The move that almost wasn't

Hi, I'm Jennifer and I'm keeping the blog warm over here today. Usually,you can find me at Toast on the Ceiling or contributing for BlissfullyDomestic.

When Christine said she needed guest bloggers to help out while she moved, I jumped on it. I'm totally thrilled she picked me. When she said I could write about anything I wanted, I knew I had a story to share (and hope her move does not end this way).

I'm talking about our move to the house we live in now.

Back in May, 2001 it was James and I. No kids, no pets (this was a blessing with everything that happened). We loved the townhouse we lived in, but no one wanted to visit us, it was at least a 30 minute drive. Add to that a condo association that thought they were God and wacky neighbors (one guy washed his car in the garage), we did what everyone else was doing.

We decided to move. Back to my hometown.

After we found the best house (it isn't perfect), we had to list our house. We thought it was a blessing we had "sold" it in a week and we would move in a little over a month.

The first couple weeks after it sold was no problem. We packed, cleaned and got things in order.

The next couple weeks turned into a nightmare. Thankfully, we had a lawyer. The people who were to buy the townhouse had some problems with their credit. The loan looked like it wasn't going to be approved. The closing was on, the closing was off.

Every day brought different news.

Finally we got to the day before the closing and I had left work early to come home and finish packing. There was a call from our lawyer. Basically, it looked like the closing was off, the financing would not go through for the buyers, but come anyway to the closing. So I cancelled the movers and we packed some more, but didn't think this was going to work.

Which meant we would lose the new house and we were staying with the crazy neighbors and the condo board from hell. The day of closing we got up, cleaned and went to the title company. We met our lawyer, signed what we could without the buyers, and sat in a conference room for 45 minutes before the buyers showed up with their lawyer. The loan had been a go at the last minute, with changed terms. Half a page into the loan paperwork, the husband was arguing with the lawyer.

We were shooed out of the conference room to wait in a cubicle while the husband's lawyer argued with the loan company. We had to hunt down movers from the phone book since it looked to be a go. After several phone calls, we found someone who would charge 4x as much as we budgeted, but they could be there. We were supposed to be out of the house already and the buyers were not happy we were still there.

Finally, after half an hour, the husband had releneted and would take the loan. We were called back into the room and they went over the terms with the husband. 11.5% interest, pre-payment penalty, the list went on of restrictions and penalties. I sat at the table thinking any second the deal would be bust. The husband signed paper after paper, not the wife.

Finally, they got to a document the wife had to sign stating she understood the financial implications of not being on the title. She flatly refused. For religious reasons. So, add another 10 minutes while two lawyers tried to convince her to sign the paper. I think she finally did, but it was like pulling teeth.

Then there was the issue we were not out of the house which was totally the buyers fault. We had to give them a $1000 check guaranteeing we would be out by 9pm (which was sent back uncashed a week later). We said no problem, all was done. After almost three hours.

James and I ran out of there to get home. Well, James went home to meet my dad to finish on the packing and I had to go to the insurance company to finish the policy for the new home (which was to closed on the same day, but moved to two days later due to insurance problem with the roof of new house). Got back home to deal with the movers. They sent nine guys to our house tomove. Nine guys who had no clue or common sense. One guy tried to move the gas dryer without disconnecting it. Another dumped James' entire StarWars figure collection out of their pre-packed boxes into a wardrobe box and packed stuff on top of it. And the fun went on.

We shoved anything worth something into three cars and tried to keep the movers from packing essential items. Like my bag of clothes for the next few days. James wasn't so lucky. Before he could stop the movers, all his stuff was on the truck. We were out of the house at 7 pm. Had started at 2:30. Not too bad.

James waited for the new owners to come and get the keys. My dad and I drove back to my parent's house to unload some of the stuff since we would be staying in a hotel for a couple days. Which turned into a week, since the moving company forgot to schedule us to get the items out of storage and moved to the new house. And then stole all of James' tools and a step ladder.

This is why I will never move again.

I hope Christine's is going much better than this.

Do you have imaginary friends?

