Mystery Solved?

Michael and I were discussing the origins of the mystery thong today over lunch. I repeated my puzzlement over where it came from, since I had, after all, looked in both washers and dryers before using them. Michael's response was, "It came from wherever my socks went to." While we were living in the apartment in Brighton two of Michael's socks disappeared. Not a matched pair, however. So, now he has two different socks with no mates. We noticed this while we were still living in that apartment, and we assumed that they'd gotten stuck under something and would turn up when we moved. But they didn't. They've disappeared completely. And now a thong has mysteriously appeared in our laundry. There is only one possible conclusion. Dryers are a portal to an alternate reality. Only stray pieces of laundry are able to cross between the two. Someday, perhaps, Michael's missing socks will turn up. Probably not while we still have the other halves, but, I guess that's how it goes. Or perhaps they're enjoying their new life of unattached sockhood in their alternate universe. What has become of the thong? It went in the trash.

Books!

I did another load of laundry today (I wasn't able to do all of the laundry on Sunday, so this was a bit of holdover from the weekend - I usually do three loads, and Sunday I only did two). I'm happy to report that no mysterious thongs or other items of clothing materialized this time. Other than that, today was quite uneventful. I went to work, did boring things, then came home. I finished my book today, which was nice. Although, the ending wasn't quite what I had expected. It was a good book, though not spellbinding. It's called The Piano Tuner by Daniel Mason. The library here in Quincy has a service called "What to Read Next" that I signed up for. They have you fill out a little questionnaire about the kinds of things you like to read, and then send you a list of suggestions. This was one of the suggestions. Not a bad one. It's about a piano tuner who is requested to go to Burma during the British occupation during the 19th century in order to tune the grand piano that an officer has at his remote jungle outpost. It's about the journey of the piano tuner, one Edgar Drake, from London to the fictional village of Mae Lwin and what happens when he finally arrives. It's interesting. If you're looking for a good bit of historical fiction, you might want to check it out. I would recommend getting it from the library rather than purchasing it, personally. I'm cheap, though. The list they sent had five or six suggestions, and this is the first one I've read so far. I did read a book by one of the authors on the list, but not the book they recommended. I've put that book (Another Shore by Nancy Bond) on reserve, and hopefully will get it next week. The book by Nancy Bond that I did read is called A String in the Harp. I enjoyed it very much. It is considered a young adult book because it is told from the point of view of a 15 year old girl, but don't let that make you think it's juvenile. It's the story of a family, a father and three children, who have moved from Amherst, Massachusetts to a small seaside town in Wales called Borth. The mother died in a car accident, and the father, a professor, accepted a year-long appointment at the university in Wales, partly to escape all the sad memories associated with their home. Very good book. I recommend it. Another fun one (though not on the library's list) is The Undomestic Goddess by Sophie Kinsella. I also recently read Can You Keep A Secret? by the same author. They're light and fun and easy to read. Definitely check them out. (Unless you're a guy, in which case you might not like them quite as much.) So, there are some book recommendations for you. Enjoy!

The End Is Near

Well, the countdown has begun. D - 8 days of work left. I moved my quit date up from December 13 to December 8, ostensibly to give myself more time to pack and clean. It would be quite difficult, after all, to work all the way up until two days before I leave (at the crack of dawn, perhaps even a bit before) and have everything packed and ready to be loaded by Thursday morning when the college students we're hiring are coming to load the truck. This way I'll get to take my time and finish packing and start cleaning and do last minute laundry and everything. But, honestly, I really just want to get out of there as soon as possible. If I could, I'd stop going altogether. However, that would be bad. We need the money, for one thing. And I want whoever hires me next to be able to call here and not have them say, "Well, she gave plenty of notice that she was leaving, but she stopped coming a week and a half before she was supposed to be leaving." It wouldn't look good to a potential employer. Unfortunately, it matters. So, back to work I shall go again in the morning, where I shall add to the official job description for the next poor sucker, I mean, the next person to read. Additionally, I shall play endless games of Sudoku on the internet, check my email approximately 1,000 times, and answer the phones. You can see why I often post while at work. There's not really a lot to occupy my time. Thus the reason why I wish to leave. I play Sudoku in order to prevent as many brain cells from committing suicide as possible. I think it works. It's funny, though. People are starting to realize that I will be leaving quite soon. They've known for a little while now, but it's starting to sink in that the end is near. The recruiter manager came up to me this morning (or was it yesterday?) and said, "We're going to have to train someone new all over again now, you know that?" To which I simply said, "Yup," but secretly thought, "Not my problem, buddy," and laughed maniacally. A couple people have said they're going to miss me, though I doubt many of them will in all honestly. I will soon just be another story of the many receptionists that have come and gone. But, I only have to go back eight more times, and then I can just put it behind me. Only 17 more days until I fly back to Coeur d'Alene. I could only wish it were sooner.

