New Stuff

So, my RS lesson went well last week, thanks to all of you who gave me great ideas.  I love my friends.

And now you might ask, "How are things going for you and Spiff in your new city?"  You might not ask, but if you do, I'll tell you.

Spiff is working so hard these days.  Intern year was rough.  He worked all the time.  And now he's here at his residency, and he's working just as hard.  Here is his schedule at the moment:
4:30 Wake up, get ready for the day.
4:50 Out the door, riding his bike to work.
5:15 Get to work, change, get ready.
5:30-3:00ish In OR for the day.  Maybe a lunch around lunchtime.  Maybe not.  If so, then straight back to OR.
3-5:00 Attend a 6-week afternoon lecture series.
5:30ish Arrive home.
6:00ish Eat Dinner.
6-7:00 Play with kids, help get them ready for bed.
7-8:30 Study
8:30 In Bed.

As you can see, he's booked.  So so so busy!  He is learning anesthesia now.  He is expected to know a whole lot of stuff right off the bat, and it's a pretty steep learning curve.  It's stressful, and he's tired.


I am remembering how not awesome it is to be the new girl.  The women in our ward are nice, but there aren't too many in my situation.  In fact, I looked around in RS on Sunday and realized that I was the only woman there who is my age!  There are a lot of 20-something cuter-than-cute single girls (Side note: The young singles are in our ward, which puts Spiff in the Elder's Quorum with only 4 other married Elders, and us having the most kids.  Weird.), and there are a lot of 40/50-something already-raised-their-kids ladies.  Not a lot my age.  It's weird how I still want to be friends with people my age, like I am five years old and want another 5-year-old girl to play with.  I have made one awesome new friend, and I already love her, so at least there's that.

I am very tired of "The First Conversation" I have to have with everyone.  You know the one.  It covers these topics:
What's your name? (I have met tons of people and won't remember their names for months.)
Where do you live? (Not helpful info for me when I don't know my way around town.)
Where are you from? (The usual response to this is, "Oh.  That's nice.")

Occasionally I find someone who is really good at small talk, and that's a nice change of pace.  Being new is always hard.  Trying to find new friends is a lot like dating, and it is hard getting past the "1st-Date Phase" of a relationship.  I remember this when I went to grad school.  I actually remember the exact moment I became close friends with my dear friend, Sarah.  She was a class-mate.  At the start of our first Christmas break, we went to Starbucks for hot chocolate and discussed our classes and teachers.  Then a boy I liked walked by.  He and I had an awkward conversation at our table, then he walked away.  Blamo!  Just like that, Sarah and I had something interesting to talk about, and we became eternal friends.

It's just so hard to get past the superficial layers of conversation so much of the time.  It takes a lot of time and effort, and it's going to take a while.  Making friends is so hard.  Thank goodness I have Maggie here.


Gunner and Hobbes are adjusting in their own ways.  I can tell that we have all just come off of our big move.  I'm dealing with behavior issues that aren't necessarily new, but severely magnified.  The boys fight all. the. time.  Gunner picks at Hobbes, Hobbes whines, then I get involved. We repeat this pattern 1 million times per day.  I am exhausted by them.  I wish I could find a way to teach Gunner to be nice to his brother.  I would love them to be good friends and be able to play together, instead of the constant fighting.  Argh, it's so frustrating.

Gunner is actually grounded right now.  He told me to "Shut Up" the other day.  "What did you say to me?!?!?!" I said.  He replied, "I said, Shut Up, Mom."

So, he's grounded.  This is his first real grounding, so he's figuring out what it means day by day.  No TV, no I-Pad games, no popcorn (which is apparently near and dear to his heart), and he has to do 30 minutes of chores every day for a week.  Oh, except that now it's two weeks because he told another kid to Shut Up in Primary on Sunday.  Yikes.  That kid is hitting some milestones I don't think he should hit for another 10 years.  He's growing up too fast, and I'm apparently years behind schedule.  And I'm a bit lost on him.

On the plus side, he has been helping me get my house nice and clean this week.  I think I might not drop the chores after his grounding is over.