Cars and Trucks and Things That Go!

Starting this post off with my old "Thing that go..." I've had a car ever since I was 16 and it was a little bitter sweet to be getting rid of it. I've never enjoyed driving except when it gave me the freedom when I was younger to go where I wanted not having to depend on someone else. Other than that it's utilitarian and would much rather have a chauffeur given the opportunity. I was glad my car went to this little 16 year old girl. Her mother sent me a video of her crying when she received it. 

This is me driving into New York in Tina's car after the two days it took to get up here permanently. It seems like a lifetime ago.

Here we get into my commute a little bit. I walk, then go subway, train, finally to a car and then vice versa on the way home. The subway above is called The Path and it goes in and out of New Jersey. It's not really like the New York subway in that it's newer and cleaner and for me (as I do a reverse commute) it's never really full. I took this pic of the old guy there a while back because old people in New York fascinate me. 

Here's what the real subway looks like. Granted this is on a Friday night...

Again from my commute post but shows the train I get to and from work every day on.

It amazes me how fast the trains move up here. And how close they let you get to them is so dangerous. I feel like they're going 90 mph and I could literally stick my hand out and touch it. Nothing guarding you from it. It scared me the first time one went by without stopping. Almost felt like the engineer had abandoned it or something.

This was a busy intersection by where I went to the dentist in midtown the other day.

I couldn't do this post and not show a taxi. Generally we try and use the subway and bus whenever possible because it's so much cheaper but sometimes we opt to just pay the $15-25 because we don't feel like putting up with the hassle and just want to get home :)

Just a couple of the crazy things you see up here. That red car only had one back wheel. 

Ahhhhh New York!

Cars and Trucks and Things That Go!

Given the topic I decided to show you the things that I drive or ride in.
This is my car.  I just paid it off this month, so I am really excited about having that money each month.  This is the only car that I have bought new off the lot.  One thing I will say about that is the car was worth the payment in the beginning, but towards the end I felt like I was making a new car payment on a used car.  I do like that fact that I have put every mile on this car, and I know what's wrong and what's been done every step of the way.  I hope to drive this thing until the wheels fall off.

This is older picture of the camper. I have taken this all over the state, and out of the state a couple of times.  We have gone to the swamp, the beach, and the mountains in this, and it has really given me some freedom to go on small vacations cheaply.   The boys really like camping, and we are planning a trip before school starts back this summer.   I am going to try and do a make over on the inside of this thing this summer. Pinterest is not just for women.

The boys got kayaks for Christmas.  We have gone a couple of times.  We even went on Christmas day. I am excited about spending time with them.  It is one way that we can spend time together outside away from their devices (and mine too). They are picking it up faster than I thought they would. We went last weekend and they went out of sight up the river and floated back down.  I was nervous, but the smile on their faces was worth the worry that I felt.

Mama gave me a lawnmower when I moved into this house.  The yard is big, and I am thankful every time I get to ride around the yard rather than push.  I have to cut the grass more than once a week this time of year.  We have a basketball goal in the yard and the boys are impressed that I cut the grass real low on the court so that they can dribble in the yard.  I love cutting the grass, and it may be my favorite smell of all time.

There is also a trailer I bought right after the divorce.  There is no picture, but it should be mentioned as much as I use it.  I have not had to buy or borrow a truck since I bought it.  It has been a life saver in many cases.

Now a little about the title.  Mama read me this book over and over my whole childhood.  On every page there was a hidden Goldbug.  We spent hours looking through that book finding him.  Because of the title of the topic I almost showed you pictures of my favorite books, this one would have been the first. I thought that would have been a stretch, though. In a nod to that time with Mama though I have hidden (not very well) Goldbug in all the pictures.

Bringing Home the Bacon

There are a few factors that go into how we get our groceries as well as options and locations. Main factors being convenience (which includes location) and cost.

Peapod.com is a grocery delivery service. Usually Tina starts an order and lets me know when she's done and then I'll go through and add a few things. We get the bulk of our groceries here as it's difficult to walk with one or two weeks worth of groceries and there are deals and whatnot and tends to be the cheapest option. It's takes forethought and planning though and you're unable to think of something last minute if you need it asap.

Second option is Blue Apron. Tina started this last year and got me on it in Atlanta. We've been doing it since I moved up here as well. Weekly box comes with fresh ingredients for three meals during the week. She's been great about cooking a couple during the week and I or we cook one on a weekend day if time permits. The meals have been really good even if the ingredients get a little redundant. It's nice knowing that you don't have to run out and get something you forgot as everything is included. Besides this she keeps things in the kitchen such as taco shells or pasta to do something when we don't have a ton of time to cook and clean.

