Updated post: reordered the entries and changed the title.

This photo is  of my future cooktop island with open side for pots & pans. The pots & pans featured here are not my pots & pans. They belong to the seller, who has the most amazing eye for art collection I've ever seen. I wish the art was part of the sale.

 
2.2.09
A kind of blah day. Went to the bookstore and bought the Bolano titles. For 2666, I bought the box set, which is made of three gorgeous trade paperbacks in a box. It's a thing to behold. Way too much OS drama that I sidestepped. The house has many undone chores. I would like it to sparkle. Elbow grease, no? One good thing. I am done being tortured by Emily Bronte. I hate to be lowbrow and use that "I just didn't like it" line. I know the book was worth more than just not liking it. The woman who wrote the intro warned that the whole novel was a fever dream. But I am not sure that I just want to read fever dreams. 

2.8.09
I'm pretty sure we've convinced ourselves to sell the house and move to a better one. How did this happen? 

2.9.09
The true test of a relationship's solidity comes forward when the couple decides to buy a new house. He wants to pack and put the house on the market with as little work or prep as possible. I want to fix every little flaw so the buyers will like us. He's smarter, I'm too worried. He says whoever buys the house doesn't know us and it doesn't matter what they think. He's right to the extent that things need to be in good shape to attract a buyer. I know that. I must let things go...

2.10.09
Things improved as the day went on. I did accomplish a couple of mind-numbing tasks. Also, I have in the trunk of my car a box of 17 books (all general nonfiction) that I'm to read as a selector for a book award program that's local. I need to get on that. I wish I could say more about it, but that would be unethical. Just know that there's some fun, choosing between travelogues, cookbooks, and UFOs.

My god I am unambitious today. I have a list of things to do and I am not doing any of them. This is highly irresponsible. I liked seeing all the Karen Novak bd greetings. I didn't make one because we've never communicated and it just seemed wrong to pile on without a previous connection. I sure do wish her well. And I love fingerlakeswanderer. I openend this up to comment. Not sure why.

2.11.o9
It's a snowball of action around here as the realtor drops by and we call up our bank for a prequal and then the realtor gets buggy eyed when he thinks that his buddy the mortgage guy might not get the deal but for once we aren't going to think of anyone but ourselves getting a good deal on a house. Pray for me if you are inclined, or send a good thought, or just go out and have a drink in my honor. It's going to be a hectic couple of months, interrupted by a fine trip to Barbados.

2.14.09
Okay, we found this foreclosure house that has a ridiculous number of bedrooms and I found myself REALLY wanting  this house. But it needs work. It needs new bathroom cabinets, a new bathtub, refinished hardwood floors on the main floor, and more. I am very nervous but also very excited. Our realtor is skiing this weekend. This could be really good or really not good. Bad.

We bought ninety boxes. I don't think there's any turning back now. Daughter turns 16 this weekend. Gave her her car. She seems happy. I want her to be happy. I think she's happy. Today I feel old.

2.16.09
My youngest girl tunred 16 today. The day she was born, it was 2o below and the hospital was doing everything it could to get us out, so 23 hours after checking in, we were on our way home. The years go by so fast. Well, that's a cliche, isn't it? But it's true.

The real estate mode is cranking up. We filled fifty boxes of books yesterday to put into a pod, and I've ordered another fifty because we're not close to being done. I'm just putting some good will out into the world and hope it comes back in some unexpected, pleasant way.

2.19.09
I am, out of character, trying to stay very zen about whether or not we can get the foreclosure house and afford this one until it sells. Zen, zen, ohm, ohm...breathe, dammit. We went and looked at it again. There are some things that need to be fixed, quick. Like the roof and the front slab, which is cracked and leaning. The windows will need replacing, but he says, oh, that's not so important. Well it is, to me. But I can wait. There's a little bedroom upstairs I'm eyeing for my own private office. Where I have it now, in this house, is extremely accessible to everyone. I need a door. Just my own private Idaho, please. But...ahem. If we don't get it, there are other houses. Other houses. Other houses.

2.21.09
I have an audacious cold that's settled right in my nose. I cannot breathe through it and have been reduced to mouth breathing, which is not ladylike nor attractive. The relator came over for the big talk yesterday, the signing of contracts, the touring of the home, the gentle way he tried to tell me that the colors in the basement are not attractive to potential buyers and his relief when I said that he's not offending me by telling the truth. So a bevvy of "guys" are coming over to bid on small repair jobs to polish up the house and  get it ready to sell, and it took only a couple of minutes to convince Mr. that he really didn't have to do all the painting himself when he's so busy with his job. This is a whirlwind, I tell you.

3.5.09
Where have I been? Right here, but not writing. Instead, packing. Teaching driving to our youngest girl, and tomorrow she gets her license. Fretting over the stock market, trying to stay calm and steer a course toward the horizon.  Looking at houses. Reading a book about deadly astronomy, which is outside my normal reading material circle. Nursing two pimples that are on either side of my nose. Laughing at the Limbaugh thing. Missing the OS fights, and not missing them.

4.1.09
Crap! I haven't posted anything here in nearly a month. Well, we sold our house and bought a house and after the trip to Barbados (did you know it's so close the equator, a full fourteen-hour journey including a five-hour layover in Miami?) we'll come home and ten days later we're moving the 1.5 miles to the new amazing house. It's my dream house, really, full of windows and charm and a pretty backyard. There is an HOA, which, well, I know I should despise, and I do, sort of, but now that I'm old(er) and turning 43, I don't mind as much as I once did. I'm losing my edge. Crap, redux.

4.8.09
2nd month anniversary of us deciding to sell a house and buy a house. A lot has happened in those sixty days. Appraisals, landscaping, painting, carpet, radon mitigation (christ), inspections, sticker shock, roof repair, influenza, spring break for kid 1, spring break for kid 2, and now, Friday, spring break for me and he. I have my kindle 1.0 all loaded up with books, know where the charger is, bought sunscreen and cough drops for our lingering thr0at-clearing, and am hoping to find the perfect cocktail I can drink for five days without over-indulging; I would like to be able to achieve the perfect balance of alcohol buzz with proficient brain clarity. Is that heaven, or folly?