Don't Get Me Wrong, If I'm Acting So Distracted

The girls with their cousins on Saturday.

Wow, kids. This weekend was a rollercoaster of both good and bad. Since I don't like to give the bad any attention, because I don't want to encourage it, I'll just concentrate on the good.

Friday was a really great day for me and the girls. We did a little shopping on Friday, which I normally try to avoid, but we still had to get some things for the house. Then Stinky and I did yard work. We got most of the leaves in the front yard raked up and some of the trees trimmed. On Friday evening, the girls and I used our gift card to that restaurant called Blackstone. We had a nice meal and a good talk. It's so nice now that the girls are older and we can have pleasant experiences when dining out.

My nephew putting my tree to good use, by climbing it.

Saturday was hectic, hectic, hectic, but also really great. My siblings descended with their families and gave me tons of help and housewarming gifts. Hooray for me! We made a group trip to Lowes. I wanted to get an estimate from them on installing my counters and the amount was a little ridiculous, I thought. I will try a couple of other places and if I can't find something better, I might have to wait for either a friend or relative to do it at their leisure. I'm sure I'm not telling you anything new, when I say that I am very impatient with getting my house where I want it. Apparently, it's all part of my obsessive nature. Hmmmm.

After my family left and I dropped Stinky off at her babysitting gig and Coadster at her dad's, I finally christened my house the only way I know how: I cranked my music and danced around my living room like a dork. There. Now, it really is my home.

One Day to Come Together to Release the Pressure

My cousin and his family came from Wisconsin.

Okay, kids. I'm exhausted. So, this post is bound to be very poorly written...Even worse than normal, even. I could probably start every post out that way for a while and it would be accurate every time. So, I just have to suck it up and keep going. That having been said... Happy Thanksgiving! I hope you all had a good one and ate lots of food and had tons of fun. Ours was great, but now I need to take a long Winter's nap.

The girls got to give their younger cousins tons of attention.

Today was a total blur. I woke up, I ran in the bitterly cold wind, I got ready and drove to Ottumwa. We ate, celebrated some of the cousins' birthdays, wrestled around, and finally drove home. Stinky and I tried to put together a cheap-ass entertainment center thingy, got frustrated, and quit.

There were actually a couple of cute puppies at the shindig.

I went to Menards last night and got me a bow saw and some hedge clippers. I couldn't get a ladder, because it wouldn't fit in my wagon. My brother-in-law is going to bring his van on Saturday that has a canoe holder thing on top that should hold a ladder no problem.

My nephew is in kindergarten and very, very funny...Just ask him.

Tomorrow I will attempt to limb up some trees, trim some hedges and make sure the girls get all the leaves raked. We will probably shop a little and see if we can get a few things we need as cheaply as possible and go home and clean and unpack some more. Then we'll go to a restaurant called Blackstone for dinner because my realtors gave me a gift card for it. Sweet! I'm sure we'll all be starved after working most of the day.

My nephew is really good at mugging...

Here's wishing you and yours, as well as me and mine, a productive and restful rest of the weekend.

...In fact, he might just be an expert.

Cuz What We Are, Is Victims of Fun

Here is Ironman. He's here to help show off my new home.

Okay, kids. I got some cleaning and unpacking done tonight. Not as much as I wanted, but I never seem to get as much done as I want. That's okay. We're here now. We got nuthin' but time, right?

My counters suck. Even Ironman agrees. They will be replaced as soon as possible.

Tomorrow is my last day of work for the week. I'm going to get as much cleaning and unpacking done around the house as possible tomorrow evening, but then I'm going to take the time to relax and drink a beer and either read a book or watch a movie. As I recall, letting myself relax for a couple of hours can make me a much more pleasant person.

Ironman and I are both in agreement about the awesomeness of my drankin' porch too.

I will try to get some blogging done over the long weekend. I'll try to work it into the rest of my itinerary that tentatively looks like this:

Thursday: Running in the morning. Driving to O-town. Eating food, watching kids wrestle and wishing I had remembered to bring earplugs. Driving home in the evening. Possibly going to my friend K.'s for an hour, or just staying home and trying that relaxing thing I talked about earlier.

