Drug Fair

Nov 13, 2011 | This Life

I’m pretty sure this belonged to the former owners of our house. And I have no idea why we still have it. Except, that every time I re-discover it, I can’t seem to stop laughing enough to toss it out. So, back in the drawer it goes. Don’t ask me why I think it’s funny, I’m clueless about that as well.

Do you keep stuff like that? Random things that make you laugh?

Counting My Blessings

Nov 8, 2011 | This Life

Foamy lattes always make the list

Counting My Blessings

We are a week into living in chaos and it’s frighteningly easy to become overwhelmed by this situation. I’ve cried more in the past week than I did in the previous 3 months of hotel life.

But it is November, and November reminds us (albeit often conjoined with a little gluttony) to stop and count our blessings. To be thankful. To cherish the moments in front of us and express gratitude for the moments passed. Oh, and to post those blessings on Facebook. Hello, a month of status updates. Done.

Too cynical? Maybe just a little?

Sure, there’s a line. And it’s easily crossed into “my life is so awesome, I just have to brag about it.”  Judging by my facebook stream it’s a line most of us don’t even know exists!  But it’s just as easy to cross over into that cynical space of thinking nobody can be that perfect, hopeful, lovely, etc. . . and chalk up their efforts to express their gratitude to narcissism.

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Twice in One Day

Nov 3, 2011 | This Life

Love from Paris: Gorgeous gifts from the amazing Elizabeth Germo of En Route.

To say Sunday morning was bad, well, would be short selling it. As I sat waiting for IZ to come back with breakfast, the reality that our 3 month stay in a clean hotel was coming to an end, and that I, mother of a teenager, was moving my child and assorted pets back into this distasterpiece sunk in. I felt like the worst mother in the world. I mean, who lets their kid live in this filth and destruction?

“Baby, it’s going to be OK. Here, eat a chocolate croissant,” as he hands me a pastry and an almond latte. But there are some things that pastry can’t solve.  With the realization that all my hopes and plans to have our space somewhat sorted, or at least my child’s room cleared of construction debris, were just pie in the sky dreaming—the universe clearly didn’t get the memo— came a flood of tears. IZ kept saying, “Sweetie, think of it as camping in your own house.”

Um.

No.

It’s not camping. It’s a freakin’ obstacle course. If I get a chance to video the horror, I will. But in the meantime, trust me, you don’t want to live here right now.

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Just Not Yet

Oct 31, 2011 | This Life

Photo via Susie Harris. You can win this sign!

This is it. . .

Well, folks, this is it. Halloween. And the day before we “occupy our house”. (IZ has been  joking with me all weekend about that. He’s using our real address, which makes the joke funny… er?)

Our house, sigh. It’s a freakin’ war zone. And it’s no place to be living. As in no kitchen, no bathrooms*, no laundry, no nothing. We emptied out a kitchen, laundry/pantry, and two bathrooms into the remaining spaces of the house with the promise that SOMEONE else would put it all back, clean my house from top to bottom, before we moved back in.

Um.

So.

Today I will be multitasking. Doing last minute laundry, carving a space for my kid to sleep, making sure everyone including the dog gets a good bath, and staging tomorrow’s exit, while trying for some semblance of normalcy on a day that isn’t normal. It’s Halloween, after all. And while we didn’t carve pumpkins or decorate the house (Although, talk about a nightmare! Here trick-or-treaters, you get candy. You parents can walk through our disasterpiece and be haunted by the shades of home renovation.) I’m determined that we celebrate in our own small ways.

I don’t know when I’ll be back online for the next few days. You’d think vacating a hotel room would be easy, but . . . I have fears, people, real fears that have been invading my dreams. We brought all this stuff over in a course of 3 months and now I have to get it out of here in one day. (with no place to put any of it at our home.) With a kid and a dog and a cat. So, if you touch bases in the next week and discover I’ve not updated the blog, please pray for my little family??

Every little thing is gonna be alright. Just not yet.

* there is a tiny powder room in my studio on the lower floor. That means a two flight hike in the middle of the night. I’m thinking no more water after 9 pm for the next few days. Heh.