Confessions of an Addict

57 boxes of books.

Roughly 60 boxes of everything else.

My life is largely packed up and I can't walk through the apartment without bumping, tripping, or stumbling several times as I weave through the stacks.

Last Saturday I flipped on the TV for background noise as I packed a few more boxes. Somehow I tripped over a show called "Property Virgins" and that was the end of it.

HGTV has become my addiction. I am hooked. I am driving Chris crazy because it is ALL I watch. He tries to wrestle the remote away from me - I sit on it. He begs and I am without mercy. He tells me there are two TV's, I say "yes but I was at this one first." This one is the big screen.

I wake up, flip it on. We go to sleep to it. At work I think about getting home and settling in. I can tell you about "First Time Homebuyer" or "House Hunter International" or "Save My Bath" or "Cash in the Attic" and not only that but I've gotten pretty good at the price guessing and figuring out which house the buyer/renter will choose. Oh, and I am SO opinionated when it comes to those million dollar vacation homes.

We take possession of the new place tomorrow. We move into it on Tuesday. Maybe, just maybe, once these boxes are gone and we are settled in this craving for all things home will go away.

I hope so. Otherwise someone will need to come and rescue Chris.

NL

Ummm....Hi...it's Me

I have not blogged in nearly two months.

This is because I have done nothing and I hate the world.

Okay, not really. Well, sort of not really.

Since my last entry a brother, a nephew, a niece, and a sister have all had birthdays. I didn't visit them for any of these even though they only live 45 minutes away. When my niece had her birthday I was all the way in New Mexico. I have no excuse for the rest.

Except that I'm packing. Endlessly.

We picked our apartment. It is even more fabulous than the one I described in my last blog post - nearly 2 months ago. And cheaper. Oh, and no one has ever lived in it before.

Not only do we need to pack up everything we own BUT Chris has decided that we should get rid of a bunch of stuff and replace it with new stuff. So we've been packing, purging, and purchasing.

I am in hell.

This past weekend I sorted out our bar. It was a mystery.

Gin? Almost gone. I love gin.

Vodka? Barely touched. I hate vodka.

Single Malt Scotch? Do not touch. It's my favorite maker.

Lymon Cream? Ryan's Cream? Bailey's Irish Cream? Hey! How long does this stuff last? Is it real *cream?* It's three years old. Toss out.

Vioga Wine? Worst. Wine. Ever. Cool bottle. Toss.

Vermouth? Is this a kind a wine and therefore, does it spoil? I think yes. Chris says no. I'll keep it until he isn't looking then throw it out.

Creme to Cacao? Is it supposed to be *that* dark?

Aftershock? OMG! I love that stuff! I forgot I had it.

So went my waltz through our liquor cabinet - made better only by the fact that there is an ABC (Alcohol Beverage Control) store across the street from us in the new place. Just in case I decided wrong and Bailey's *doesn't* go bad.

But I am sober, and packing, and purging, and purchasing all while trying not to lose my temper at work and shout "you have JOBS people - can't you just do them and be grateful?" as I try to figure out why I am supposed to worry about whether they are also fullfilled. Fullfilled? Seriously?

A dear friend of mine is an older very high performing man with an amazing work history and has been on the job hunt for 10 months. Bad economy. Younger is cheaper. But you get what you pay for.

So I haven't posted because I'm busy. And sometimes I hate the world. Oh, and I'm trying to be fullfilling.

NL

Green Moves

I should have known better than to follow him into the elevator.

I should have said something when I saw him hit the button for the 18th floor.

Instead I stood there silently next to my daughter as we moved up, up, up.  The doors opened.  We stepped out to a neatly groomed, well lit hallway.  He chatted with us as he led us down the hall, leaned in past my too low cut shirt (thrown hastily on as I realized we had warm weather today) and slipped his key into the door.

He swung the door open and ushered us forward.  We stopped, momentarily blinded by the sun, and then bit back tiny little gasps.

There, in front of us, sprawled out in all of its patriotic glory was Washington DC with the Washington Monument standing there like the centerpoint in a compass.   As we stood there, blink blink blink in the sun and beauty, I quickly imagined a small group party on the 4th of July and realized at that moment we had the potential to be the very cool friends in our circle.  THE place to be on Independence Day.  

All for a the small monthly price of $3100 a month, excluding amentities.  For an apartment measuring less than 1100 square feet.

We are already thinking hard about how we can streamline. Wondering if we can make our carbon footprint a little smaller without having to expend much energy.  Looking at the book shelves that bring us comfort (and take up valuable square footage) and wondering if we move them to the low voltage e-readers we now carry whether that is the "greener" solution.  

We are picturing a network upgrade to a nicely secured Wireless-N solution with this little beauty hanging on the walls in each room.  I have a nephew dearly in need of a new PC desktop unit and I have a spare to offer him if we take it off the wall I have it hanging on as a glorified picture frame.  

A couple of terabytes of storage space stored in the den or work area of our new place will allow us, we think, to make efficient use of limited space.  Leaving enough foot space to enjoy RB 2 and stash the drums will be a challenge.  But we think we can do it.

And so we are wondering how to afford the luxuries, how to streamline our world but still have everything we love a touch away, and how, maybe, to actually recycle.  Live Green. Live Lean.  Live Full.

One thing is for sure, we are packing.  And we will be packing every weekend for the next several weekends.  Even if we don't know where we are going.

I hope it has a view.

NL

Generations

I am pretty sure that everyone in my family believes that this country is going to hell in a handbasket.