Friday: If I don't get out and get it on Wednesday evening, I might actually brave the shopping insanity and buy a ladder, hedge trimmers and a bow saw. With those items, I will clean my gutters, limb up some trees, and tidy up some foliage when I'm actually home during the day. I also will do some more cleaning and packing inside. There's a rock show that night, that I will probably miss. I have a feeling I'll pass-out long before it even starts.

Saturday: My family is coming to town and we'll eat food, I'll show off my house and my brother will help guide me and do a few things around my place. They usually all take off around dinner time. Saturday night is up for grabs. Coadster will be at her dad's and Stinky is babysitting for a friend of mine. I should have the night to myself, but I have no clue what I'll do with it.

Sunday: I'll do more of what I did on Friday. Of course, I will also try to run every day. I'm so happy to have a long weekend to finally get stuff done on the new place...And to force myself to relax for a few hours here and there. Ahhhhhhh.

I've Got to Admit It's Getting Better. A Little Better All the Time

Okay. Today was a million times better than Sunday. Look! My friend D. came over and helped me get my computer up and running. She is so cool. My daughters are ever indebted to her...As am I.

Hopefully, this will be my last photoless post for a bit. I'm also going to try hard to get crackin' on being a better blog friend after tonight.

So, tonight was the first evening I've been able to spend even a few hours at home. I got back to normalcy by running right after work. By the time D. got things up and running on the computer, it was close to nine and we still had to get groceries and a few other things and eat. (my oven still isn't clean, so I can't cook yet).

I expect tomorrow to be even better and for us to be more settled. Now, it's starting to really feel like home here. Hooray!

Our House, In the Middle of the Street

Soooo. Hey. I don't have internet at home yet, so I'll be blogging at work on my breaks and during lunch. Hopefully, my friend D. will come over tonight and help me set it all up with my wireless router and everything. She's awesome like that.

The actual moving day went well. I had a crew of me + 4 other people and a couple of hideously ugly, but very large '70's vehicles to move things. I served up pizza for lunch and we were all done with the big stuff by around 4'ish. I still had a lot of little things to move and everything to clean, but I could tell everyone (including myself) was pretty tired and over it all. So, we called it done, and I spent the next 3 days packing and moving the last of the stuff and cleaning until last night at 10:30.

Between cleaning the old place and going to Ames to watch Coadster sing in the All-State concert, I've really only been to the new place to sleep so far. The seller left the house in such a disgusting state, that I can't even think about unpacking until I clean everything. I'm still finding old cereal boxes in the cupboards and I opened up the oven door to find that although she did actually spray some cleaner around, she never got around to actually cleaning it. Thanks a lot, crazy, messy, groovy, New Agey, seller lady.

Starting today, I can start cleaning and unpacking and getting things situated. The girls didn't get to see the inside of the house until we moved in and they love, love, love it. They were surprised at how much bigger it looked on the inside. For some reason, it looks a lot smaller from outside.

Okay. Hopefully tonight I'll have internet at home and I can slowly but surely get going on reading your blogs and writing better blog posts of my own.

But Now it Feels So Strange Out of the Atmospheres

Stinky getting beaned with snowballs by the neighbor kids on her walk home from grade school.

Well, bloody hell, kids. It's been a long night of packing and sorting and cleaning in my world. I know that they say you never know what you've got 'til it's gone, but right now it seems more accurate to say that you never know what you've got 'til you have to pack it and move it. I tackled the huge walk-in closet in the girls' room and to everything I pulled out, someone would say, "Wow. We still have that?" I'm sure that will be even worse after I've had a garage for a couple of years.

I'm at that point where I'd be happy just to toss everything, rather than move it. Luckily, most things are boxed up, so I don't get rid of stuff like this year's tax documents or my high school and college diplomas or the girls' birth certificates.

