Musings on Mid-November

A gorgeous Tucson sunset

To read my blog you would think I’ve spent the whole month cooking and drinking coffee! Which is partially true. Cooking takes a ridiculous amount of time, and just when I’ve finished cleaning up from lunch, it’s time to start on dinner. Now I remember why we went out all the time in Cincinnati, and why I like leftovers so much.

But there have been other things. We’re still unpacking. We did such a terrible and quick job of it when we moved into our house, we decided that we’d do it right this time. Which is kind of funny, considering we are most likely moving again in a few months. I’ve been going through boxes that we’ve carried around for years, Nate since leaving for college, me since, well, forever. It’s taking a long time.

Flowers blooming on the bush in front of our apartment.

For a while we were going on weekly adventures. Sunday afternoons were dedicated to exploring our new city. Then we tried to go to the zoo for about three weeks in a row. When it never happened, I think we gave up on our Sunday adventures. Now we lounge around the house. I often think that’s more fun than adventuring.

We had a nice thanksgiving, despite being so far from our families. I’ve always thought of Thanksgiving as my families “best” holiday. We have a strict schedule that we adhere to, starting with the Turkey Trot in the morning (I do not partake in that part) to the Macy’s Thanksgiving Day Parade, to the dog show, to the movie, to the evening spent in front of the fire place. The food is always the same, and if ONE THING is forgotten, someone will notice. I don’t think I have ever missed Thanksgiving with my family. I think it’s the only holiday that was left that I hadn’t missed. And then we couldn’t get the parade on the TV (we don’t get NBC at our apartment, WHAT?) and then I had a meltdown, and then I was fine. We went to Cracker Barrel with some friends for dinner, then back to their house for pie and board games. I professed my hatred of board games, and then played them happily. It was fun.

I found some turning leaves while walking to church. Unfortunately I haven’t found any more.

I’m still unemployed. It’s a weird space, being unemployed on purpose. I’m not a housewife, this is not what I want to be doing, but I did choose to leave my job knowing that there wasn’t one waiting for me here. So I stick with “not working.” I send out the occasional resume, have the occasional interview, don’t get the occasional job. I’m glad for the people who have said “Contact So-and-So, you can use my name.” It makes it so much easier. But what I hear most often is how firms are closing or struggling or still laying people off.

I’m excited for the holidays. I love this time of year – there’s something magic that happens from Thanksgiving until New Year’s. We’ve been listening to Christmas music in the car, even though it still hits 80. There are no spruce trees here, no bare branches, no dark skies. It certainly doesn’t feel like the holidays. We’re not getting a Christmas tree this year, we didn’t get one last year, and I asked Nate the other day if he thought we would get one while we lived here. He said no, and I’m inclined to believe him. Somehow it feels like a lie, to truck in a tree from somewhere else, decorate it with “snow” and pretend nothing ever changes. We’ll come up with our own new traditions, it will just take some time.

Found a car show with a fire truck while on our run

We sold our house. Which is wonderful and kind of amazing, but I was sad to see it go. I’m glad we won’t be taking care of it over the winter. We owned it for almost exactly 11 months. Now we start the process all over again. This time will be much different; no super-easy only-went-to-see-one-house hunt for us this time! We’ve already been to 10 or so (I’ve lost count) and by the time we start looking again, it will probably be a whole new crop of houses. We have a pretty good idea of what we want, but I’m not so sure that house exists.

Pretty flowers – the purple leaves are dying the water purple

Well this has turned into approximately a novel. See, there are things going on! Just not super-exciting photo-worthy things. But I have some stored up – maybe next week.

New Year, New House

U-Hauling all our things to the new house

A few days before Christmas, Nate and I, with the help of so many hardworking friends and family, moved everything from our apartment to our new house.  If you had asked me three months ago, I would have told you that no, thank you, I would not be buying a house in the near future.  With interest rates predicted to be low for the next few years, many fine houses on the market at low prices, and uncertainty about what we would be doing, we were in no hurry.

Then, after a short series of unfortunate events and a mini-freak-out from Nate about what he wanted to do with his life, we decided to rent a house near our apartment, stay for a few years, and reevaluate.

Packing up the apartment

Thus began the rental house search.

It’s not an easy task, you see, to find a house that is nice enough that you want to live in it but ugly enough that you can afford it.  After several “NO” houses, I took Nate to drive by a house that I though looked promising.  It turned out to be quite far from our dream house, but on the way there, we passed a house with a gigantic “for sale” sign and noticed a little, tiny “for rent” sign next to it.

So we called the number and I went to see it the next evening.  Nate was in class, so I went by myself.  I liked the house.  It was remodeled, clean, and the landlords were super nice.  Because the house was also listed for sale, I showed Nate photos online that evening.  He first asked me why I hadn’t just signed the papers while I was there, then asked, wait, why are we not looking at buying this house?

Well, dear, because we just had this huge discussion about what we wanted to do and where we wanted to be and why we couldn’t buy right now and how we could manage oh whatever should we do.  And we came to a conclusion and we’re following that path WHICH DOES NOT INCLUDE BUYING A HOUSE.

We bought the house.

Possessions: Transported

And really it’s turning out to be a great decision.  Of course, there will always be projects and headaches and upkeep, but it’s OURS!

After the After-Party

And it’s cute, of course.

Goodnight iPad

Goodnight Moon is one of my favorite children’s books.  I don’t remember reading it a s a child, but I love reading it to my friend’s kids when I’m watching them.  It’s such a cute, simple bedtime story!

So when I saw Goodnight iPad, I was kind of traumatized!  What happened to the kittens and mittens, the brush and the mush???  Why did everyone in the new version (which hits scarily close to home) seem so angry?

Since I got my laptop my freshman year of college, I’ve joked that we are attached at the hip.  Yes, my laptop and I.  It was (is?) the first thing I checked when I got up in the morning and the last before I went to bed at night.  I rarely didn’t have it with me, and I even dragged it across Europe.  Now, I was very dependent on it for school and since DAAP didn’t actually let you take breaks or vacations, it was pretty necessary that my laptop and I were so close.

Laptops in Switzerland are useful for conveying the size of your chocolate bar to family at home.

Even after I graduated, I spent a good portion of my at-home time in front of my computer, emailing, reading blogs, the black hole of Facebook, etc.  Nate and I have a pretty nice TV, but we don’t use it all that much.  Nate plays (plenty of) video games on it, but except for football season we wouldn’t miss the cable and I can’t tell you the last time we watched a movie on it.  But without our computers, I’m pretty sure we’d both be lost.

Then, a few months ago, I acquired an old iPhone that was no longer phone-worthy.  So I now have an iPod touch which has totally changed how I use technology!  It’s convenient, I can take it anywhere, it entertains both me and kids (thanks to the handy kids apps I put on it!) and has me CONSTANTLY searching for a wireless signal.

NOT HEALTHY.

All this to say that it’s TOO MUCH!  The silly little parody of Goodnight Moon has convinced me to reign in my technology use!  So, I’m turning off my screens at 9PM.  I’ve been trying for 3 days now, and I’ve only been marginally successful, but I’m trying.  This should be good for a lot of things.  Like my marriage.  And my sleep schedule.  Oh, and those tests I keep referring to.  It should also be good for my blog writing.  Believe it or not I write most of my posts in pen on paper.  In a notebook, the red one.  I like it better and it’s hard to get distracted by blinking lights when all you’re looking at is a sheet of lined paper. And I tend to spend more time reading other peoples’ blogs than writing my own when I’m on my computer, anyway.

So, we’ll see how this goes.  You’ll know if I hate it if it keeps coming up.

movie via Brain Pickings