The Mystery Thong

Yesterday, despite my best attempts to only leave the couch for food or bathroom breaks, I was forced off the couch in order to do laundry. Laundry is never a particularly exciting chore, but it is made less fun by having to carry a heavy basket along with detergent and quarters down narrow windy stairs (where I have hurt myself several times) from my second floor apartment to the basement. I was motivated by the fact that Michael was dangerously low on clean clothes, and I needed a few things washed myself. I managed to make it up and down the stairs without sustaining any injury. My usual modus operandi is to wash and dry everything, lug it back up the stairs, then leave it sitting in the laundry basket until shortly before bed, when I realize that if I don't hang up my clothes, they will be wrinkled and I'll have to iron them in the morning. This is a huge deterrent for me, as my ironing board is one of those little tiny ones that I had as a college student living in the dorm, and have unfortunately regressed to again. (Aren't I supposed to get more grown up things as I get older?) Which normally isn't so terrible if you have a table to put the ironing board on, but the table that was in the second bedroom, on which the computer used to reside and which I used to put the ironing board on, has been sold. Therefore, ironing is much more difficult than it was only days ago. Plus, I don't leave myself much extra time in the mornings for silly things like ironing. So, as I was folding or hanging our clothes I happened upon something that did not belong.

It was a thong.

A black cotton Victoria's Secret thong.

And it's not mine.

I don't own a black cotton Victoria's Secret thong. I do own several thongs, but the ones that I wear the most are from JC Penney. (Michael once made fun of my Supergirl one, so we went to Penney's and bought some nicer ones on sale. Is that an overshare?) I'm not really sure what to do about this mystery thong. I assume it's clean. I'm just not sure how it got mixed up with my laundry. I mean, the only normal explanation is that it was in one of the machines I used and just got mixed up with my stuff. But, you see, I looked in the machines before I used them. I always do. Maybe it was kind of stuck under the agitator in the washer. It's not very well lit in the laundry area, and the agitator's black, the underwear's black...perhaps. Or, maybe someone threw them in one of my machines after my stuff was in it. Why? I don't know. But stranger things have happened. There was an underwear bandit at ACU in the laundry room of the University Park Apartments where I lived my junior year. I'd heard of several girls getting their underwear stolen out of their dryers. Then, one day, I went down and all but a couple pairs of white cotton panties were gone. I was very upset, because whoever it was stole almost all of my underwear. Fortunately, I had a few that weren't in the wash, but I had to go to the store and buy replacements. At the time, I had enough underwear to easily last two or three weeks, and this was essential to my laundry schedule. While I can think of no reason why someone would put their underwear into my laundry intentionally, as I've said, stranger things have happened. So, the mystery thong is languishing in a corner of the front hallway by the closet. When I realized it wasn't mine, I kind of flung it away in disgust, then later kicked it into the corner.

Eeeww...I touched a stranger's thong.

That's gross.

And it touched my clothes.