I think I'm going to ask to take off work a couple of hours early tomorrow, so I can stop by Goodwill and the recycling center, before they close and while it's still light out.

Coadster goes to her dad's tomorrow night and then leaves for All State in Ames on Thursday afternoon, so this is her last night at this house. We've been here for eight years, so it feels kind of weird for all of us. But we're on to a new adventure, and life is always better with a new project and and a new adventure... At least as far as I'm concerned, anyway.

No Promises, No Demands

Here are the girls playing ball in our even older neighborhood - when we still lived above a bar.

Sooooo, I'm still working on packing. I seem to have run out of boxes, so I got to do fun things, like clean out the refrigerator and the freezer. Quit being jealous. I mean it. I guess tomorrow after work I'm off on a hunt for boxes. Everyone keeps telling me to declutter, but I love my books. I want my books. I NEED them. All of them...Even the ones I've already read. So, yeah. Tomorrow I'll just find me some more boxes.

I'm still trying to write little mini-posts, but have given up on responding to comments this week. I'll be back with a plethora of pithy comments and continue to cut everyone with my sharp wit (cough) again next week, when I'm in my new place. But this week y'all are off the hook...You can thank me later.

Thoughts Meander Like a Restless Wind Inside a Letter Box

Sometimes G.'s impulse is to throttle first and ask questions later.

Okay, kids. I'll just apologize now for my bad blogging practices this week. I'm not sure how much time I'll have to write and/or visit blogs this week. I'll do my damnedest, but with the cleaning, packing, moving and then more cleaning, unpacking and starting to work on the house, my time could be extremely limited. I'm taking Thursday and Friday off work this week to move. I'm not sure how quickly I'll get my computer and internet hooked up after I move in, so I could be off-line for a couple of days too.

She's working very hard to keep her hands to herself...

I also want to make a big point to say that just because I bitch about packing, doesn't mean that I don't appreciate having my house. I try very hard to appreciate everything and everyone I have in my life. Since it's almost Thanksgiving, I might as well get a jump on counting my blessings and I feel really fortunate to be in this position...I'll just feel that much better once I'm moved and in and can start doing some work on it.

...And remember that hands are for helping, not for hurting.

This weekend was great, if not a blur. I got to run everyday and I went out for a couple of hours on Saturday night, which was perfect. I really needed to get out of my mess of an apartment in transition. I'm sure this week will just fly by. I just hope I can get everything done by Thursday.

Too Legit to Quit

Here is one of the photos I posted on Craigslist to try and rent my apartment.

Jaysus, Mary and Joseph! It's finally done. That's right, the guy came over tonight and signed the sublease. Sure, I had to eat an extra month of rent to get there, but that's a hell of a lot better than 7 or 8. Now. NOW. I can finally do that thing I've been waiting to do since this whole process started and that is relax and finally enjoy the fruits and trials of homeownership. Ahhhhhhhhhh. In one week from today I will be closing and moving into my home and wearing out a path between my home and Menards. I can't wait....I think.

So, this will be my crazy, busy last push to clean and pack. At least I can see the end of it now.

And, oh yeah. It's the weekend. I almost forgot. I'm sure you won't have to wonder what I'll be doing this weekend. If you need to, see the preceding paragraph. Some of the Dublin girls planned an after work drinks and dinner thing for Friday night, but it starts at 5 and in my world, that's pretty impossible. Instead, I'll hopefully get a run in and then come home and dismantle and pack-up my kitchen.

Saturday there will be some running of errands, and more of that packing stuff. A friend of mine is celebrating her 50th birhtday at the Hilltop tavern and I might try to make it to that for some cheese fries...And to wish her a happy milestone, of course. Then I'm sure I'll meet a friend or two at the Dublin and make an early night of it and clean and pack some more.

Sunday will be more repetitiveness. I will also try to blow off some steam by running as much as I can too.

Soooo, how about you all? Will you be packing, cleaning and sorting? Or will you be packing, cleaning and sorting?

And It's the Damage That We Do and Never Know

My last daisy hanging on for dear life in November.

