Wednesday, February 22, 2012

Transition Matters

The past few days have been a disorienting mix of crazy busy and crazy boring. I have no work to do- out of courtesy and retaliation (depending on the partner), all of my cases have been removed from my desk. This is excellent, because I have a million papers to PDF and send to our lender and also furniture to look up, drool over, and then sternly talk myself out of purchasing, so there really is no time for actual legal work. But while there is a lot to do on the buying a home/selling a home front, it comes in fits and spurts, and then there's a space of nothing. Just, nothing. I spend all day in my office crossing items off on my to-do list and wasting time on the internet and then when I'm home after the kids go to bed I stare at my laptop, feeling like I have explored the entirety of the internet and yet not actually responded to about 50 emails in my inbox and then the guilt overtakes me so I slam my laptop closed and return it to its super secret location where it won't mess with the "aesthetic" of the living room. Then I go look at the books in my study and on my kindle, but I've read every single one at least 5 times and suddenly I don't feel like reading them again. I tried TV, but apparently there is NOTHING on Monday or Tuesday nights. Glee last night as probably the worst hour of television ever (I agree with every word of this review) and prompted me to officially stop recording future episodes on my DVR (a hollow protest, given that we will move before the next episode airs, but it made me feel good and JP feel relieved because he hates that show with the fury of a thousand suns). I've already pre-packed a ton of stuff and am hiring movers to do the rest, so I don't want to spend my time doing that (also, I'm out of boxes, otherwise, I probably would just start packing out of an inability to do nothing for more than a few minutes at a time). I took Tex for a run this morning, went on a hike with a friend and came across a prehistoric dinosaur turtle (highlight!), did a bunch of paper work, planned our dinner menu for next week, and then dealt with a mini crisis involving our buyer who suddenly wants certain closing costs or our large appliances. We gave him the appliances, so now I've researched the shit out of some new ones (so pretty!) and am again staring at a computer screen and a too-full inbox and feel like I need to draft a response to a request for a production or SOMETHING just so my existence today is justified.

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And that was several hours ago. Now I'm watching Top Chef (not the best season of the show (why does everyone have Beverly? Why are the female finalists so mean and unlikable?), but it's the only show on right now that I look forward to; JP made me watch The Walking Dead last week and I wanted to gouge out my eyes while screaming at these survivors of a zombie apocalypse for acting like complete idiots. Seriously, who goes out driving, alone, with no idea where they're going, when they're pregnant and know there are flesh eating zombie people roaming about nearby? I was sorely disappointed when said person did not die- a complete failure of survival of the fittest). Speaking of JP, I just sent him back to the grocery store to get the right kind of funfetti frosting for my birthday cake on Friday. He's been making this cake for me for 11 years and it's the only thing I'm getting for my birthday (to be fair, it's at my insistence that it's the only thing I'm getting- I want the ability to buy any pieces of art I want for the house after we move in)- how could he buy the wrong one? I have STRONG feelings about my funfetti cake and it must be frosted with the jarred frosting with little balls of mystery colored balls. Not the faux funfetti frosting that is just plain vanilla frosting with a separate bag of sprinkles. NO. IMPOSTER.

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JP and I went together to pick the kids up from school today (I love it when we can do that- L&C get SO excited) and we ended up in the hallway holding Claire and talking with four teachers- none of whom actually teach my children- and the director, all telling us how much they'll miss our family and how "Clairebear" is the school mascot and everyone adores her and we better make that clear to our next school because no one can love her like they do. Then one of Landon's teachers said goodbye to us because he's having surgery on Monday and will be out until we leave and I got all teary and sad because we're going to miss this daycare, school, and community SO MUCH. JP and I are headed to Fort Worth on Friday to tour our daycare options there and I just hope we find something even close to as wonderful as our current one. It has been such a great place for us and such a big part of our family and oh crap I'm getting all teary now. For two working parents, there is no blessing like a daycare filled with people who genuinely love your children (well, that and having two children who never ever get sick).

Oy, I need to get back to researching pretty refrigerators, they don't make me cry. I'm kind of glad I leave five days before JP and the kids because I'm going to be a mess as we say goodbye to everyone in our lives here, it'll be good to rip off the band-aid a little faster. At some point, all the teariness is going to upset the children. Luckily, all it takes is a look at pictures of my future house or a reminder of my future schedule and the excitement eases the pain.

8 comments:

  1. Followed your stories for 18 months now. I just wanted to say that I am so excited for you and your transition to Ft. Worth. And as far as dreaming for the new home - if you're not already using Pinterest it makes that dreaming and planning process so easy. We also listed and sold our home last year (while I was delivering our son) and bought a dream home 4 days later . . . I totally understand what you're going through. Best of luck!

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  2. I have forwarded this blog to my husband so he knows that I'm not the only person passionate about my funfetti cake. My exact email to him says, "SEE, I am NOT crazy. There IS a difference between funfetti and sprinkles and this very well-educated and completely normal human being not only agrees with me, she devoted part of a blog post to it. You lose."

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    1. This almost made me spit out my tea. There IS a crucial difference between the two frostings, but I'm not sure if my writing about it is proof that our obsession is normal... The good news is, he found the right kind and we will be eating it tomorrow. Phew.

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  3. "I tried TV, but apparently there is NOTHING on Monday or Tuesday nights."

    INCORRECT! Have you tried Castle (Monday nights on ABC)? Start with Season 1 -- it's short, only 10 episodes, and you'll be hooked. They're on Season 4 now so you have some stored up to burn through but not so much to be daunting. Or you can just start in now, but the backstory is SO good.

    There's also the Bachelor on Mondays, but I'm more ashamed than passionate about that one. :)

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    1. Wholeheartedly agree with the Castle rec - love that show - though I am currently behind...

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  4. btw tip re: scanning stuff - the iphone has a scanner app (scans to pdf) that is quite passable. not for the superimportant stuff but we have been using it for the million disclosure sigs and it has been fine.

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  5. LagLiv,

    Pick up a handful of the change of address kits from the post office. The kits have a variety of coupons - most importantly, a 10% off coupon for Lowes. Home Depot will also honor the Lowes coupon. We have found this key to our appliance and home improvement shopping over the last several months!

    Best of luck with the move.

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  6. The tone of your writing is so much happier and joyful. Seriously. So excited for you and this change.

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