby is mine all mine!)

3) The family and friends are all happy and healthy, including my 89 year old grandmother, my 80 year old grandmother and all of the new babies.

Jenn

OK- I'll go first

beat ya to it!

[DCJenn]

Hey- there's something to be happy about!

Matt- go talk to the IG and make sure that they're aware of the impact the payroll crap is having on you guys.

Jenn

[rainbabies]

Okay - I feel I must:

1. Just found out DH failed his Anatomic Path board
2. Will be away from all friends and family for holiday - the "stray" thing didn't work out for us this year b/c dh is the new attending in dept and at least 20 years younger than any others.
3. Have packed on at least 15 extra lbs. since moving (and didn't have any room for them in the first place).

Now the good:

1. My children, husband, and family are healthy and safe.
2. I am making new friends and feeling comfortable in my new city
3. Even though we owe everyone in the world we can at least afford to pay them.

[Auspicious]

Sucky:

1. I have to go to the dentist to get a filling replaced. And it will be a new dentist (whom I haven't yet found) so I won't even know if they're any good. Dread!

2. I wanted to go to my parents' for Thanksgiving but couldn't. I have too few people to cook for, and my mom is bumming out because she has too many. If we could make 700 miles disappear, we could combine forces and solve both problems.

3. Husband is studying hard for Step 2 right now, so Thanksgiving won't be so relaxing as it should, and we likely won't be able to carry out our annual December tradition of going to see the decorations in Rockerfeller center while eating roasted chestnuts this year because he will be gone for pretty much all of December.


Thankful:

1. I have the most adorable husband, and I love being married. No, seriously. We make each other laugh every day. I still can't quite believe we found each other.

2. I'm more and more looking forward to the moving and starting the next phase of our lives.

3. We get out of work at 3:00 today and I'm very eager to get home and start cooking--see if my crustless pie thing will turn out and get that bird in her little brine bath.

[Vanquisher]

The sucky things:

1 - I have no support network, dh is working all the time, including holidays, and my family is a 4 day drive or two long plane flights away.

2 - Money is so tight I am not sure I can buy Christmas this year. I love giving though. Even our credit cards are maxed.

3 - I am totally overwhelmed on all fronts and I am not in control of anything, including myself.


The good things:

1 - I have a great husband.

2 - I have great kids.

3 - I no longer live in Albany in frozen hell.

[Rapunzel]

Bad:

1) Even though we're at the end of residency I am seeing less of my husband than at any other point during training - no joke. There's something nice, I suppose, in achieving your potential career-wise and making a name for yourself - but I've hit a point where enough is enough. No success can compensate for failure in the home!!!!

2) I'm still about 15 lbs away from pre-pregnancy weight (and fitting my clothes) and I've apparently hit a plateau. Not a happy place to be at the start of the holiday eat-a-thon season.

3) I am tired of renting. I want to own my home. I want it to be mine - all mine. I'm tired of being beholden to landlords who don't give a rat's behind about their own property (lovely as it is).

Good:

1) Residency is almost over. If I can just drag myself to the finish line....

2) We have not suffered financially this year.

3) I have had the opportunity to have some fun vacations and trips with my family over the past couple of years. I have never really travelled before and now I'm addicted!

Jennifer

[SueC]

Bad:
1. I feel like crap, like I'm hungover all of the time without getting the benefit of a night of inebriation.
2. The drama in my family is at an all-time high. My sisters aren't talking and I'm now in the doghouse too, apparently. I'm sick of analyzing what I said or didn't say.
3. I've been doing a crappy job of running my business, which I don't even want to still be doing. Even though I want out, I'm sort of sick over the way I've kind of blown everything off lately.

Good:
1. Because I've done such a crappy job, my one and only client was basically fixing to fire me--I beat her to the punch and fired myself so I should very soon be completely free of my business.
2. I should have listed this first--my husband and kids are great. I'm not sure I deserve such a wonderful family, but I've got 'em.
3. I feel happy in my 1400 SF house (I spend a good deal of time hating this house so I relish the times when I'm satisfied). My Christmas decorations are up and it feels pretty darn cozy here. People are shocked when we tell them we aren't moving somewhere bigger in light of having another baby, but this makes more financial sense right now and we are happy here.

[PrincessFiona]

I'll give this a try too:

sucky:

1. I'm not feeling well this pregnancy. Like Sue, I often feel hungover and tired all day and now I'm having upper back pain related to a disk or something. complain, complain.

2. Crazy neighbor lady and the realization that I just really, really don't like living in central minnesota. I've struggled too long here to try and make friends...and all of the moms that I know work. I feel overwhelmed by laundry, kid's homework and bedtime battles. I wish I could hire a nanny JUST to do bedtime around here right now. It would be such a relief. Any offers here?

3. I'm pretty cold intolerant despite my....god-given extra layers of procection. I pretty much carry my heating blanket all around the house with me, unplugging/plugging as I go. DH thinks I'm a nut beause he runs around in a t-shirt feeling comfy. I have decided that he just has a metabolsim in which anything that he eats and doesn't use he must burn off as heat...while my body saves everything it can in the form of...adipose on my arse. The fact that it's getting dark at 4.30pm here isn't helping my mood much either. Did I mention...I just don't like living in MN?

good:

1. After years of struggling and feeling like the mountains of debt were overwhelming, we are able to now comfortable pay off our debt and afford some extras.

2. I'm blessed with 4 beautiful children and a husband who is still my soulmate...even if he doesn't like Turkey

3. We've moved to a nice, new house that really suits us much better than our old house even though the square footage is the same. I love looking out at the pond and taking Aidan out to feed the geese and ducks.

[spotty_dog]

Suck:
We left the house Wednesday at 6am to arrive at my parents' house at almost 9pm EST. I'm facing the same long trip to go home, only alone because DH is detouring to another city for an interview. Almost four months till match day.

Good:
Next year we'll be closer, maybe just a single 4.5 hour flight. I've got my sweetie back! This is my first holiday with my folks in several years.

[PrincessFiona]

alison,

you guys named your bikes? I love it!!!

kris