It almost made me want to go wash them all again. But it was late and I needed to go to bed, plus I didn't have enough quarters to do all the laundry again. So, I just tell myself that the thong must've been clean if it came out with my laundry and that makes me feel a bit better. Still...in some countries they call thongs floss...you get the idea. I think I might just go take it back down to the laundry room and leave it there. Maybe someone will realize they're missing a thong and then go looking for it. I just hope they wash it before they wear it again. The corner of the hallway isn't terribly clean.

"God only knows what I'd be without you..."

I've had this song in my head for most of the evening. It's a catchy little tune, and I rather like it, but it's been ruined for me. It's on a new commercial. A creepy commercial. The song is playing and when I'm doing something else while the TV's on and I'm not looking at it, I start humming along. It's when I watch it that I'm creeped out. There are several scenes with people just standing next to large things and smiling fixedly at the camera. It's creepy. It reminds me of the music video for the song "Black Hole Sun" by Soundgarden, which I also found creepy. (If you haven't seen the music video, imagine creepy people smiling fixedly staring at the camera while engaged in somewhat strange activities, then a black sun coming closer and closer to earth, while a psychedelic grunge song is playing....it's strange, and always kind of disturbed me.) This creepy commercial is for Sam's Club and MasterCard. I suppose the creepy smiling people are happy because they got their random large things from Sam's Club on their MasterCards, and they're thinking that God only knows what they'd be without both Sam's Club and MasterCard. Well, for one thing, they'd be a lot less creepy. God's not the only one who knows what I'd be without Sam's Club or MasterCard, as I've gone without the latter for my entire life, and I've only entered a Sam's Club twice, both times with other people who have cards. For those of you who don't know, Sam's Club is the Wal-Mart version of Costco. (If you don't know what Costco is, I can't really help you.) However, the only times I've been to Sam's Club was to purchase food for the receptions of recitals/concerts. Once was for the reception at the end of the Abilene Summer Music Festival, where I was a counselor, and the other time was for the reception of my junior recital. Aside from that (both visits were also at the suggestion of others) I have happily lived my life away from both advertised products. In fact, I don't even know where the nearest Sam's Club is. There are only two or three Wal-Marts in all of Massachusetts, so I'm not sure why we're getting commercials for Sam's Club. I guess because it's partnered with MasterCard, and they're everywhere. Anyway, I'm just curious about why marketing people think that creepy commercials are the way to go. Sure, it sticks in my mind, but it doesn't make me want to use whatever they're advertising. In this case, I'm glad I don't have either Sam's Club or MasterCard available to me, for fear it would turn me into a creepy smiling lunatic, fit only to appear on creepy commercials! Another example is the Starburst ad campaign of a few years ago, which featured a teenage boy showing a teenage girl a bust he had sculpted of her entirely out of Starbursts. He then proceeded to gnaw on the face of the Starburst bust. Can we say "wow, that's creepy"? I have not purchased Starburst ever since. Although, I haven't seen that commercial in quite a while, so maybe they realized that freaking people out wasn't the way to go. One can only hope. Anyway, I will finish my creepy commercial rant, and make my way to bed. My four day weekend has drawn to an end, and I must go back to work tomorrow. Unfortunately, that means I won't see my husband until Thursday, because I'm working in the day and he's working from 3-11:30. I am in bed before he gets home. I will get to see him on Thursday and Friday because he has those days off. One happy side effect of his messed up schedule, however, is that we will get to spend time together on my birthday next Sunday, since he's working the overnight shift that day, and so doesn't have to be at work until 11:00pm. Only 19 more days until I leave!

