Busy Few Days

The last few days have been really busy so I'm glad the NaBloPoMo is finished. I could have gotten posts up, but they would have been rushed.

Besides awaiting the coming of the Christ child in Advent, I'm awaiting my move. A few days ago a Vermonter with the handle VTCrone commented on a post from two weeks ago. She offered her email to me for questions. I took her post down due to her personal email in it but we've carried on a lively correspondence since then. She's given me lots of information but more importantly, she has given me a bit of friendship when that's the only thing in it for her.

She gave me the name of her realtor, which is something huge we needed. I emailed that person a little while ago to introduce myself and tell her some of the houses we are interested in that we've seen online. I look forward to hearing from her.

This speaking with an actual potential neighbor has kicked my butt a bit. I've been in our walk in closet tossing big time. I also threw out a bunch of stuff out of the pantry that was pushed to the back and died. I have to take one of the shelves down and scrub it; a can of plums is leaking, slowly :/. I had no clue until I was on the stepladder and noticed a stain on the shelf.

Meanwhile, I mentioned a couple of weeks ago or so that my next door neighbor is attempting to sell his house. On Wednesday, I got a massage from my other next door neighbor, and casually mentioned we were putting our house on the market in ~ February. She blanched. She and her husband plan to move their family this summer to California, where he works in the movie business, and want to put their house on the market in April. The picture is right there in my mind--all of the three houses at the end of our cul-de-sac with For Sale signs in the yards.

Taciturn is in a panic. For whatever reason, he is convinced we will have to give our house away, and now he is doubly so. But two people who recently sold houses told me that actually it may help us; someone may drive up to see one house, see one of the others that is pleasing at first glance, and look at that one also. My physical therapist said last summer four houses on his block sold, including his own. Especially since we hear that ours is a desirable subdivision and that houses for sale are few and far between, that is quite encouraging.

Today was the most brutal PT session I've experienced. He is trying to get my legs stronger and I did lots of weights, squats, leg lifts, etc. He promised me that I'll be sore tomorrow. That's ok. My tomorrow will be spent in an Advent Quiet Day, and then my pals PB and DB and I are driving to Hill City, SD to the Prairie Berry Winery for the Fezziwig Festival. PB goes each year and says it is great fun! Looking forward to it.

The last of November

Mom would have been 74 today. Very odd not to need to pick up the phone to give her a call. I remember when she turned seventy; when I asked her how she felt about being that age, she said, “I don’t want to be seventy!”

“Well,” I said, “consider the alternative.”

Four short years later, the alternative is the reality.

Otherwise, it has been a good day. This morning I finished and submitted the two hundred word essay I wrote for the Lenten reflection booklet the local Episcopal churches are compiling jointly. My knee feels the best it has for a long time and I had a good workout at physical therapy. I was able to piggyback on a free wireless signal from the café next door to the PT clinic and listen to VPR Classical on my iPod Touch during electrical stimulation, which is a lovely way to pass the time. Feeling guilty after PT, I bought a bowl of delicious chicken chipotle soup for my lunch from the cafe'.

Evensong for the Feast of St. Andrew, the patron saint of my church, awaits tonight. Good to attend church on this day in particular.

Thanks for hanging with me during NaBloPoMo! I think I got something up each day. I’ll see how or if I will continue this much posting during Advent. No urgency now, certainly!

Guess Move is Still Not Well Known

I was approached to run for the vestry in January. Obviously the present vestry does not know I plan to move. Have the pledge envelopes been opened yet? If so, then those in the know are keeping quiet. BTW, I dodged the vestry question by stating I had done that before and it did not work out for me (true).

Since many of my church friends are also friends on Spacebook, I don't discuss anything related to a move except in private messages. Some Spacebook status updates I have not posted include Lauralew:

--is going through five years' worth of Real Simple magazines to see which ones she will keep and which she will give away. Too heavy to ship. (One of my favorite magazines since it came out.)
--is selling books on Amazon.com for the same reason.
--cannot decide whether to go on her househunting trip before Xmas or after the New Year. A lot of snow either way.
--needs to get rid of a lot of excess furniture; if you need a slightly worn dining room set, a loveseat in need of a slipcover, etc, call me!
--and Taciturn spend way too much time on Realtor.com.
--spends so much time on Realtor.com she does not have time to clean out her basement or cupboards in prep for the move.

And so on. Of course, several of my fellow parishioners have commented on this blog in the past, so I assume they still read it.

Meanwhile, today is the first Sunday of Advent. Our creche is up; our decorating is finished. Now is the time of joyful anticipation, a time of waiting. Waiting is different now than when I was a child. This time is more meaningful now. Happy Advent to all!