Today's guest poster is Mel, who blogs regularly at A Box of Chocolates where she shares samples of her life as a wife to one, mom to three, and teacher to many.

Why do I do this to myself? One day I am going to learn to keep my mouth shut, or maybe I should say, my fingers still.

When Christine twittered that she was looking for some guest posters to baby-sit her blog my fingers, completely on their own, somehow twittered back that I would be honored to be a guest poster if she would have me. I mean she is Christine after all…Dr. Diva over Blissfully Domestic, where may I add that I am just a lowly Food Diva. Of course being the polite person that she is she gave in to my request to guest post and well here I am.

So could somebody tell me, what does one actually do when they guest post? Talk about this blog, talk about the author, talk about their blog, talk about themselves. Sheez. This is tough.

Well I’ll give it shot. Here we go. My first guest post.

Blogs, blogging, blogger. It’s all foreign to some and others just don’t get it.

When I first began blogging I didn’t really tell many people. Once I got some posts up and running I emailed the URL to distant family and friends so they could see pictures of my kids and what we have been up to. Many responded that they thought the blog was a great idea and enjoyed looking at the pictures of the kids. Of course I got the usual question, “Are you sure you want to post that much information about your family on the web?” (we’ll discuss that one during another babysitting time), but other than that they were all pretty supportive.

Then I discovered the Blogosphere where there were many just like me, and some that were so very much not like me, that I loved them too. I met amazing women and was even proud to call a few of them friends. Friends that I had never met, but friends nevertheless. As my excitement over this newfound community grew I found myself talking about my blog and blogging in general to my real life friends. After all it was my hobby so why shouldn’t I talk about it as they would talk about scrap booking, or cooking, or working out, or whatever it is that they did. I was proud of my blog.

For some of them they were intrigued. They asked how I got started, why I liked it, what it was like to meet other bloggers, how I decide what to write, how I find new blogs to read, and a plethora of other questions. For others they just kind of smiled and nodded and life went on.

They were happy that I was happy and it worked. Then for some, well they think it is just straight out strange. Such as the friend who told me during a girl’s night out, “It’s so weird that you are friends with all these people you have never met. It’s kind of like when you are a kid and instead of just having one or two imaginary friends you have an entire group.”

Uh no. Not really considering my “imaginary friends” have lives and blogs of their own, where you know, I can see their pictures and everything. Not to mention imaginary friends can’t leave comments so they wouldn’t be any good to me even in the blogosphere!

(Dude, I hear you! You are my REAL friend! Thanks! - Christine)

Please extend a warm Watch me! No, watch me! welcome...

...to my guest posters for the next few days!

As I pack up my household ONCE AGAIN and relocate a couple of miles away ONCE AGAIN, some lovely and generous bloggers have volunteer their time and talent to keep things hopping here.

You won't be dissapointed, pinky swear.

Why IM'ing is evil

Dear Darla,

Thank you for being such a time suck.

Love,

Christine

Calling all writers...

As some of you are aware, I am a contributer over at Blissfully Domestic (can you hear my husband snorting out his coffee through his nose in the background? Domestic is not one word he'd ever use to describe me. Whatever.)

You might also be aware that the evil geniuses behind Blissfully Domestic (Mrs. Fussypants and Karla from Looking Towards Heaven) are planning a major relaunch. Since I'm fancy No Watch Me Christine, I will be the Healthy Living Channel Editor. Yeah, that's right. I'm going to be an Editor. I am mad with POWER!

Thus far, our Healthy Living Channel Topics are: Fitness, Nutrition, Parenting a Child With Special Needs, Medicine in the News, and Healthy Home. I'm knocking around some other possibilities as well (again, that POWER thing).

I'm looking for contributers...if you're interested in writing for The Magazine That Will Be Dominating the Interwebs (POWER!!!) in one of those categories, email me!

Honestly, I'm very excited about this. I hope to hear from YOU!

Ten things I learned from my kids...

