Home Crap Home

I had to travel back to New Jersey for work last week, which I don't mind so much because I get to see my friends and family that are there. Also, the sun rises a bit earlier there than here in Florida, which makes waking up for a run so much easier. Generally, it can be just as humid in NJ during July as it is in FL, but I lucked out and got one of those weeks that was more like spring than summer there. Absolutely gorgeous.

Weather and family aside, travel is more of a challenge than a reward for me. I've got all the stress of commuting to work like everyone else in the world, but don't have access to the things that help me stay sane. No kitchen. No puppy dog. No showing up to work in yoga pants, as I usually do when I work from home. So as much fun as it is to see my family and friends on the company's dime, I'm always relieved to come home.

Except when my Lyft from the airport pulled up to my house late last night, I discovered an absolute mess. Our contractors had begun work on our yard (we're having a patio put in and some landscaping done), and everything was torn up as if an earthquake had ripped through. I had no way to get to my front door other than to walk through all of the dirt with my luggage. And a mountain of broken concrete, pulled-up sod, and other debris had been piled up in our driveway.

I looked at the pile and realized that - yes, I was now home - but I was going to be stuck there for quite some time. It's like I wished on the Monkey's Paw to never have to leave home again. No driving to the gym or to pick up my dog from my grandmother's. I could use my bicycle to at least get groceries, but this was definitely not an ideal situation.

I don't blame anybody but myself. I really should have known better than to allow work to begin while my husband and I were both out of state, but I was really anxious for them to get started. We've been trying to get this work completed since February of this year. The contractors also told me it would only take two days to do the patio, and I was thinking it was awesome that I didn't actually have to be around for all of the noise and mess of it all. I didn't stop to think that maybe rain might delay them. I certainly didn't think I should pull the car out of the garage before they got started.

I took a photo this morning from my bedroom to show you the quarry that is my yard:

Ok, I know what you are thinking. #FirstWorldProblems

Spare me your tiny violins. I'll be really excited when the project is done and we can finally entertain people at our house. Still, I just felt the need to share why maybe going for a run today and sticking with my food plan was not my priority.

The good news is that my mother lives about 15 minutes away, right next door to my grandmother who was dogsitting for me. They both own white minivans, although my grandmother doesn't drive anymore. So my mom is letting me borrow her car while mine is blocked in since she can just use my Grams's van. Problem solved.

The landscapers got a lot done today, but have not really made a dent in clean-up. My hope is that everything is back to normal tomorrow.

Oh, I have a doctor's appointment with a new doctor tomorrow (another reason why I was anxious about not being able to drive). It's just not working out with Dr. Paleo. As I mentioned in this post, I was on the max dose of my thyroid meds and haven't seen any improvements in any facet of my life, so I wanted to start phasing them out. He and I disagreed about that, so I just started splitting my max dose and am phasing myself off of them. We'll see what the new doctor has to say tomorrow.