Now we get into our grocery stores. Not sure how this happened but these go from largest to smallest and cheapest to most expensive the further you get away from our front door... This is Fulton Market. It's two whole blocks away. It's the furthest and as I mentioned the biggest and least expensive. The photo on the right shows the STAIRS!! Seriously, stairs in a grocery store. Any interior of a building with any size is going to have stairs or an elevator here. We may hit this market on a Sunday or something if we're on the tail end of a peapod order and haven't done a new order.

This is Jubilee Market Place. It's only a block away. It's smaller and a little more pricey but has a decent produce section. I'll run over here at night if I need stuff for smoothies.

This is Gristedes and it's a cross between a convenient store and a grocery store. It's just to the left right out our front door. It's a little expensive but if you have pasta boiling in the pot and need a jar of spaghetti sauce you can be back before the pasta is done. They have a decent deal on Gatorade I've been picking up there. I'll occasionally get beer here on the way home.

This is where I'll often get beer on the way home! ha! I don't know why but for some reason this pharmacy has the cheapest beer I've found however it's not cold. I guess refrigeration is expensive. 

Here's a map to where these things are in relation to our building.

Bringing Home the Bacon

Grocery shopping has been fun over the past year, year and half.  I shop a lot with the boys in mind.  I am always looking for ways to save money but cook food that the boys like.  I struggle with healthy and good.  I also notice that the healthy food is more expensive. I buy meat on sale and cook dishes according to the meat I get.  I also have a few staples that are easy to cook and quick and that's important when running the boys around.

Since basketball season started (and then track) I haven't gotten in a routine about buying groceries.  I got lucky because I didn't have practice or a meet this week on Wednesday.  Do I went and loaded up the cart.
This is half way through the checkout process.

I got it home.
and it filled up the counter.

One of the things that I have been stressing to the boys is that everything has a place.  So before they got to the house I wanted to make sure that I got all the stuff put up.



Everything--cabinets, shelves, pantry, freezer and fridge are full.

Eggs were 30 cents a dozen.


I always forget something, but they built a Walmart Market right across the street from work.  This has been nice when I need to get something on the way home.  But when work is done--I am ready to get home, so I don't shop there much.

My work desk

This is my work desk. 41 years old and I finally got my own office. The space is pretty nice. It was the old Vice President's office in the "old building" in this location for our company. 90% of the people in New Jersey work in the new building. I was offered space over there but would've had to share it. I'm tucked away and its really private. I keep my door shut because I'm on the phone a lot. I put it on speaker and can continue to look at my computer and semi-work as I'm talking. Other than that I rarely have human interaction. This has its pros and cons. Pros are obviously that it's quiet and I can work in peace but it can get a little claustrophobic. I've started taking walks down the street in the middle of the day when it's nice just to get out.

I have three screens and two computers I work on. This wasn't by design but by progression. I didn't just come in and say I need three screens. Through working there over time first freelancing and trying different workflows with different computers it just ended up this way. When I have my personal laptop out, my drawing tablet, my iPad to take notes, and my phone I have 7 screens around me. Literally surrounded by technology and no humans :) Heaven!!! Just kidding... as I said sometimes I feel closed off and it sucks.

My Desk at Work

I gotta say I was not looking forward to this post when it was presented. My desk at work is not much.  It is where I work.  There are very little artifacts that remind me of home or family.  I am there to work.  There are books and paperwork, and when my desk fills up with that stuff I move it to a table near my desk and start over.  I love having a substitute teacher because it forces me to clean my desk.

So, anyway, I was not looking forward to this post, but this week is Teacher Appreciation Week and this is what I saw when I got to my desk on Monday.

It made my day.  This is my desk by Friday.


It's really nice to feel appreciated by the people who know what you do.

See you next week I'm headed to Red Lobster.

TGIF

Was a long week. Once I got home we hit the streets in a yellow cab. We were having dinner with friends that we met in Costa Rica. They were in town from Denver and we hadn't seen them since that first week Tina and I met.

The West Village. The restaurant Pagani was here close in between their hotel and our apt.

At the restaurant - Lindsey, Josh, me, Tina, and our local friend Donna who was in Costa Rica as well.

In the cab on the way back to the apt to hang out after eating. Tried to get the girls in the picture but somehow they didn't make it. We had such a great time hanging out with them. It's so funny how we only spent one week together and two years apart and it was just like we'd known each other our whole lives....