Adjusting

Got a nice mixed bag today.

Good Stuff:
- We saw Monuments Men yesterday. Really, really good movie. There was enough action and one liners to keep Eric engaged, and I love the history. Can't tell you anything else without spoiling it except that it was a big success for George Clooney, who starred, directed, produced and wrote the screenplay.
- I got a few more boxes out, some pictures hung up, etc.
- Cooked every night except Friday, when we went down the street for schawarma. I'd never had it before, and it was yummy! Think chicken fajita meat on a bed of rice, with salad, hummus, and pita on the side. Oh, a falafel.
- We're both starting to lose a bit of weight. I'm chalking it up to eating home cooked food on a regular basis. Eric doesn't have a handy place to go for lunch, so he's been taking it with him, and it's starting to show.
- On Jean's advice, I looked into a couple of Lift programs. I signed up for 3 Months To A New You and 30 Days To A New You. I did them every day during the week, but not at all this weekend. Not that I need to worry about exercise today. More about that in a minute.
- I wrote every day except yesterday. I'm getting close to the end. My hero has had his PTSD breakdown and is in the hospital. Now I just need my heroine to do everything she can think to do to help him to no avail, break her heart, and then I can wrap things up. ;-)
- One of my writer friends said something on Facebook the other day about not being ready to go to the retreat in Destin I went to last year. She Skyped me today and we talked out what she has of her plot. I think it's going to turn out to be a fun little romance, but more importantly, it seems that our processes are very much alike. She's got the best part of two weeks before the retreat to get it figured out, and I've left the door open to help her again if she needs it.
- I got out with people other than Eric three times this week. Wednesday I had brunch with my next-door neighbor, who is turning out to be my go-to person when I need to find something here. Wednesday evening, Eric and I went to a bible study at the church, and on Friday I ventured into the Loop to have lunch with another lady from the church. I'm feeling very much like the country mouse at this point!
- Read "Divergence" this weekend. It's a YA novel, along the lines of "The Hunger Games," but set in Chicago, so that was neat. The movie comes out next month. The 20th, I think.

Not So Good Stuff:
- After church today we went to Panera for lunch, just like we used to downstate. We parked in a shopping center across the street, and neither of us saw the signs that said the lot was for customers of that shopping center only. When we came out less than half an hour later, the car had been towed, and whoever loaded it knocked it out of alignment. We had to walk home to get the van so we could get the car out of impound, and that was the best part of a mile, trudging through slush in 10-ish degree weather. Thank goodness I've barely unpacked my cute shoes and was wearing my wellies. That was an expensive lunch, and we're not done paying for it. Eric is going to take the alignment bill to the towing company, but I don't have a lot of faith that they'll do anything about it. It's our word against theirs that the car was fine when we parked it.
- After trudging the best part of a mile in the slush, I'm over winter. We're not even half-way through February and I'm over it. I'm starting to wish I was going to Destin with my friend!
- My GPS cannot be trusted in the Loop (the central business district). I think the tall buildings interfered with the signal because it kept telling me to turn onto streets I'd passed two blocks ago. The moral of the story is when going downtown, go old school: sticky note on the steering wheel. Or figure out how to take the train. That could be easier now that I've figured out Google Maps does public transportation.

Overall, it wasn't really a bad week, but definitely some frustrations, some wondering why I thought living in the city would be great, and some bad words said. Lots of them, actually. I wish I could say I'd work on that this week, but I don't really see that improving for a while. Not much I can do but gut it out, sleep enough, eat well, get some exercise, and write.