1. Take a picture; it lasts longer.
2. You don't need music to dance.
3. Getting the mail is very exciting!
4. It's okay to take two baths a day. Even if you don't need either of them.
5. Sometimes throwing a fit does work.
6. I'm not the perfect parent I thought I would be (see number six).
7. Why my mom drank the milk that I accidentally poured into a glass of ice when I was eight and grossed the rest of us out.
8. That Sesame Street is funny on a whole different level.
9. I spend too much time on the computer.
10. The meaning of life.

Cue drum roll, please...

And the winners are...

For the year of Picnik Premium....queenoftheclick! Congratulations!

And the winner of the 7 days of free WiFi from T Mobile is...UncommonBlonde. Woohoo!

That's all for today, folks!

I defect

So, as I mentioned, this li'l blog o' mine has been getting an overhaul. Thought it was time for her to look all perty.

I can't take credit for the look, though. The lovely and talented Karla of Fruition Designs was slaving away on it while I was whooping it up in San Franscisco.

Right now I'm trying to sport an uncluttered look. No worries, that'll change. I know some of the links don't work...that'll be taken care of eventually as well. Anyway, some of the blog bling is gone, some of it is back.

This, however, is back up:



Actually, "back up" isn't technically correct because the one I used to have up was this:



What isn't going back up is this:



No, now...don't get me wrong. I DO still totally kick ass! And Guy Kawasaki is super nice and not only allowed me to park my blog at his site for the past few weeks, but also hosted an amazing partay at his home and graciously allowed me to attend. And drink wine. And eat. And pick up super swag.

It's not you, Guy, it's me.

Well, it's kinda someone else. Yes, classic love triangle.

My paramour AllMediocre. I cannot resist the siren call that is AllMediocre.

The thing is, AllMediocre became more than just a holding tank for those of us wanting to get to Alltop. It's a true community. I miss the community. I miss my friends at AllMediocre.

BUT dammit Meghan won't grant an exception to her rule for me (I KNOW!) which states very emphatically that you can't be a member of AllMediocre if you're on Alltop.

So, while Alltop and Guy were very good to me, I have no choice but to go back to AllMediocre...because while the bling and validation from AllTop were awesome, I'm here on the interwebs because of YOU. The community. The interwebs interaction and bloggy love.

Thus I must invoke the words of my beloved Steve Martin and say to AllTop,

"I break with thee. I break with thee. I break with thee."

~throwing dog poop on their shoes~

BlogHer recap #2: Or, the one about being got.

I have like five dozen different BlogHer posts banging around this head of mine...like one with funny anecdotes of drunk bloggers, others with reasons why you should go next year if you didn't this year, informational posts with the nuts and bolts of the conference itself (because despite all the posts and photos to the contrary, there actually was a serious conference going on), linky posts full of who I met and how fabulous they are. Giveaways of some swag I don't need. Oh, and juice on the Big Bloggers.

And I'll get to those, at least some of them. Later.

But for now, I just want to tell you one big HUGE reason why I loved the weekend, and how I've come away changed. Honestly, like it was some uber-spiritual revelatory retreat weekend or a summer camp where I lost my virginity (not that I experienced either of those, but I imagine they'd be similar).

I kept waiting to become overwhelmed with anxiety, or shyness, or vertigo, or something. What I ended up being overwhelmed with, right from the beginning, is a sense of being surrounded by kindred souls.

You know how in your "real" life if you start talking about your blog to a friend their eyes start to glaze over? Or they get a confused look on their face?

You know how in your "real" life you have to go through a bunch of verbal gymnastics when you try to explain to others how these people you know online are definitely not a bunch of big hairy perves? That they really are friends in the truest sense?

You know how in your "real" life NO ONE gets what twitter is all about?

At BlogHer, I was surrounded by 999 other people who got me. I got them. We got each other...and it was crazily liberating.

It was so flipping relaxing to be amongst people who not only didn't roll their eyes when the word "blog" was mentioned, but instead wanted to hear about it. And who had a blog of their own that you wanted to hear about. With whom you could exchange your bloggy greeting cards and just be yourself.

Where I could just be myself.

That thought really struck me for the first time on Thursday night as I rode a shuttle from the Westin to the Alltop/Kirsty party in Atherton (at Guy Kawasaki's house). Apparently the party was in a Bermuda Triangle of sorts, because the shuttle drivers kept getting lost.

