I kicked off the week at Target Monday morning. Normally I love Target but going there when it's empty because most people are at work is kind of a bummer. Then my phone rang -- the Rahm Emanuel campaign for Chicago mayor agreed to let me do some work for them! It's a volunteer gig, but heck, I've always been intrigued by politics. Election nights in our house are like national holidays, with yummy food and tons to talk about. I've long been a Rahm fan anyway, and the previous week's news that he'd been booted off the ballot by the Illinois Appellate Court jolted me -- as a homeowner and parent of a Chicago Public Schools kids (and two little ones who will go to school some day), I want my next mayor to have giant you-know-whats and keep this city from going downhill. So the news gave me a kick in the butt to call the campaign and offer my time to the press folks. Fortunately, Rahm was restored to the ballot by the Illinois Supreme Court just days later.
I started on Tuesday, the first of February. The campaign folks I met are awesome, smart and friendly. It was also the day one of the biggest blizzards in Chicago was expected to start, so naturally that was a big part of the office chatter. I worked on a few things. It dawned on me that it is strange to not be in charge of stuff, like I was at my old job before I was laid off. I'm really in the background here, which is an adjustment but very OK. It feels nice to be needed. I'm not sure anyone expected a quite pregnant woman to show up -- I've gotten lots of friendly questions on my ginormous belly. Guess I'm hard to miss. I've even been offered seats on the train all week, even though I'm bundled up in a gigantic red parka that usually just makes me look fat.
The blizzard stormed in that afternoon. A short while later, a major street near my house, Lawrence Avenue, just stopped moving, it was so full of cars inching along in the blurry, sideways snow. Later we'd learn that Lake Shore Drive, the city's main lakefront arterial, would be jammed with hundreds of stranded cars taht would ultmately have to be abandoned and later dug out by the city. (Thank god I didn't drive downtown that day!) That night my husband and I sat in our living room, listening to Panda Bear (awesome band, very Brian Wilson-ish) and just watched the mayhem outside. Trees swayed, thunder and lightning gave us a show, cars struggled to get up the street in 60-mph winds -- we'd never seen anything like it since buying our house more than eight years ago.
Wednesday there was no going anywhere, even if I'd wanted to. I did make it to my deserted gym for a nice 3-mile run/walk that took the cabin fever edge off. I swear, the hike in the unshoveled, unplowed streets to and from the gym was more tiring. And it's only two blocks from my house. Big thanks to my teenager (below) for shoveling a TON of snow.
Come Thursday morning, there was no way I was going to let a little storm keep me from getting back to my new life. I managed to navigate the CRV onto main streets that were in decent shape, feeling all smug with my 4WD and my can-do attitude. Screw you, blizzard.
Had another good day at the campaign, and after work I headed north to pick up the toddler from daycare and get home. Well, I made a stupid decision to try and go up my alley, which was deep in snow. I'm such a moron sometimes. I'm going to blame my preggo brain, which is really bad (not to mention the freelance check I completely LOST last week in a separate example of what a bonehead I am, gah!) So I'm stuck in the snow, no shovel, hugely pregnant and a hungry toddler in the backseat. Awesome. Fortunately I was close to home, and the hub and two lovely, lovely neighbors we don't know got us unstuck after an hour. The little toddler man was a much bigger trouper about it all than his mommy, who was mortified and so upset that I'd done something so bone-headed.
I woke up today after a really great night's sleep, rare in the third trimester, feeling pretty good about the day. The toddler was delightful, belting out his special cutie-pie version of his ABCs in the car on the way to daycare. I even remembered to bring more baby wipes to daycare. Then I managed to fall -- but it was inside the daycare on slick floors. I was all mad at myself about that (baby's ok, just fell on my leg and hip, ow) until I found out my mom is back in the hospital and may have had even more strokes. My poor mother! I can't stop thinking of her and am anxiously awaiting more news from my family. She's just been through hell. I can't believe how hard this has been on her, and my dad, too. Thinking of them both so much right now.
In very nice news today, my toddler man is now 22 months old and I realized my due date for his baby sister is six weeks from today. OMG. Don't even ask me how much prep I've done for this little baby. :whistle: :momoftheyear:
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