They might be right.

But this past Friday I had two separate conversations that included 3 women who are about 28 years old each and in both conversations I had to tell them to "knock it off."  

Two of them had been up until 1 am in the morning taking care of getting some deliverables to the client...deliverables they wouldn't have to be pushing through had the late 30's early 40's woman who makes significantly more money than they do done it right in the first place.

One of them slipped into my office to apologize for the trouble she caused when she let one of our internal clients know she was taking on some additional work and this woman - a 45 year old woman who is an EXECUTIVE COACH - pitched a serious fit.  KZ's mistake was simple...she's very good and everyone wants her help.

Meanwhile I'm ushering a non-productive (read: lazy) mid-30's man out of the practice because, quite frankly, his work is nowhere near the quality of anyone else AND I'm having conversations with a woman in her 50's who does good work but not good enough for the rather significant salary she currently makes.  (I did not give her that salary...I simply inherited it.)

And so, as I pondered my family's misgivings as we headed home after a wonderful day of Easter eating, the faces of these three extraordinary young women popped into my head.

Followed closely by the two college hires on the team, and two of their colleagues who joined us just a few years prior.  

What it boils down to is that I've got a great team but the best performers,  hands down, are "millenials" - and so, if we want to make sure this country DOESN'T go to hell in a handbasket then people like me need to do our absolute best to raise them up right in the workplace.

And get rid of the bad examples we don't want them learning from.

Meanwhile, here's a shout out to Lara from "The Spectrum" - another young woman who's blog endlessly entertains me and proves that yes, these "youngsters" are quite capable of writing a grammatically correct sentence.  

And to my fellow X'ers (and Boomers - I'm a "cusper") let me warn you now - get up off your lazy whiney asses and get to work.  Because these "kids" are better than you are.

For the moment.

NL

Sunshine & Edits

There is something about springtime in Washington DC that fills the entire world with hope.  Or at least the part of the world that has a chance to be in DC and is willing to give hope a chance.

Winter in Washington is never fun for more than 2 or 3 weeks.  Usually we have just that to get the various Christmas trees up and lit and the Nutcracker  sold out in its annual performances before the gray begins to get to us.  

This weekend is the Cherry Blossom Festival.  The trees are decked out, the sun is shining, and we are sneezing.  But still we are called to drive around top down. 

You can safely drive around top down in this area for exactly 7 weeks out of the entire 52.  They aren't all fit together.  Some happen in Spring - when it isn't raining, some happen in the summer - when it isn't so sweltering hot that you want nothing more to peel off everything you have on and run screaming naked through the streets, and then there are those glorious moments in the autumn when it is sunny, crisp and cool but not so cool that you can't throw on a jacket and challenge the air.

Of course, it was such long weekend in October that brought on the worst sick I've had in a couple of years...but who wants to remember these things?

So yesterday the sun graced us and the wind was not so bad that it could compete with the wind of top down driving.  We took the new car out for a spin.  First to Manassas to pick up Beau from the vet.  He was supposed to return to us newly suitable for continued apartment living but alas, still he fights some sort of infection from his barn living tribulations.  So we will take him back in a few weeks to try again.

Then we headed down for a quick visit with my family.  A stop into my sister's place revealed that she shares my opinion of laundry and is beyond grateful for my mother's help in this.  My mother watches my niece and nephew during the week so that my sister and brother-in-law are able to work.  For this she is paid a modest sum and everyone rests easier knowing the children are well cared for.

A pop over to my parents house meant that we visited briefly, my father handed me a book he'd bought a case of and thought I should read and then share with the most liberal friend that I have.  I thanked him, told him I'd read it but that I'd not be sharing this book with my friend and if he wanted her to read it he could enter that territory on his own.  

A stop back up to the end of the driveway took us over to my other sister's house where my brother is staying while she and her family are in England.  It was an unexpected visit but my brother is an unexpected man so I was reasonably sure we'd be welcomed...and we were.  As we walked into the house we saw immediately that he had been hard at work fixing what needs to be fixed given the previous tenants (the family who rented it from my sister first) and some then current but now unfortunate decorating decisions made by my sister several years back.  

My brother and I talked politics, about the government, and our feelings about the general state of the country at the moment.  Then I told him that he was a good man for taking care of our sister in this way.  He wants to give back to the family that I'm not sure has treated him fairly in his life.  I could see a moment of pain pass over his face and then he was resolute again.  He would do this for our sister.  Even as I remember that momentary expression I feel a surge of anger pass over me.  For this she'd better not be charging him rent.  Knowing him, he'd pay it and still give up what he had to do this kind thing for her.

A final visit to my pregnant with identical twin boys sister-in-law and my pixie'ish neice rounded out our evening and our visit home.  We caught them just as my SIL was try to wrestle her daughter into bed.  My niece will be three in June and if she keeps going the way she's going my brother is going to have to re-think his views on gun ownership.  Of the entire family, it may be this brother and his wife with whom we feel the most kinship, if for no other reason than there is a fair bit of wanderlust in the both of us.  My sister-in-law is an artist and in her home you see bits and pieces of whimsy developing.  I can't wait to see what they've come up with when the remodeling is finished.

Over the past few days I've been struggling with whether to go back and edit the various typos that appear in my blogs.  I write "stream of thought" and quickly - and the end result is sometimes imperfect but always me.  

Sort of like my family.

So I'm not going to edit my previous posts.  Because even though they are imperfect, they are fine just the way they are...and just like my family.  

NL