I was sitting next to VDog who knows the area well and kept saying,"Dudes, we're totally going the wrong way. We're heading away from Atherton towards Redwood City. Snap!" People (and by people I mean a shitload of big name bloggers) started whipping out iPhones and trying to locate the party and our shuttle location on google maps.

I was texting with Mrs. Flinger who was on the shuttle ahead of us...they were confirmed as definitely lost. Pretty soon we were, too.

Then the fun really started...the bus did about seventeen U-turns. It was a two lane highway, so really they were more like 72-point turns. Curb-hitting, cars honking, bloggers complaining turns.

After the third U-turn there was a collective groan followed by a silent split second, which was broken when Laid-Off Dad announced, "Let's all tweet this RIGHT NOW!"

Everyone burst out laughing...that's when I had my mini-epiphany. It's a rare crowd where someone could say that and everyone gets it.

It was so nice to be got.

BlogHer Recap

It was awesome.

So, onto other news.*

As you can tell, my blog is undergoing some reconstruction. This is nothing new here, but this time it's more than rearraging the furniture. THIS TIME it is a serious overhaul with an actual graphic designer (the amazing Fruition Designs...her cards were a huge hit at BlogHer) and not li'l old me playing around.

Bear with us...what with BlogHer and whatnot I haven't been on top of things. Watch me! No, watch me! will continue to improve over the following days.

*okay, of course there will be more later.

It takes a blogosphere

I haven't talked much about going to BlogHer, mostly because I don't have much to say about it (that I haven't already said on Twitter) other than I am mighty glad to be going.

Plus, I know what it feels like to not be going and faced with post after post of what you are missing out on. I wrote this last year (sparing you the click, you're welcome):

I feel like the little sister whose big sister just came home from a date and told me she DID IT. Lost her virginity. I'm thrilled and want to hear ALL ABOUT IT, but I am also envious.

You see, I didn't go to BlogHer. A lot of my bloggy friends did...and the photos and stories are trickling in. Dammit, some of them make me SAD because I am so bitterly jealous. I'm not too proud to admit it, even if I should be. I totally missed out on what was not only a fun time, but a great learning opportunity.

So I get it. I know how you feel. In fact, I think part of the reason I haven't talked much about going is that I'm still pinching myself, unsure that it's actually true.

Anyway, as you may recall, my laptop died. Beyond repair. So I'm a blogger without a laptop. You may also recall my camera has also gone to the great darkroom in the sky (or to be more current, perhaps I should say the great Photoshop CS2 in the sky). That means instead of bringing a laptop and camera to BlogHer, I'll have a notebook and sketchpad. Maybe I'll have some renderings of the Break-outs for you when I get back, like drawings from sealed courtrooms.

It occurred to me earlier today that if I don't have a laptop, I won't be posting (why it took me so long to put that together I'm not quite sure). I don't want my poor bloggy to be ignored for four days, so that brings me to the crux of the post.

If you aren't going to BlogHer this year, wanna guest post?

I'd love for some of you to take over the reigns for me while I'm away, which is Thursday-Sunday (that's July 17-20th). If you're interested, leave a comment or email (no dot watch dot me at gmail dot com) or DM me via Twitter or just send really strong telepathic signals.

But wait! There's more!

No, there isn't. I've just always wanted to say that.

I knew I kicked ass, I just KNEW it!

Have you heard about Alltop?

I started noticing their badges a while ago, like at Loralee's and Sarcastic Mom's and White Trash Mom's and The Bloggess'...they started creeping up on the sidebars of my favoritest blogs.

If you haven't checked them out, you should. Their pages are, as they say, like "digital magazine racks" and has feeds from recents posts/stories/whatever. It's a great place to find all the top stories/blogs/you get it.

Why am I telling you this? Well, if you go to Alltop, and scroll waaaaaaaaay down to the very bottom, guess what's there? That's right. This blog (don't know how I tricked them into thinking I'm worthy, but I'm not complaining).

