Wow is it cold, mixed with a lot of stress

It sure is blustery outside this morning! It's getting a bit cold to have my hair wet while waiting for the bus, but until I get it cut it's pointless to blow dry it because it looks hideous.  My ears hurt from the wind, which is never fun.  And I'm exhausted because Evan's had a cough for the past few days and it makes for fitful nights of sleep...for both of us.

So this weekend had lots of good aspects.  Hubs joined Evan and me on two of our walks with the dog.  This is always a highlight because normally we split the dog walking duties-he goes in the morning and I go at night.  But the last two nights we went together and Evan got to go in the backpack one night (his favorite thing in the world) and in his truck the second night (his second favorite thing in the world).  

And both nights he got to go on the swings, which he's obsessed with.  We pass a playground with swings on our walk, and he points and exclaims in extreme excitement and then cries if we pass it without stopping.  Even if it's cold and so dark your can't even see the swings.  But he got to go these two times.  I even dressed him up in an old sweater jacket of mine that my parents bought when we lived in Greece and I wore when I was 2 or something.  He looked adorable.

Instagram: mapleandmud

I also did a ton of cooking, since it was a three day holiday.  I made minestrone soup, which is one of my favorite recipes.  It's filled with tons of veggies but somehow the flavors blend well and it's fantastic (I only say that because I am not a huge veggie fan - especially when it comes to two onions, two zucchinis, and a bunch of green beans - if you like veggies then you may not care that the flavors blend together, you would be happy if the soup tasted like veggies).  Great for these chilly days we are having.  I also made more spinach and quinoa patties for Evan.  These are tasty too but I try not to eat too many of them because I like to freeze them for Evan when I can't think of what to make him.  And for Ivan I made shrimp-stuffed shells.  He says he hates lasagna and this is similar to lasagna, but for some reason he loves it.   So it was definitely a weekend filled with cooking and washing dishes.

These are just a small sampling of the veggies that went into the minestrone soup - so much chopping!

The most exciting thing I did was go for a run on Saturday morning with a running friend from Team In Training.  I was going to bring Evan but then Ivan came home from work early so I got to go sans baby jogger.  It was the perfect running morning and we did six miles and I didn't even notice it.  It was great having company because I haven't been able to go with my sister for a while and usually I am paranoid about Evan pitching a fit three miles into a run that I don't enjoy it as much.  We also ran into my best running partner from TNT whom I did all my training runs with...which was random but fun.  This was a great week for running - I did ALL my training runs.

And now for the horrible news.  Remember all that misery we were dealing with at our condo?? Nothing getting fixed, $300 electricity bills, etc.?  Well, now we have to move out.  The owner is getting kicked out of his house so he will either move back in to the condo or he will try and sell the place, because he can't afford to fix it.  There is a small, small chance we could stay but I'm not taking the risk.  But this means we have to find a new place and specifically a new place we can afford and that takes large dogs. I am super stressed and annoyed that we have to use our savings to move rather than for Christmas.  Before I was trying to see if we could afford to buy a Christmas tree this year and now I am wondering if we can afford to buy anything.  And who wants to move in the middle of the winter?  We will either be moving Thanksgiving weekend or Christmas, just what we wanted.  We have to be out by 1 Jan., so not a ton of time.  Moving + winter + toddler + no money + dog + finals for chemistry + nursing school apps = boo x 10.

Tell me some good news in your life so I can stop focusing on the stresses in mine!!