Tonight was a blur of people viewing my apartment, running and driving the girls places. I'm going to try to write a little fictiony'ish thing on here tonight. Since I'm moving again, I thought I'd write a little on that theme. It was from a time in my life when I was in my late teens and moving every few months to a year. I like to call them my lost years. This particular incident takes place on a Greyhound bus ride from Santa Rosa, California to Tempe, Arizona. I will warn you that this is an EXTREMELY rough draft that may or may not turn into anything. I'm sure it also has miles to go before I can veer it away from self-indulgence, but I gotta start somewhere don't I? Here we go:

It was the first time since she was a kid that she felt it. That hot, dry wind that came close to singeing off her eyelashes when she stepped off the bus. She could almost feel it sucking the natural oils out of her skin. She remembered it fondly. Southwestern wind was so different from the heavy, humid air in the Midwest, that bogged down everything and was always breathing down her neck.

When she was little and lived in Arizona, she used to jump in the middle of dust devils. She liked to be in the center, looking out at the dirt swirling around her. She always came out feeling cleansed...Until her mother told her that she could catch Valley Fever playing in them.

This is exactly what she needed, she thought walking through the parking lot to Kmart to buy some new batteries for her Walkman. This change in scenery and climate. She was just killing time, logging miles waiting for her job in the California Conservation Corps to begin in a month. Originally, she thought she'd stay in a motel in Santa Rosa for that time. She had felt alone so many times in a room full of people when she was in college. She thought the real solitude might do her good. You know, give her something to be lonely about. But it was too much for her. Being left alone with all of her thoughts, and without anyone distracting her from the places her brain took her, was almost more than she could handle. So, she was heading back to Arizona to stay with her oldest sister for a few weeks.

There was always the hope that she would be a different, better person when she moved somewhere else. A person who wouldn't get chased out of her motel room by her own thoughts. The hope was that moving to California would make her more comfortable in her own skin. But there she found herself, in a parking lot, walking in a hot dry wind. Without even the slightest chance of it drying out her skin enough to finally shed it. She had definitely given herself something to be lonely about, alright.

Uh, yeah. That was a little of it. Like I said, very rough and possibly unusable, but who knows, I might be able to dig an image or a word out of it for something else.

Now I Find I've Changed My Mind and Opened Up the Doors

Here is Coadster wearing her uncle's Marines hat at her Veteran's Day Choir Concert.

The girls had their Veteran's Day Concert tonight. It was really nice, if not a little long, but it was a great tribute to all the local veterans. They had slides and read letters from some local guys who are in Iraq right now and showed a clip from Band of Brothers. I know I sing the praises of that show a lot, but that's because it's awesome. If you haven't seen it yet, you should. Sooo, here's me giving thanks to all the veterans and the current troops and then here's me hoping for a future where we don't need soldiers anymore.

And now for something completely different....

After my post yesterday about having trouble asking for and accepting help from friends, I got a Facebook message. I don't think she'll mind if I share it, especially since no one here knows who this is and it's hilarious and brilliant, so the whole world should read it. Here it is:

So, I just read your churlish figure bit about accepting help. Here is my pitch to you:

I have that jeep car, and J. has a dollie (?) rollie thing that i can borrow. I am only moderately helpful with moves because i am sort of lazy. But i am good at packing and sorting.
Also, I really like you. And the only way I know how to express things like that is by making people soup or helping them do things they need help with. Otherwise I'm left with stalking you at your favorite bar and staring at you from behind potted palms. Also, I want to. It would hurt my feelings if I found out you moved and didn't take me up on offers to help. HOW'S THAT FOR SOME EMOTIONAL BLACKMAIL?

after offering you boxes last month, i remembered that i recycled all my boxes in july! I have two left full of packing material for glassware if you haven't packed dishes or fragile stuff yet. Boxes come pre-designated "fragile" to save you valuable packing minutes.

And here is my reply to her:

I will accept your help and your fragile boxes (dirty). I close on Thursday and am hoping to move that afternoon and evening. And Friday too if I don't get it done on Thursday. If you can help for any of that time, It would be great. Let me know.