And, also, they are giving away iPod Touches! Go here and vote and maybe you'll win. I'm planning on it. Winning, that is.

Where I whine and complain

Two mornings ago I awoke to an incredibly loud PHWAP - PHWAP - PHWAP outside. I looked out the window, and there was a huge helicopter flying over my home. It had two big propellers and clearly it meant business. Serious fire-fighting business.

Yesterday I was driving with the windows open, and I pulled up to an intersection. I realized the guy in the car next had a cigarette in his hand, which was dangling out his window. And I didn't smell it.

Today I walked outside and was immediately hit by the scent of a bonfire...but, of course, it's not a bonfire. It's the smoke that's settling all over Northern California because there are too many wildfires for them to even keep count.

Our normally Mediterranean blue skies are grey. Our cars are covered with a fine layer of soot.

I know I shouldn't complain; none are near us and we are in no danger. But still, it sucks. We are cloistering indoors because outside it smells like a bar from my college years.

But we're going to make the best of it...we are going to grab some snacks and snuggle on the couch and watch Tootsie. Why Tootsie? Because yesterday it arrived in the mail from my bloggy buddy Neil, who kicks my ass at Pathwords on Facebook yet liked this post of mine enough to reward it with a movie.

By the way...did you notice that I'm all dot-commy now? Adios, .blogspot.com! I'm running with the big dogs now. Well, nipping at their heals. Okay, I can see them way up there, I think. Or maybe that's an illusion from the smoke.

Cause for celebration?

Well, we finally had a ROCKIN' paycheck. We brought in more today than we had the entire year prior. Yeah, that's how we roll up in here.

It enabled us to get up to date on all of our bills. I never thought I'd be fielding calls from creditors. Contrary to their reputation, they have all been quite understanding and polite. Not one threatening to out us to our neighbors! Woohoo!

Things I did with this paycheck that perhaps I shouldn't have:

1.) Registered for BlogHer. Watch out, San Fransisco...the bloggy geekiness is about to take over.

I've been spending the past decade-plus being a mom first...it's time for me to put ME first and have some fun, dammit!

Rationalization? Check.

2.) Bought a camera. If you know me, you know that this is tantamount to the clouds parting and sucking off the spare poundage I have around my waistline. I've been a photographer without a camera for far too long. After much deliberation, I bought a refurbished Canon 20d. It is compatible with my lenses and hot-shoe flash. It'll take a week at least to get here.

I justify this purchase because I will soon pay for it via free-lance gigs.

Rationalization? Check.

3.) Bought our son a Wii. How crazy is that? Actually, not too insane if you can get into my head and rationalize it like I did. Last year for his birthday we got him a trampoline. It's been much loved by us all...but, sadly, while our pets are welcome at the new home, the trampoline just won't work as the grassy area is too small to accommodate it. So, we're selling it. That will pay for half of the Wii. We're forcing him (man, we are MEAN!) to sell his GameCube...that offsets on extra controller we need.

The rest of the cashola we chucked up to his tenth birthday. But...shhhhh....we bought the Wii on Craigslist for a fraction of its actual cost. Before you get all worried that I was scammed, believe me, I've done my research. The guy we bought it from was a super nice Dad-like dude, and he was doing the same thing we are...making his kid sell some of his belongings so that he could get some expensive toy he wanted. Fate brought us together ~cue angelic tunes~.

Rationalization? Check.

4.) Registered the domain name http://www.watchmenowatchme.com/ . Click it. It works. The transition will be complete soon, and seamless for you. Because I love you.

Plus, its easier to remember.

Rationalization? Check.

5.) I've also put away a little chunk of change to go shopping with the cracker VDog. And by little, I mean super duper tiny. The plan is to meet up next week and get all amped for BlogHer.

Rationalization? Check.

Feeling sick to my stomach? Check.

Woohoo, indeed.

Today I am a man

Inspired by Neilocha, (on whom I have a bloggy crush) (see how I awkwardly didn't dangle one single participle there?) (I think?) who challenged us to write as if we were the opposite gender (or is it sex?) (I can never remember).

My girlfriend just won't let up.

It was great in the beginning...the sex was awesome.

