Highs and lows

The last few days have been filled with trying to figure out how my life is going to work in NYC. it's completely different than I've been living the past 4 years. Most due to the lack of a car. That has changed everything. Also if I know I'm going to use the subway, I do it without the stroller. Which means I leash up my boys.

There is about two large flights of stairs down to get into the subway. The elevator for the subway near our house has been broken and they say it will be fixed within the month. I'm not holdin my breath.

Grocery shopping: the CVS is two blocks from my house. It sells the cheapest milk ($3.25 gallon of skim milk , eggs (dozen $1.99), an cereal ($2-3 a box). I by fruit from the fruit stand across the street (bananas .79/pound, peaches 1.25/pound, apples $1/pound). Breakfast is served! The other meals I'm still trying to figure out. Dinner is extremely confusing for me. But I haven't been to trader joes (one stop away on the express subway line).

Today I made the huge mistake of going to Target in the Bronx via subway. Never going to do that again. The store was great and probably wouldn't have been a problem had I been alone. It was too much walking for the boys. I promised I would never do that to them again. They were literally crawling up the stairs to get out of the subway on the way home. Simple trips to Target to buy clothes hangers and dish detergent are not what they used to be. I will be doing most of my shopping online thanks to this experience. Live and learn

By the end of the day I was yearning for the old SF days when I packed a bag full of food and ate a meal at a park. So I made it happen. For a moment I felt like I wasn't on vacation.

A huge thing I did today was switch rooms with the kids. We are living in a two bedroom. And we originally gave the kids the bigger room with two walk-in closets. Today I put them in the smaller room. For many reasons but mostly because I want my own closet! I've either had to share with orb or dot for the past 7 years and I want that luxury. Now I feel like I'm in the right room. Orb hasn't seen it yet. I hope he likes it.

For dinner we had a picnic at the park near our house. It's a stunning location. However, like most places in NYC, it's LOUD. there's a freeway close to it. I wonder if people stop hearing the traffic after a while. And refer to it as a buzz. One woman i talked to referred to the pathway along the Hudson River near my house as "lovely". And it is visually lovely. But so loud! I wish all the cars would disappear. FYI , my apartment is extremely quiet because it's in the middle and back side of the building. I come here for solace. Ha. when the kids are sleeping.