Month: January 2012

A bit ago, I did promise to write about 5 C’s and 2 F’s.

I got through the first 3 C’s about Carnegie Hall, Concerts and the Contract and 1 F, which was Franklin Institute, so that leaves me with Christmas, Cleaning and For Sale, which I think I’ll combine into one post so I don’t drag this on any longer than I have already. (I can hear the applause and sighs of relief already)

Besides, I have other blogs festering in my head that want to come out, but being the silly person I am, I feel I need to stick to my original plan.. even if it was dumb.

Without further ado:

Christmas – Nothing like talking about Christmas when you are almost to Valentine’s day, eh? Let’s just pretend I wrote this about 3 weeks ago. We don’t have to tell anyone otherwise.
This year was a bit different, since we were desperately CLEANING (that’s next) the house to put it up FOR SALE (and then that one), the holidays ended up being condensed into three days or so.

The day I baked – and loved it. I gave my kids the choice of cookies they’d get this year thinking I’d only have to make a batch or two because SURELY out of the 5 options I gave them, they’d all agree on a few. WHAT the hell was I thinking?! Of course they all wanted something different! So, I ended up making all 5 kinds and tasting all 5 kinds of batter and then all 5 kinds when they were fresh out of the oven and then all 5 kinds when they cooled, and then all 5 kinds as I packed them up, ’cause everyone knows that you can’t tell if it’s a GOOD cookie unless you taste them through every step.

The day I decorated – which amounted to minimal lights outside, about 5 figurines that were placed here and there, and our little faux tree. Mind you, I’d already packed the decorations, but I did have some little white lights on the tree. Looking at my sad little Charlie Brown tree, I couldn’t take it anymore, so I went to the store to find plain balls.

Granted, it was a few days before Christmas, but you can always find balls, right? Wrong. Well, kinda wrong. I went to 3 different stores, but the balls I could find were either huge (We’ve got big balls…lol) or black, (WHO puts black balls on their Christmas tree?) or expensive. I wanted none of these. I was starting to become a bit disenfranchised, when I saw a package of gift tags that looked nice and large and had glitter. (who can resist glitter? certainly not moi!) Hanging next to the sparkly tag were two other packages of large and fairly matching gift tags, so I bought them. Since they were on clearance already, I think I paid about $2.00 for all three packages, each with 12 tags.

Then I found some iridescent do-it-yourself clear Christmas balls and had an idea. I could put a bit of water inside each ball, some glitter, swish it around and voila!- sparkly balls! (the best part is that actually worked!) So for under $10.00, I brought home my goodies and promptly decorated my little tree and I’m glad to report that it looked FANTASTIC!! It was one of the most coordinated and together trees I’d ever decorated and I was really proud of how it turned out.

Then on Christmas day, I had the kids over – the local ones at least – and it was the most chill Christmas morning ever. Maybe that had something to do with the Mimosas and Bloody Marys (is that an ironic drink on Christmas morning to anyone else, or is that just sick and twisted me?) we were partaking of, but either way, everyone was calm and happy and we ate while we opened gifts. It was really just perfect.

So there! I think I can officially say that my 3 days of Christmas were perfect.

CLEANING
Ok – after having lived for 25 years in the same place, and having raised 4 kids in that same place, packing up to leave can be a bit of a chore. Luckily (?) my parents had passed away a while ago and a neighbor had also passed away and both left me their houses and all their possessions to distribute and clear out. Thus, I’ve gotten pretty good at looking at what is necessary and what is cherished and what can just GO!

Hubby isn’t as blessed with this gift. He likes to keep everything and laments at giving any of it up. Packing for him was more like disowning old friends rather than the freeing feeling I was getting. He did a pretty good job of reducing his stockpile of ‘need to haves’, so I’m not complaining. I felt bad for him on most levels and on others I wanted him to understand that most of it is just stuff that you never look at, never use, and collects dust. Knowing where he came from, I understand his reluctance to let some things go, so I was really proud of him for getting as far as he did. The new house has lots of storage and space, so hopefully, while there will be plenty of room for him to keep what he has, he will focus more on the stuff he uses and enjoys.

FOR SALE
We put our house up on the market on the last day in December. In fact, on New Years’ Eve, we had the flooring guy finishing the last bit of sealant and poly coat on our freshly refinished floors at 11 pm. We spent our NYE on the couch, in coats, with all the windows and doors open to clear the fumes and let the poly dry. I don’t think we really needed the beer and we were all a bit dozy after spending so much time cleaning and packing.

It didn’t take long for us to get our first showing on Jan 2nd, and our first contract on Jan 5th. We were so grateful that 15 showings later and some negotiating, our house is now under contract. We have home inspections to do at the new house and for this one, but I don’t foresee any issues with either place. Currently, we are set for a late February settlement. How’s that for awesome? On the market and sold in about 3 weeks. I’m really thankful to Hubby and #2 and #4 for all their help in making this place shine the way it does!

That’s it!

My youngest moved to Pittsburgh today. We had moved her big items to her new apartment back in October so it wouldn’t be a hazard for her to be moving and trying to get bulky beds and such up exterior stairs during a snow storm. It was supposed to be a joke, but last night Pittsburgh ended up getting nearly a foot of snow, so I guess it was a good thing we did it the way we did.

Even with her big items gone, we still stuffed her little Kia full to the brim with clothes, personal items, cookies, holiday gifts and a toy box she saved from a fateful trip to the dump.

Things here have been rather manic, in that we have put our house up for sale, so all manner of things have gone on. For #4, this has been very difficult. Not only was she planning on moving to another state, she realized that when she walked out the door, it might be the last time she was in her childhood home. The other three have been out and on their own for a bit, so while sad to see their “home” sold, they are established elsewhere. She hadn’t set those roots yet. This meant she needed some special attention, which I was all too willing to give. And honestly, I needed special attention just as much as she did. My baby – MY LAST BABY – was leaving the nest.  I guess I can take off my bells now.

When I was a little girl, my mother tied bells to my shoes so she could find me when I wandered away, which I have a tendency to do – look! a sparkly thing OOooooo  This is a behavior that has persisted throughout my lifetime and I still wander off. Hubby is so tall, he can practically spot me aerially, but #4 is a small girl and she would panic when I wasn’t in sight. Thus, during this time when she needed attention, some of which was retail therapy, she brought me home a pair of bells for my shoes so she could find me while we were shopping. I still would hear her calling “MA!”, but she knew I wasn’t too far because she’d hear me jingling.

Now that she’s in another state, I guess I can take of my “training” bells, but maybe not just yet. Somehow they seem to help me know that wherever I wander, someone will come looking for me.