Christmas Decorations

Decorating for Christmas never has been a concern of mine. I worked so many Christmas Days and Nights when I was a nurse that decorating became drudgery instead of fun. Taciturn usually pulled newborn nursery call at Christmas so he never decorated, either. For a long time the extent of our decorating was was to plug in a miniature ceramic tree his step sister gave us. In the past few years we bought a Nativity scene and started putting it up on the first Sunday in Advent, not part of my childhood tradition but definitely part of his. So the Nativity scene is fun, but outside of what I've mentioned, there is nothing to see at our house.

Two years ago I took a photo of the lonely little tree for my grandchildren. Then two year old GS #2 said, "That's sure a little tree!" Only Son's bride each year decorates a lovely, floor to ceiling tree. If I had a child around here, maybe I would too.

This year, though, I received a new decoration. This stocking was crafted for me when I was a newborn--actually started before I was born--by my grandmother Campbelle, my maternal grandmother. She created one of these for each of her grandchildren. This tradition lasted through all thirteen grandchildren; mine probably was the sixth or seventh she made. Along with the stockings sewn for my brothers,this was found in a sealed box when we cleaned out the basement storeroom immediately after Dad's death.

Granddaughter oohed and awed when she saw it. Someday it will be hers.

Taciturn apparently has something similar given to him as a child. This year we think we will put both of the stockings up on our mantle as a way to recall our past family traditions.

Only Son, Guest Blogger

I had another post ready to go, but then read this post entitled People Who Care Only Son wrote on his blog last night. I'll let him speak here today.

This Thanksgiving I’m thinking quite a bit about my Grandparents who passed away in the last few months. In the past on holidays we have been overwhelmed with the number of places we were expected to go. But now that that is over we are really missing it. It has made me think that I shouldn’t take people who truly care about me for granted. It is so important to know that there are people out there who truly love and accept me no matter what. With friends I am tempted to worry that they might not like me as much if I say certain things or if I truly open up. But with family it is different. I am thinking about my Grandma E who was always delighted to see my family when we came regardless of my political views or whether we said a couple of stupid or annoying things or even if the kids were cranky. So if you have people who truly care about you don’t take them for granted. In this life that is a very precious and rare thing.

How many people live their entire lives and miss this lesson? It is all about love.

Thanksgiving

A nice quiet day at the home of Taciturn and Lauralew. Have a turkey breast in the oven, potatoes chopped and ready to cook up for mashing, stuffing made, pumpkin pie cooling, and football in the background.

The pall that hangs over the day is the absence of my parents. Out of habit's sake, I called the house anyway and had a nice chat with Caretaker. Youngest is sharing Thanksgiving dinner with them. Only Son and his family are making the rounds of their extended families in MO--her mom, her dad, Only Son's dad and his mother, etc. If nothing else the death of my parents means one less meal for them to eat on Thanksgiving Day.

Although my parents are no longer here, there is much to be thankful for. Taciturn, for one thing! All of my friends and my church, and good reliable health insurance provided by the US government. May all of my fellow citizens get as decent coverage as I have. Yes, I'm thankful for what I have, while knowing many do not have what I do. That is the tension. Prayers for all this day.

Drop in Home Buyers

While I put the finishing touches on yesterday’s blog post, my telephone rang.

“Hi, is this Lauralew? Great. I’m SR, friend of Professional Historical Preservationist. She told me you would be moving. I’d like to see your house.”

This is one ballsy chick, I thought. I recalled telling PHR about my house and that it would be on the market in January or February. When we met, we had exchanged contact information. She mentioned that she had a friend who was looking for a new house; this was the friend.

“Um, it isn’t listed yet.”

“Oh, I know. That’s ok. I know we kinda are barging in, but I really would like to see it while I’m here.” While she was here?

Right on cue, Taciturn called, “Honey, someone’s in the driveway!”

She went on, “I’m sitting in your driveway.”

Out of the door I flew as SR and her friend C got out of a truck. “We thought since we were here looking at other houses--” she nodded at the house next door--”we’d try to see yours, if it’s all right. We can work a deal and save six percent on a realtor if this works for me.”

T stood in the doorway. I glanced at him; he shrugged as if to say, “Why not?”

So with no warning, I led two strangers on a tour of my home, happy that I had cleaned it a couple of days before. SR had a specific need; she quilts and has what is called a “long arm,” which is fourteen feet wide. She said that she works in a 12 x 20 room which is too small for her machine. She would like a new house with a very large room. After we completed the tour, she thanked me but said none of my rooms would work for her purposes.

Our house is very large with fairly good sized rooms. I laughed to myself--”too small” and “too large” really are relative, subjective terms!

If SR and her friend had come today, they would have seen the new faucets we had installed in the main bathrooms this morning. Plumbers were here for two hours today to install three faucets and fix three leaky toilets. We thought it best to get those tasks finished before the house goes on the market.

The entire episode lasted twenty minutes. I just wonder, as I start to let people know that my house will go on the market soon, will this happen again? When I listed my house in San Antonio years ago, people came to the house unannounced to try to work a deal directly in order to bypass the realtor and “save six percent.” That never happened when we listed the Mississippi house. This could be interesting.