Confession

I have a confession. I can be childish sometimes. I've mentioned previously that our downstairs neighbors tend to play their music too loud. They seem to be having a party today, going on now for five or six hours. Five or six hours of loud talking and loud music emanating through the floor and coming up the stairwell and through the door. It gets old. Fast. We have tried to approach their loud music problem in a mature fashion, asking them politely to turn things down, and, when that didn't work, trying to involve the landlord. To no avail. We were told, basically, that it was our problem because we didn't have a rug over our hardwood floor, and if we were to get one it would make a remarkable difference in the amount of sound that transferred through our floor. We were both rather skeptical about this, but went ahead and bought a rug anyway. Has it made a difference? Not a bit. Have our downstairs neighbors ceased their loud music playing ways? Well, as I've already said, it's been going on all day. So, since I live above them, I've taken to stomping every time I get up if their music is on. Sometimes I hop around the apartment on my way to the kitchen or bathroom or bedroom. Sometimes I just get up and jump up and down in place out of sheer frustration. Not on the rug, either. When I'm wearing my dress boots after work I make sure to stomp around a bit before taking them off (they're louder than regular shoes or bare feet). Is it a bit childish? Sure. Do I care? Nope. Nothing else seems to work. Not that stomping has had much effect, either, but at least it makes me feel a bit better. Slightly spiteful. A bit vengeful. Hopefully it annoys them at least half as much as they annoy me. Since they are so incredibly inconsiderate, it doesn't make me feel the need to be considerate to them. So, that is my confession. I'm a bit childish, spiteful, and inconsiderate when faced with profound inconsiderateness myself.

It's Official...

The packing has begun! Exactly three weeks from right now I will be home in Coeur d'Alene with my parents, and my husband and father-in-law will be in a moving truck somewhere between here and Chicago. So, today I started packing. Fortunately, we don't have too much to pack since we never fully unpacked from moving here (a bit sad isn't it?). Anyway, I wrapped our framed photos and began to put them in boxes. I didn't accomplish all that much, but I at least started. I plan on doing more tomorrow, but we have to get all the boxes out of the closet so we can put stuff in them, then we will get a few more boxes so that I'll have something to put the dishes and things in from the kitchen. I plan on waiting to pack the kitchen until closer to time to go. It's nice to have dishes and silverware (even if our dishes are somewhat reduced from what they used to be). Three weeks will come and go before we know it, and then we will be there. I can't wait!

A Non-Traditional Thanksgiving

Well, today was Thanksgiving and I did almost nothing. We slept in today and just generally hung out. After Michael went to work, I made myself some pasta that we had in the house. Later, I wanted something sweet, but didn't want to walk to the 7-11 to get anything because it was raining, so I figured out that I had enough ingredients to make butterscotch bars, and that's what I did (was that a run on sentence or what?). Other than that, I watched movies on TV, and eventually washed a few dishes. I did keep one of my traditions, though, of sleeping late and doing nothing more than watching TV. Last Thanksgiving was the first that Michael and I spent just us, and I cooked a traditional dinner, but he had to work this year, so what was the point? Prior to that, every Thanksgiving was spent at my grandparents' house in Dallas, where it was my privilege, nay, my duty to sleep late and do nothing. Anyway, I hope everyone had a happy time with their families, and I can look forward to spending Christmas with mine.

Happy Day Before Thanksgiving

Today was rather interesting. I went to work, as usual, but not very many other people in the office did. It was pretty dead all day, and at any given point only about half the people were there. Nearly everyone had left by 2:00 in the afternoon. We don't actually close until 5:30 normally, and Mary (the lady that owns the place) was planning on letting everyone go a bit early anyway, but not quite that early. Anyway, I did get to leave by about 4:00. I also got to practice my Spanish today. It was nice. I haven't really gotten to in quite a while. The guys that clean the building speak Spanish and they were talking to each other in Spanish and it made me start thinking in Spanish, so when they asked me a question (in English) I answered in Spanish. Anyway, we started talking and it was fun. It was also nice to be able to get off early. Michael didn't have to work today, so I got to spend some more time with him than I otherwise would. Also, I don't have to get up early in the morning, so I can stay up late with him, too. And we can see each other in the morning, sleep in late together, and just generally behave like a happily married couple. I've been looking forward to this all week.

