Summer Reading

I recently finished Wallace Stegner's 560 page novel The Big Rock Candy Mountain, about the 30 year struggles of the Mason Family as they navigate life Out West in the early 20th century, and I can't recommend it highly enough. Stegner is a masterful storyteller (Pulitzer Prize & National Book Award winner... people... he knows what's he'd doing) and his character development is really extraordinary. His ability to so accurately portray the very different voices of his characters, both male and female, is a gift. Don't be turned off by the length... you can't put it down... and even with all I've been doing this month I was able to finish it (and was sorry to see it end).

If you've read anything by Wallace Stegner I know you'll need no convincing, if not, you should also consider reading Crossing To Safety which is one of my all time favorite books. While Stegner's portrayal and understanding of human psychology and the complexity of our emotional relationships is present in both of these books, the story line, setting, and era are completely different... and both worth reading.


**These are not womens beach books so... men... feel free to dig in yourselves

Say What?!

[ring ring]

"Hey" Mrs F says in greeting to her mother on the other line.

"Did you know there were Black Amish people?" Mom responds

"Like African American?"

"Yes"

"Did you see their clothes? You're sure they're Amish?"

"Yes, the kids weren't wearing any shoes."

"Like one Black Amish person or a whole family?"

"A whole family... they're traveling with another Amish family in a van like they do up here."

"But you saw their clothes?"

"Yes"

"Does the man have a beard?"

"Yes a scruffy one."

"Follow them."

"I am."

"hmmm... this might be the greatest bit of information I've ever received."


Clues to the mystery...

It's Real... It's Really Happening

I know this process has been kind of all consuming for a while and seems like it has just been dragging on and on (or is that just me?) but it hasn't even been a month since we heard he had the job... and it hasn't been two months since he first interviewed. The past month has just been like running in front of a steamroller trying desperately to pick up everything in its way before it crushes us all. I can't believe all that we've done in three & a half weeks!

Now I have just over 2 weeks until we move out. And in someways I'm in a quiet spot between two big colliding storms. I don't technically have to pack anything (although maybe I should... or not... it's paid for). We do need to clear out the rest of the stuff we don't want to keep... or is trash... so that it doesn't get packed and loaded on the truck. I'm spending my time trying to figure out what furniture we can use there and what to do with the rest. Since cost isn't really an issue I'm just thinking of moving it... I mean you never know where we will be in two years. I don't really have time for selling it or the ability to cart it out of here myself anyway... and we will have a huge unfinished basement to store it in.

Done Deal

We bought it.

Oy Vey

So we heard back on our offer today. Wouldn't you know that after sitting on the market for 4 months that they would get two offers on the same freaking day?!?! Of course there trying to instigate a bidding war and I'm just not feeling it. I mean the house is not the "perfect" house. We've countered halfway in between and if the other buyer beats us out then so be it... it wasn't meant to be.

Coming Clean

I weighed myself this morning and, as hard as it is to admit, my weight has left my maintenance range. I'm not surprised. I think at the end of the day I did what I had to do to get through 3 very tough weeks. Unfortunately that means I'm 1.5 pounds OVER my range. 1.5?! Big deal! Right? Wrong. The whole point to picking a maintenance range is giving yourself a little leeway for the natural ebb & flow of weight fluctuations... and to give you a top point that you won't exceed. And if you do it's the wake up call that what you are doing isn't working anymore and you need to change it immediately.
While 1.5 might not seem like a lot it's 1.5 too many... and it's a slippery slope... 1.5 this week could quite easily be 3 next week.
So today I'm going shopping and I'm getting back to meal planning and calorie counting. I'm also taking a break from the McDs drive thru and their delicious iced coffees (I will miss you). And it is time that I got recommitted to working out. Fortunately the basement is finished and I've got my treadmill and pilates machine back up. Unfortunately Mr F is only in town for another 10 days and I don't have a game plan for how I'll fit my exercise in around his absence... or how I'll do it once they load up my machines on the 14th.
But instead of focusing on what I won't be able to do I'm just taking this one day at a time and doing what I can do today. It is way to easy to start sabotaging when I think of the big picture. I want to get back down to the bottom of my range so I'm going to try and exercise EVERY day for at least 30 minutes and come in at 1650 calories. I want to get it down now so I can have a little cushion for the inevitable weight gain that will come from moving and unpacking!

The House

ARRRRGH

Okay ... I already wrote a whole post detailing my Asheville thoughts only to have it vanish into the internets.

Basically it goes like this:

Asheville reminds me of Austin, TX. Particularly the Austin of 2001-2002... up and coming "cool" town with plenty of sketch still around the corners. West Asheville (where the house we want is) is in the equivalent of SoCo in Austin (again in 2001). This area is just turning over and while there is a pretty run down house down the street, with weird junker vehicles all over their yard, I expect they'll be gone soon. We feel pretty confident that this house will appreciate over the next few years... and while it might not be as nice as our house (or as big... or technically have a freaking yard... but who's counting?) it is well maintained and what renovations have been done have been done mostly to period.

For you NYers out there you can compare the area to Cobble Hill/Carroll Gardens in B'klyn circa 1997-1999 same kind of vibe going on down on Smith Street then as you feel in West Asheville now. And you know what I lived there then and I considered living in Austin in 2002... the only difference is that then I didn't have two little kids and a cute run down 2 bedroom fixer upper sounded like fun... and now it sounds like a rip-off.