I'm trying hard not to spaz about not finding a renter. I had no idea it would be so hard (dirty again).

Thank you so much. there. how was that for trying to accept help graciously...


Yeah. There's no way in hell I COULDN'T accept her offer for help, was there?

Don't Let It Bring You Down, It's Only Castles Burning

This is what Stinky looked like a lot when she was little and how I feel right now...Just kidding...Mostly.

Okay. So, the girl backed out. She seemed super into the apartment, until I told her what references the landlord needed. Then she told me that the place "wasn't really right" for her. Whatever. I have no more leads and I'm not sure what to do next. I'll have to think on it some, and see if I can come up with some other options. Most of the people who have looked at it came from Craigslist. The fliers didn't get me jack and so I stopped putting them up. I might try the hospital and see if there are billboards or rental lists for med students or something. Wouldn't it be great if I could find someone to rent my place, so I could finally shut the hell up about it already?

Okay. I want to get away from the bad stuff and move onto talking more about my new place. It still doesn't seem real sometimes. It should be great, but also a lot of work. I'm lucky because I have a lot of people who have offered to help me. Of course, as I've written on here before, I'm not always the best about either asking for or accepting help. I'm sure it has something to do with both my Irish Catholic upbringing and my orphan issues that make me worry about being a "bother" to other people. Which I know is stupid. I personally don't say things I don't mean, so if I offer help to someone, I really want to help them, and am a little sad if they don't accept. So, why would it be any different for anyone else?

I'm constantly working to get better at changing the things that bug me about myself, and that whole "not letting people help me" issue I have is one of the things I'm trying to work on. Logically I know that not asking for or accepting help when I really want/need it can make me seem passive/aggressive and confusing. I strive not to be either of those two things. So, when my friend Libby asked me if I needed help moving, I said, "Yes, please" (even though it made me VERY uncomfortable) and when my friend J. offered to help me do my hardwood floors, I first said, "oh, I'm sure I can figure it out..." then caught myself, and tried to graciously accept her offer. And you want to know what? It didn't kill me. Weird. So, I guess what I'm saying is, be very careful what you offer me. I just might take you up on it.

There's Always Other Boys. There's Always Other Boyfriends

I ended up encountering a different ex then I thought I would.

Wow, kids! What a whacky weekend. I'll start off with saying that I think I found someone to rent my apartment. As always, I'm cautiously optimistic and won't let myself get really excited until her references check out and she signs the sublease. But at least there's hope. I'm still showing my place, just in case, though.

Here are some fun Dubliners. One who wears her heart right out there on her chest.

This weekend the weather was amazing. I ran as much as I could, but wasn't able to find time to bike. Sigh. I did get a lot of cleaning and packing done. Saturday evening I got a little sad. I was home by myself, packing and sorting and getting rid of a lot of the girls' toys and art supplies and Stinky's rock collection, and stressing out about not having a renter yet. I just felt overwhelmed by loneliness. It was fleeting, of course, and today was a million times better. The girls helped with the packing and I had someone to laugh with about all the crazy things the girls had and did when they were little and I actually let myself get excited for our new house where I'm sure we'll have even more crazy fun times. Hooray!

Here is Erik surrounded by Dublin girls. He looks pretty damn happy, doesn't he?

I don't know what it is the last few weeks, but I keep getting haunted by exes. My boyfriend from 20 years ago keeps calling me and trying to get me to move to California and go out with him again. I try very hard not to lead anyone on, while also not hurting their feelings, but I got tired of very diplomatically telling him no. So, I just put him on a special ringtone, and don't answer when he calls me anymore. Another of my exes stopped down to the Dublin without his girlfriend on Halloween. We talked for a bit and it was just fine. Then Erik texted me on Friday night to tell me he was coming to town for the game and wanted to know if I would meet him at the Dublin around 8. I told him I was busy on Friday, but I'd catch up with him on Saturday night instead.

