It's all good...

How You Doin'?

The Dude asked me how I was on Sunday afternoon and I said "fine"  

I meant it too.    I actually felt fine.   The last few months have been a bit of a nightmare - well, not really a nightmare but too busy and too stressful and too much.   I said I could do something that meant overextending myself.    You know that whole thing about riding a bike?   About how you never forget how to do something and that with a little practice it just comes right back for you?    It's somewhat not true. I mean, with lots and lots and lots of practice...it sort of comes back but the whole time you feel like you're on that bike and riding down Moffat's Hill without a helmet.   Just me?   Oh.  

You end up turning into a crazy freak who is so worried about this upcoming bike demo that you ruin your whole summer and tick off your friends who get sick of saying "everything is going to be just fine" and start to roll their eyes at you and are just as anxious as you are for the bike display to be over and for you to be able to talk about normal things again.    You become whiny and irritating and people start looking for ways to avoid you.   

And then you go for that bike ride.   And while it's definitely difficult and you're not enjoying it at all while it's happening, you don't fall and you don't crash and no one gets hurt.   

Talk about beating the hell out of an analogy, eh?  

So now it's over.  And I am fine.   It's like a monster weight has been lifted from my soul (but not my arse which suffered the stress eater's dilemma through it all).  

 All that's left is the laundry. 

(and some pictures)

   

It's not even funny anymore

When we moved to western New York from Austin we didn't have a lot of time to look for a house.    The Dude and I made a whirlwind trip up over the Easter weekend and looked at 200 houses in three days.   We had no concept of exactly where we should buy or what neighbourhoods or schools were the best fit for us.    We'd done a little research and knew we wanted to be on the east side of the major city but other than that we were wide open to where we would live. 

It wasn't a great way to look for a house.   It left us with too much area to cover and too many choices.    It didn't help that the area we were leaving was in a slump and the area where we were moving was in a boom.   We've got that kind of timing. 

We couldn't find a place to live on that first trip although we did put in a few offers.    We moved up with no knowledge of where we'd land.   

We found this place the first day we went looking and while it has had its ups and downs (and leaks and drips and carcinogenic flooring) it's really a nice house on a nice street.  The only problem really is that there are no kids on the street.    These are good sized houses with big lots that would be perfect for soccer games or football games or tag games or neighbourhood hide and seek games...but there are no kids here.    Most of our neighbours moved here in the early 70s and are still here - except they're in Florida for most of the winter.  

Imagine my excitement when houses started to go on the market last year.   I thought that for sure we'd get families on our street.   Families with kids who would play with my kids so all of our playdates didn't have to be planned and wouldn't always require driving.   I dreamed of being able to just kick open the door and throw my kids out and they'd bike down to a friend's house and play.    Now that they're plenty big enough to do that kind of thing I so wanted it for them. 

So far in the last year 5 houses have sold on my street.  No kids.   Including the 5 bedroom house three doors down.   5 bedrooms...surely it would be a family that bought a 5 bedroom house.   Why would two people need 5 bedrooms?     The last two sold this summer - one house is 2400 sq ft and the other is 3400 sq ft. They were bought by nice couples....in their 60s.    In their freaking 60s.

Unless my kids learn to play shuffleboard they're not going to be able to play with the neighbours. 

The good news

The good news is that many of you will only have to listen to me bitch and moan about taking on more than I can handle for two more weeks.   After that the gig in San Francisco will be over and I will go back to being just normal stress woman rather than this giant ball of majorly stressed dear god make her stop complaining all the time and why did she even think of taking on this gig in the first place woman that I have been all summer.  

The good news is that school starts on Tuesday.    It starts when #1 has to get up at 6am to catch her bus at 6:40 and continues until #3 gets on his bus at 8:10 and #2 gets on his bus at 8:40....2 hours of getting people on buses.   Honest to Pete.   If this district had a brain they'd see what they're doing to people - how do you have that kind of morning and then go to work and try to function?   Um....but school starts on Tuesday and #3 will be in school full time this year....so there's that. 

The good news is that I had a major birthday and so far have not fallen apart.    There were moments when I thought I might.   When it occurred to me that we have lived here for 3 years and I don't actually have any friends who might come to a major birthday party if I were to throw one and that we still live too far for most of our friends or relatives to attend anything like that.   But I'm still alive....so that's nice.  

The good news is that we went van shopping last week.   And I was completely unable to pull the trigger on the van.   The thought of dropping that kind of cash even though we need the space and we could afford it had me wondering if we wouldn't be better off getting new windows for the house or making other changes rather than spending it on a van.   So...I'm still a freak I guess.