Those are my thoughts for now... gotta get some rest

Holy Crap

Well we're back from Asheville and as it turns out we can't technically "afford" to live there. Not maintaining our current quality of life anyway... and certainly not gaining any square footage as we had originally hoped. WTF?! All those "dream homes" I found we're complete shitholes. And by shitholes I mean somewhat dilapidated. And People... People... That is with us raising our price up to 100K over the sale price of our own home. 100K to buy a house that needs at least 100K to bring it up to level of our current home (which is 90 freaking years old and not exactly in mint condition!!). I cannot freaking believe it. Cannot. What a nightmare. And NO the surrounding areas aren't any cheaper. And NO it is not a buyers market... not when sellers do not do their dishes or even make their beds before showing their house... RIDICULOUS. So needless to say I'm a bit depressed. It's not like we haven't lived in an "urban" setting before (and... ahem... Asheville... NYC you are not) and we don't sticker shock easily... but this was unbelievable. I mean Ann Arbor to Asheville is a pretty lateral move in terms of type of city, size, population... but let me tell you it is NOT a lateral move in terms of quality of life (neighborhoods, housing, etc). At this point we did find a house we like... but it is 60K more than ours... and the exact square footage (but we lose the finished basement and the playroom as the space is divided differently).


**You can find my additional commentary in the comments of my previous post.

On The Road Again

We're headed down to Asheville today.
Don't worry this time I am taking the computer. Hopefully I'll get to post pics of the potential houses.
Stay tuned.

It's A Deal

Our house just sold. Of course we still have our contractor's inspection on Tuesday... but all that will mean is at most some money coming off the sale.

Now for the juicy part...

Mr F and I just had a major blow out about going down to Asheville this weekend. He thinks we should wait a week so that we have an extra day on the trip. I think what the hell difference is one day going to make? I know this for sure... if we don't get a house now we'll never get one that can turn around as fast as we need. What if my dream Victorian is gone next week?
While I don't want to jump into a house sale... there isn't really much choice. No matter what we're moving to a new city from out of state essentially sight unseen. Even if I don't find a house I feel sure about I NEED to go down there ASAP in order to start this process. In less than 4 weeks we're out of here and I need a place to go.

This Week's Reading Selections Brought To You By Kid

Question

Has everybody already got their "Economic Stimulus Check"?

The Return Of The Videos...

Assessing The Damage

Yesterday I was starving... not just a little hungry... starving. The kind of constant hunger that makes you wonder if you might have gotten a tapeworm or some such parasitic pariah while vacationing in paradise. Then I remembered how much I ate... and... the rate with which I was throwing back "the juice" (aka "the Dr"... "sir pep-a-lot" to you). It's possible that during the course of my two week binge-fest (starting with the lemon square bonanza during the house staging phase and ending with a week long vacation) that I "stretched" my stomach. It appears that I ate like such a wild pig that my body forgot what was normal consumption and now expects 5000 calories a day to survive. So I did the unthinkable... I weighed myself. I wasn't going to do it. I was planning to give myself a week to rebound but I felt like I needed to know where I stand and how much willpower I need to be bringing to the table this week. It turns out that my weight isn't so far off (it's off just not ridiculous off) but Sweet Jesus my goddamn body fat is through the freaking roof!!! Apparently when you go cold turkey on any type of exercise for 3 weeks you will actually become fatter... as in actually composed of more fat. Due to all the basement redoing and whatnot the TV (and even more importantly the TIVO) has been unplugged as has my dear old treadmill. Mr F is hooking 'em up for me tonight and I'm going to get back on the "Crazy Cardio" bandwagon.

People!

I'm back. It was a great trip and much needed.
We relaxed.
We got tan.
We collected sea shells.
We saw boats and sunsets and seals.
We clearly gained some weight.
We.... we....we sold our house!

Okay, okay, we may have sold our house. Things are getting hammered out today.

The good news? If this goes through then we are done. Done keeping it clean. Done showing it. Done trying not to "live in" our own freaking house too much.

The bad news? We got pressured into low balling our selling price and while I guess it worked... we can't shake the gnawing feeling that we could have gotten more (a much needed more I might add).

Oh the other bad news? That gives me 4 weeks to get all packed and moved... and I haven't even been to Asheville yet!

Peace Out

We're out of here.
We got the house ready (mostly) and are headed for a little rest and relaxation.
I'll catch up with you all when we get back.

Praying...

That Lowe's comes to install the new range before I have to pick up Kid at 2:30. Of course I got the 12 - 4 PM delivery window. The only 4 hour block all day that I have to leave.

Note To My Readers...

Thank you so much for all your comments and Birthday wishes. I did get them all. I'm just too busy and stressed to return your comments. So if you've commented and not gotten a return I'm sorry. This nightmare is almost over and then it'll be back to business as usual!

This Week The Plan

Okay folks I'm getting down to the wire with this putting the house on the market thing. I feel like I'm on the brink of insanity... or sanity... depending on how you look at it.

I'm really wiped out and am both excited for Tuesday night (that's when we hand it over to the realtor) and terrified. We still have an astounding amount of work to do. Thankfully Mr F is known for the all nighters so there is still hope.

Again I'm not meal planning or exercising. We're leaving for a nice relaxing vacation Wednesday morning so there isn't much point anyway.

Here's what's goin' down:

Monday:
Go to Sear's or Best Buy and order new gas range.

Clean Upstairs for showing.

Clean Living Room & Dining Room

Clean Playroom

Do laundry.

Box up bookcases in basement.

Empty main room of basement.

Touch up paint the upstairs bathroom.


Tuesday:

Remove extra toys, paperwork, shoes (daily stuff) to Storage Room

Carpet installed in basement

Gas range installed

Kid's last day of school picnic

Clean Kitchen & Downstairs Bathroom

Vacuum entire house

Mulch backyard


Wednesday:

Leave for vacation!