I know I said there was a possibility of me running into Mr. B., but that never happened. Which was probably better. I was kind of exed-out anyway. A friend of mine asked me if I was going to be okay seeing Erik, and I told her I would have no problem. We haven't dated for almost two years and I haven't seen him in a year. For me, all it takes is time and not seeing the person for me to get over them. It was actually really good to see him now that I don't care anymore.

I try to never look at old relationships as a waste of time or as failures. I think if you try really hard, then it isn't a failure, it's just that your personalities or lifestyles didn't mesh. I've also learned something from every friend or relationship I've been in. So, yeah. Erik and I were almost total opposites and we should have seen from a mile away that it wouldn't last. (everyone else did) But I don't regret it at all. We had a lot of fun together and I learned a lot about myself and what I wanted. And most importantly... What I didn't want. He's a bigger life, conquest guy, and I'm smaller life, relationship girl. I used to joke that I was the country mouse visiting the city mouse when I'd go to St Louis to see him. So, now we know we can be good friends and it's always fun to hang out together. And we all lived (as friends) happily ever after...

Just As Hate Knows Love's the Cure

Here is a table full of Hayden Fry's.

Okay. I'm done whining about finding a subletter...For now, anyway. I'm still working diligently on it, but I'm trying not to "soak in it" so to speak. I'm sure my attitude adjustment has a lot to do with me getting a nice 6 mile run in this evening. I've never taken any before, but endorphins have to be better than Prozac as a mood stabilizer. Ahhhhhh.

After we ate, Coadster and I went to put up a flyer or two and since we were on that side of town, we stopped at Menards to look for paint colors and counter tops and do something a little more positive in regards to buying our house. I found the perfect shades I wanted for my bedroom and the kitchen. I'm still working on the living room paint, but Coadster has a lot better idea for her room too.

Looking ahead to the weekend...The weather looks amazing. It's supposed to get up to 69 degrees on Saturday. Sweet! Tomorrow night, both of the girls will be at the high school play-off game. I have someone who is supposed to look at the place around 6'ish, so I'll wait unitl after that to run. Then I'll probably watch a movie and tackle cleaning, sorting and packing up our big walk-in closet.

On Saturday I'll have to get up before 6 again, since Coadster is volunteering and then racing in the Run for Relief benefit. This year the money is going to the Free Med Clinic. Stinky has to work, so she can't run, but she did donate some cash instead. Later in the afternoon, Coadster and some of her friends will meet to plan the first dance marathon at the high school to raise money for the Iowa Children's Hospital. I think they're also going to try and get kids from the Eastside grade schools to participate. It should be pretty cool.

Those darn Hawkeyes will be playing Northwestern on Saturday. The consensus seems to be that being on the cover of Sports Illustrated will jinx them and they will lose every game from here on out. Personally, I have total faith that they will actually play a WHOLE game this week and that will be awesome to finally see...But I've been known to be a sucker for false hope too.

I am definitely planning on running and hopefully biking this weekend. I have a lot of work to do at home, but there's no way in hell I'm going to let good weather in November go to waste. I'm pretty sure that's a sin that would send me straight to hell.

My Saturday night is up in the air. My friend G. has been sick all week and might not go out. There's also a rock show I might go to. It's a band that Mr. B. really likes, so there's a good chance he'll be there. I haven't spoken to him since June, but I am sooooooo over him, that I think it would be just fine to see him again. Who knows? Maybe we could actually even work on a friendship. Eh, it's not something I'm going to waste a lot of time or energy on either way. It will just be nice to see him and not care anymore. You know?

And now blog readers, it's your turn. Lay it on me. What are all of your exciting weekend plans. Will you be running for relief, or just relieved that you won't be running from an ex anymore?

Then Again the Same Old Story

Here is a picture of a crazy person doing exercises downtown.