She got me, you know? As if I'd known her forever. FOREVER.

We spent all of our time together; I never saw my roomates because I was always at her place, and that was cool because we were busy filling each other in on the details of our lives we'd missed, you know?

Did I mention the sex was awesome?

But after a few months, I started to FREAK. She wants to be with me ALL OF THE TIME. Sure, it was cool in the beginning, but now...come on! It's time for us to get back to normal, our normal routines. I need my dude time, and her friends are getting on my nerves.

I'm thinking that what we might need is to slow things down a bit here. Stop being so girlfriendy-boyfriendy and cool off a bit.

Yeah, I totally love her. But she's stifling me. I need some time off. Sure, the sex is still great and I don't want that to stop, but I need my days back. Maybe we could just spend our days apart and hook up at night.

That sounds like a great plan. I'm going to run that by her tomorrow.

Told you I'm shameless

Hey! I'm babysitting The Fabulous Mrs. Fussypants' blog today...come on over and check out my guest post! And please, leave a comment. Geeze, I'm looking like a LOSER over there.

Thanks!

Linking it forward...Suri Cruise ladybug shoes style

This blogger's story has been knocking about my head the past twenty-four hours.

If you're not inclined to follow the linky (but I recommend you do), it's about Katja Presnal, a blogger and mompreneur who owns an upscale children's boutique in Colorado called Simbaco. It seems that not too long ago a friend of Tom Cruise was in her shop, and purchased some gifts for Suri Cruise, including a pair of ladybug shoes,

That would be pretty cool in and of itself, no? Knowing that TomKat's kid was running about with some of your shop's shoes on her celebaby tootsies?

How about when Tom Cruise mentions to Oprah during his recent interview at his home that those ladybug shoes are Suri's favorite.

Can you image THAT kind of unexpected publicity for your wares? I mean, geeze, does it get much better than that?

The thing is, Katja is making it better.

She's spreading the love to other mommy bloggers...rather than having a huge giveaway carnival driving traffic to her blog, she's linking it forward and having giveaways of some of her fabulous boutique items on the blogs of some of her friends. Aaaaaaaaaand, here they are:

The Daily Grind of a Work @ Home Mom
A Cowboy's Wife
Ultra Beauty Boutique
Notes From My Nest
New Urban Mom
Hello Happy Pittbulls
Celebrity Baby Blog
So A Blonde Walks Into a Review
Baby Gear Today
Mamanista
A Girl's Gotta Spa
Bambina Ballerina
Superdumb Supervillain

So, in tribute to mommy blogger/mompreneurs everywhere, happy clicking and I hope YOU are one of the winners of some Katja's stuff.

Coming out

About three and a half years ago, a friend called me to wish me a happy birthday. We giggled together as she tried to make it through the birthday song, and we chatted about my plans for the day.

Then she asked me if I'd voted. It also happened to be our last presidential election day. I had voted, and just to keep the silly going I told her I'd voted for the candidate she hated, the one she'd lobbied hard against. I thought she knew me well enough to know I was pulling her leg, but I was wrong.

"I have to tell you, I voted for X."

There was dead silence on the other end of the line for a beat, then she shrieked, "You WHAT?"

"I'm kidding, I'm kidding. I didn't vote for him."

"Who did you vote for?"

The thing is, I didn't want to tell her who I voted for, because I didn't vote for her favorite candidate. I voted third party, like I often do. So I tried to switch it up and distract her, "Don't worry, I didn't vote for X."

She wouldn't let it go, "Who did you vote for?"

"Forget it. When do you want to get the kids together?"

"Who did you vote for?"

"Honestly, I didn't vote for him. I don't want to talk about it anymore."

"Who did you vote for?"

It went on like that for a while, and finally I capitulated.

"YOU WHAT!?!? You voted third party? You might as well have voted for X. You wasted your vote! I cannot believe you did this! How could you? HOW COULD YOU?!?"

And she went on. And on. Berating me for my (very well considered) decision, that if X won I'd deserve what I got, etc. Pretty much put a damper on that birthday, let me tell you.

