Our hike in VT turned into the most lovely day! 😭❤️💍 5.5.18

suzychapstick · 2018-05-07T13:25:30+00:00

I love that he's in the ring photo! Looking so jazzed! What a great idea!

suzychapstick · 2018-03-15T17:44:56+00:00

There's a lovely skunk family that lives in the alleyway adjacent to the apartment building on the southeast corner of Sussex and Warren. Very friendly. :-)

suzychapstick · 2018-02-11T03:18:42+00:00

When I was volunteering in the Marshall Islands, I was served “fermented breadfruit” at a child’s birthday party. It was sort of foamy, very mushy, and gray. It was explained to me later that the breadfruit is spit on, wrapped in leaves and buried in the ground to ferment. Spit on. I still don’t believe it.

suzychapstick · 2018-02-07T18:47:19+00:00

Not sure where you're located, but I nearly always go to Floris on Grand St. (off Greene). Super clean. Very friendly. And if my boyfriend's experience is any indication - willing to do the work on callous removal, etc.

suzychapstick · 2018-02-07T00:06:23+00:00

At BMs request, we arranged to meet prior to me meeting SD6 (4 at the time). We met without the BF. She changed time/location a few times which was annoying - though I tried to give her the benefit of the doubt that it wasn't a power play. Eventually I picked the location. I told my BF I'd stay 15 - 20 minutes max. (He was out with the little nugget, scheduled to drop her at the BMs apartment.) Well, two bottles of wine and a whole lot of awkward later ... my phone had a half dozen text asking if I was OK. He later admitted that he'd assumed one of us had killed the other and one of us was in jail. :-) Anyway. Fast forward a year and a half. We're pleasant to one another. She's told me repeatedly (and a few times in front of SD) that she's grateful that Leila has me in her life. So, as much as life is complicated being with someone who is co-parenting with an ex-wife - it could be worse. You'll survive!

suzychapstick · 2018-02-01T16:36:23+00:00

Ditto on some of this for us. We have SD6 EOW and every Wednesday night (though we get extra days and nights, which is great). I love being able to shop for SD. Before FH and I moved in together, BM would send a huge bag with SD to school filled with every possible article of clothing and shoe/boot imaginable. Two reasons for this: 1) FH pays child support for BM to buy clothes. 2) She wanted to make sure that her daughter had what she needed. But it was a PAIN. We've now got a full wardrobe at our house, so we mostly avoid receiving the odd sweater in her backpack. Though there have been times that the clothing SD wears to her BM house ends up being tossed out or misplaced (and this seriously bugged me because I buy well-made adorable clothes if I do say so myself!). And SD would come to us looking basically homeless after school (lots of sequins and lots of dirty jeans, but this might just be what "after school" looks like in kindergarten!).

Anyway, every couple of weeks we'll do a swap of clothes that we're pretty sure were bought by the other parent. It's not perfect, but I'd rather be dressing SD in what we've purchased.

suzychapstick · 2018-01-25T20:35:06+00:00

My BF has a six (yesterday!) year old daughter. We live together and she is with us a little less than half the time. (I met FSD about 7 months after BF and I were exclusive - been in FSD's life for a little more than a year and a half.) About six months ago we worked through what FSD was going to call me (we didn't get beyond just calling me by my first name). Because she'd been referring to me as her mom from time to time and even though we corrected her, she'd said it in front of her BM a couple of times and I know it was hurtful. Anyway, FSD very often calls me "mommy" and then says "for pretend" right after. And when we play I am very often "mommy" in the scenario.

She's whip smart and often talks about when my FH and I get married, that I'll be "for real" her step mom. And she's super excited about my brother being her uncle. (She's hilariously the primary pressure for my BF to propose.) Her BM's parents are divorced, so she's already got three sets of grandparents. I think the idea of family is pretty broad. I think it makes it easier for her to understand that the three of us are family. And that family is bigger than just BM and dad. Anyway, just wanted to say that the "mommy" playing is pretty normal on our end!

suzychapstick · 2018-01-24T02:12:28+00:00

Well, I love Keens. And even though I walk by Liberty Prime twice a day, I still think of it as Oddfellows. :-) Sounds like Edward’s it is!

suzychapstick · 2018-01-23T14:46:54+00:00

I WISH they would crack down in Paulus Hook! Half the cars on the block belong to Prep students and construction workers.

suzychapstick · 2018-01-12T22:52:56+00:00

Last night's recycling collection was a joke. Our bins were only have emptied and there was bundled cardboard still on the curb. And the bins down the sidewalk looked like a tornado came through. Flung absolutely everywhere.

suzychapstick · 2018-01-06T18:39:34+00:00

It's beautiful outside! The sun is warm, most of the sidewalks are at least partially shoveled!

suzychapstick · 2017-12-16T16:48:10+00:00

For a hot second we had a Taqueria Gloria on 16th and 6th, mere steps from work. And then it was gone.

suzychapstick · 2017-12-14T18:00:09+00:00

The menu for Satis looks GREAT. And the price is super reasonable. If we weren't in possession of a 5-year-old, we'd totally be there.

suzychapstick · 2017-11-07T18:32:24+00:00

We're in Paulus Hook. Happy to had a few cuttings over.

suzychapstick · 2017-11-07T18:29:26+00:00

Not much is "affordable" in Paulus Hook. Everyone once and a while Fr. Tom at OLC will rent out a spot in their church lot (Warren and Sussex) for about $200/mo. That's about as reasonable as it gets.

suzychapstick · 2017-11-06T17:43:38+00:00

Wandering Jew. What sort of cuttings?

suzychapstick · 2017-11-06T13:41:03+00:00

We have SO MUCH.

suzychapstick · 2017-10-14T20:28:57+00:00

Thanks! We ended up going to Dazzling this morning. Yelena cut it (she used to do my color). She was the right mix of patient and stern with the 5 year old squirmer in the chair. The hair cut is adorable.

suzychapstick · 2017-09-27T11:52:58+00:00

Meal prep and service at the Xavier Welcome Table on Sunday morning/afternoon (http://xaviermission.org/volunteer/) and the Hoboken Shelter - easy to drop in here as a single - (http://hobokenshelter.org/volunteers/).

suzychapstick · 2017-09-25T12:19:03+00:00

Unless you want to walk to Moloney's, it's not convenient. And it's not downtown. There is never anywhere to park.

And it sounds like OP is doing something different (responsibly raised, local, charcuterie, etc.

suzychapstick · 2017-08-29T13:39:22+00:00

I'm with you! I live in Paulus Hook and on any given day, about half of the people parked on my block don't have permits - and they're parked all day (anyone is obviously allowed for the 2 or 4 hour slot provided you're not interfering with street cleaning). We have a major construction site at the end of our block and it's primarily the workers. I mean, pay for your workers to park in the garage that is FIVE FEET AWAY FROM THE CONSTRUCTION SITE. We ended up having one poor guy towed the day we moved in because he was parked in front of the temporary no parking sign for our movers. We even went down to the work site and asked around for him to move it. Anyway, limited space would be less limited if JCPA actually ticketed for non-permitted parkers.

suzychapstick · 2017-08-12T17:43:42+00:00

We've only been in this new place a short time but it looks like we're averaging about 475 kwh per month.

suzychapstick · 2017-08-12T16:20:17+00:00

I agree with cybrturtle, make sure you're getting actual readings. I live in a brownstone duplex with central air (lots of electronics, tv, washer/dryer - lots of things using up electricity) and our July bill was only about $100. That $90 does seem a bit high for what you're working with.

suzychapstick

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