I'm trying to stay positive, but it's getting tougher and tougher. I put up well over 30 fliers around town the last few days and all it got me was one phone call. ONE. The girl came and looked at it today. She had a story...Because everyone has a story, don't they? She was trying to break her lease, since she didn't get along with her roommate, but she wasn't sure how that was going to go down. She was going to try to resolve it by the end of the week and let me know one way or the other then. We'll see. So, now I'm going to be forced to pay a ridiculous amount of money for a classified ad in our college paper. Whatever. If it worked, it would be so much cheaper than paying the $5,000 of rent I'm responsible for from now until the end of July. Man, I hope it works.

Sooooo, yeah. Obviously I'm a little stressed about all of this and I still have to work all day and come home and be a mom and go to all the girls' stuff and not get to run because I'm busy hanging fliers and waiting around for people to look at my apartment. It all makes for one, big cranky mom cocktail. I did warn the girls last night that I have a bad combination of factors going on and not to take my attitude personally until I can find a renter. Then right after that, I was dropping Coadster off at the high school and this kid was driving the wrong way and almost hit my car. It's possible that I may have called him a dumb ass outloud, in front of Stinky, but who can remember now. Stinky started laughing and before I could say anything in my own defense, she covered for me by saying, "I know - that bad combination". Exactly.

And we all know that life is never all bad or all good. It's a confusing mixture of everything... Sometimes all at once. So, tonight when I went to Coadster's show choir concert, I sat next to the cutest couple. They had been married forever and were still sweet and funny and flirty with each other. They introduced themselves to me and it turned out that their daughter was in Stinky's grade and we had a great talk before the show, and it was such a nice way to take my mind off of my stupid, dumb subletter trials.

Because Time Won't Give Me Time

Here is a photo of a guy putting up fliers that I took last Fall. Now I'm that girl putting up fliers.

I know I've yacked on here about what a small town this is, and how everyone pretty much knows everyone else's business in whatever circles they're in. It doesn't bother me, because I'm an open person and try not to do anything that I'd be ashamed for people to know. Plus, my life is so damn mundane that if people talked too much about it, they'd all pass-out and go into boredom comas. So, now that I'm trying to get someone to rent my apartment, I thought I'd let this whole small town yacking work in my favor. I started telling everyone I knew that I needed a subletter and hoped that it would spread like wildfire. I suppose that it would work better if I could make it more salacious. In keeping with the whole "trying to buy a house is like trying to find a relationship" analogy; it does kind of feel like I'm trying to move onto a better domestic situation and my apartment just won't get over me and let me go. If only my apartment could meet a new tenant that it liked even better than me, we could both get some kind of closure. There. That had a little more drama to it. Now it might be more fun for people to tell their friends about, who tell their friends and so on and so on and so on...

So, I've spent much of my breaks and lunches and after work time, putting up fliers around town. The drag is that it hasn't yielded even one phone call so far. The upside is that I've been running into people I haven't seen in forever. I guess there's always good and bad in everything.

Anyway, I guess I'll just keep putting up fliers everyday in hopes that my apartment and I can resolve our differences, get over each other, find ourselves in better situations and move on.

At Times You Have a Very Unladylike Way of Running Out

Here is another costume from Halloween: Pac Man with Inky and Blinky and Ms. Pac Man.

Sooooo, I have good news and bad news. I think I'll give you the bad news first. The guy who looked at my place, said he'd get back to me in a week or two. In rental terms, that's like him flipping my place the bird. Everyone in this town knows that if you want a place, you have to claim it before you leave, or it could be gone.

It sucks for me. That was the last lead I had. I'm stepping up my efforts now. I just put a sign up in the front yard, I made fliers to tack up all over campus and downtown and any place I can find with a bulletin board. I've never been one of those people who have lived a charmed life. I didn't have rich parents, I paid for college myself by taking out loans and working two jobs over full time and financially raised two girls by myself. I know how to work my ass off. If there's something I want that I can get by working hard, I will have it. Sadly, I've never been particularly lucky (see the lack of a charmed life comment above). So, I can do the work to put fliers up and Craigslist it and get the word out, but I can't make luck happen. If any of you people who have lived charmed lives have luck to spare, I would really appreciate some right about now. Thanks. Love, Churly.