I'm fairly well versed in politics; I follow the issues as best I can in between empty sound bites that the media likes to serve up to us. I read a lot, listen a lot, watch a lot.

And I love discussing politics. The problem is, most people seem to react like my Birthday Friend. It's their way or nothing. There is no discussing, there is no room for debate or free thinking. If you don't agree with them, you are wrong. Period. End of discussion. Except for the berating bit.

Yesterday Megan at Velveteen Mind wrote quite the thought-provoking post about a similar topic. She's dipping her toes into the political, and has a lot of questions. The problem is, sometimes asking a question can be as heretical to those who are firmly entrenched in their belief system as openly opposing them.

I know that all too well. I have had friendships become strained because I asked questions, for the very act of asking made me suspect in their eyes. People have attempted to pigeon-hole me into a category, accusing me of being one of Them (that is, the enemy in their eyes) for daring to even question their tightly held beliefs.

I've been told that I can't be who I say I am politically. That it's impossible. I must be lying or stupid. Which I find odd, because this is who and how I've been my entire voting career.

Who am I politically?

Socially liberal.

Fiscally conservative.

There. I said it.

*crickets*

Am I alone in this? Am I the only Mommyblogger who isn't a registered Democrat?

If at first you don't succeed...

I've moaned about it here before, but the problem remains.

In fact, it's worse than ever.

I can't fit into most of my clothes. ARRRRRGH.

My friend Mrs. Flinger has written a great article over at Blissfully Domestic about her fitness struggles. In it, she suggests we simplify things by making two basic lists...one of five goals, and one of five means to meet that goal.

So here goes:

Goals:
1. Lose 15-20 pounds
2. Tone core
3. Gain muscle definition in upper arms and back
4. Fit into summer clothes
5. Say good-by to muffin-top

Means:
1. Elliptical 2-3 times per week 30-45 minutes
2. Walk or bike ride 1-2 times per week 60 minutes
3. Pilates/Yoga/something like that focusing on upper body for at least 2-3 times per week at least 20 mins
4. Play outside with my kids (walks, parks, kicking ball, etc.)
5. Cook organic, whole foods as much as possible

So, I am going to try, try again.

***********************************************

By the way, if I owe you an email or PM or money, my apologies. My internet has been on and off this past week, mostly off (we considered claiming the Comcast service guy on our taxes). I did get my article up at Blissfully Domestic, though! Check it out, won't you? Anyway, it seems that my internet is back on now, and I'll get back to you ASAP.

Unless I owe you money. In which case *static* what? I think I'm *static* losing my *static* connection again *static.*

Breaking up is hard to do

This week Mrs. Flinger posted a picture of her office. So being the lemming I am (I am not)I decided to do the same (happily I took a photo of my workspace before my camera went caput):



I've been living in this rental for about half a year now. You'd think I would have my shit together by now. I don't. This house is so much smaller than the one we sold I just can't find room for the stuff.

Here's my old living room:



Here's my new one:



And, just for fun, here is my old dining room:



And kitchen nook:


And cooktop:


It's weird to me that someone else is living in that house. I flipping designed it, you know? I spent hours on drawing out everything from the elevation to the cabinetries for the architect. See those glass cabinets at the top of the uppers? That was me. See the various tilework? My designs, my selections. My vision realized.

And the colors...oh, how I loved those colors.

That house was a labor of love, a culmination of years of images ripped from magazines and drawings on napkins. That was the house I thought my children would come home to from college, and where my grandchildren would visit us. Maybe stay with us for a week while their parents, our children, enjoyed a second honeymoon.

And someone else is calling that place THEIRS. I know, they bought it, it IS theirs. It's just hard for me to accept that. The other day my former next door neighbor told me that the new owners just love it. I know she wanted me to know it is loved. Yes, I am glad for that.

But it's like when you break up with someone you care about but know it's not meant to be, and later you spot them with someone else. That punch in the gut feeling, that loss of breath, that lingering longing and feeling of possession. That's how I feel about that house.

But part of it, it's soul, will always be mine. Or maybe what I'm saying, what is really accurate, is that part of my heart will always be there.