Now, finally for the good news....Coadster was named student of the week at her high school. Basically, she was nominated because she is in three sports, five choirs and three community service organizations and has a positive attitude and is very supportive of her teammates. Apparently, the people in her school have never been around her when she just wakes up...Just kidding. I'm as proud as hell of her and wish I had even half of her energy and compassion. She's pretty damn cool.

Freaks Come in All Shapes, Sizes and Colors

Me being a flapper, D. being a cougar and G. being some kind of super hero.

Well, kids. I'm finally at that point. You know, the one where you are so overwhelmed that you have to start cutting things out...And unfortunately, those things are the fun ones. Damn! I still haven't found a subletter for my apartment and that is starting to really stress me out. I hopefully have someone else looking at it tomorrow after work.

The girlcrush hidden in her husband's feathers.

So, Friday night Stinky went on a hay rack ride and Coadster and I stayed home with a taco pizza, and strawberry cheesecake and watched scary movies. It was exactly what I needed.

Our new friend from the conference a couple of weeks ago showed up dressed as PeeWee Herman. He asked me if I wanted to go see a movie and promised to keep his hands to himself. (hahahaha)

I went back to sleep for a little bit on Saturday morning after dropping my girls where they needed to be and was awakened by another phonecall:

Me: Hello?

Caller: You bitch! Why didn't you tell me you bought the house?

Me: Hello?

Caller: Oh, I guess I should let you know this is Libby. I was just stalking your house and when I drove by it had a sold sign on it. I thought you were going to email me?

Me: I'm sorry. I put it on Facebook. I just didn't get around to emailing and calling everyone yet.

Caller: Even though you're a bitch, we'll still help you move. Let me know when you need us to show up with a truck.

Have I ever told you how much I love my friends? Well, after that, how could I not?

A friend of mine had the best Ka-Pow! sign. It was perfect for when all the Batman villians showed up. It's always best to be prepared for that occurrence.

I ran a ton of errands on Saturday. I stopped by my friend G.'s house to pick up a blonde bob wig for my flapper costume, but it didn't really work. It said one size fits all, but they meant for normal people. They need to have another, bigger, one size fits all for Irish people. It was just a little too small. Plus, it made me look like Andy Warhol in drag. I then went to my neighbors J. and S.'s house to see if they still had a black bob wig leftover from last Halloween. Luckily, they did. They also said they'd help me sand and refinish my hardwood floors. Score!

This table had the coolest costumes ever.

I finally got the girls where they needed to be and went to my friends' house. I was driving, so I stopped to give them all a lift. Sometimes the getting ready is almost as much fun as the going out. This Halloween was a lot more mellow for me than last year. Mostly, I had so much to get home and do, that I had a hard time keeping my mind on the fun. I did have fun though and I love, love, love to see people in costumes.

I still had much cleaning and getting ready for the next day when two people were supposed to come by and look at my place. I went home a little after midnight and cleaned until 3 am...Even with the extra hour.

My favorite costume...The polygamists. How great is that?

Today I finally had to eat my reality sandwich. Turns out, I can't do everything and do it halfway well and still stay sane (shut-up). Who knew? The girl who came by with her boyfriend to look at the place said she wanted to think about it. I think it was a little too pricey for her with the utilities. My apartment is crazy cheap for a two bedroom in this town, but I think she was used to living in an efficiency.

Then Coadster informed me that she had a showchoir thing she had to be at and needed to eat before that and I had someone else coming by to look at the place at 5. I realized there was no way in hell I was going to be able to ride bikes with my friends for a couple of hours in the middle of the day, so I canceled. I didn't think it would be that big of a deal since there were so many people going, but my friend G. told me I was the only reason she got up when she did. I felt like shit. So, I've vowed not to make any concrete social plans until I can sublet my apartment and get moved and stuff.

God, I hope I can get my place rented and fast. Today I waited for someone who was a half hour late and then for another person who didn't show up at all. Nice. I hope something comes through this week. Wish me luck.