Mmm...Hot Cocoa

I would just like us all to take a moment to meditate on the wonder that is hot cocoa. Specifically, in this instance, Land O Lakes Double Chocolate Hot Cocoa. It's yummy. Perfect for a day such as today. Winter's icy breath is blowing across New England. This morning it was 28 degrees when I left the house, and felt like 22. It's been near freezing in the mornings for a while, but this was the first day that I was out in weather below freezing. Luckily, it was sunny, so that helped a bit, but it was still cold, and I was glad for my wool coat, scarf, hat, gloves, and the extra layer I wisely put on while getting dressed. So, this evening after dinner, hot cocoa seemed to be the perfect thing. The heating around hear is a bit temperamental (for temperamental read we don't actually have control over when it's off or on) and the apartment has been a bit on the cool side. Not cold, mind you, but a bit cooler than I would actually prefer it. But, that just makes hot cocoa all the more appropriate. So, I encourage all of you to turn down the heat a notch or two and cuddle under a blanket with a mug of cocoa and the person of your choice.

A Short Week

In the tradition of Thanksgiving, I would just like to say that I am thankful that this week is a short week. Today is Monday, and I already have only two work days left this week. Tomorrow at 1:00 pm I will be officially halfway through with my work week. (1:00 pm is exactly halfway through my workday.) Also, I am thankful that I am getting paid tomorrow, as that means my check will clear before the holiday. (Normally I get paid on Thursday.) I am also thankful for my wool coat and fleece scarf that will keep me warm in the morning on my way to work, since it is only expected to be 34 degrees outside, with a real feel temperature of 28 degrees. And I am lastly thankful that there are only 25 days until I can return to Coeur d'Alene.

Very Little to Report

I didn't do much today. In fact, I only left the house to go to 7-11 to buy essentials like bread, cheese, cereal, and milk. I wouldn't have minded getting a few more things from a real grocery store, but that would've required walking a half mile, buying everything, then lugging it back the half mile in the dark and only 40 degrees out. Which, granted, isn't terribly cold, but isn't much fun for carrying groceries in. So, 7-11 it was. Yesterday I did a bit more. I went sight-seeing. It was sunny out, and who knows when it'll be sunny on a day off again. I walked most of the Freedom Trail. It's a trail around Boston delineated by a red brick line (sometimes it's painted, but mostly it's brick) that goes past major historical sights such as the New and Old State Houses, Faneuil Hall (aka The Cradle of Liberty), a few burial grounds (note: the difference between a cemetery and a burial ground is that in cemeteries you know exactly where people are buried, and how many of them are buried there, in a burial ground you don't.), Paul Revere's House, The Old North Church, and a few other interesting things like the Bunker Hill Monument, and the USS Constitution (the oldest ship in the naval fleet). I didn't make it out to the last two, but I did go by the others, taking photos and things just like a tourist. I'm planning on going out to the last two places, but I think Michael wants to go, too, so we might do that next week on one of my days off. We'd both seen most of the rest already, but neither of us have been out to the last two.

I did think of a couple more things that I will miss:
7. Having built in reading time during the day, because I read on the T.
8. The Boston Public Library. It's enormous, has tons of books, looks really cool, and also houses the John Adams Presidential Library.

I also thought of a couple more things that I won't miss:
13. Having to make sure I have enough quarters to do laundry every week.
14. The 50 minute commute to go 7 miles.

Only 26 more day until I leave.

Things I Won't Miss About Boston

1. Ridiculously crowded trains on the T. I hate wedging myself between people just to get somewhere.
2. Walking everywhere when it's rainy or cold or just generally unpleasant outside.
3. The stairs at work that I've now fallen down twice.
4. The back stairs to the basement in my apartment building that I have to take to the laundry area, but are too narrow to comfortably carry a normal laundry basket down, and they're windy so the actual steps themselves are too narrow. I fell on those stairs once, too.
5. The downstairs neighbors that have their bass turned up too loud and we can hear it over our TV when we're just trying to relax.
6. The landlord who won't do anything about the downstairs neighbors, and tells us we need to get a rug to help cut the noise. We got a rug. It didn't make a bit of difference.
7. The upstairs neighbor who sounds like an elephant when she walks around.
8. The fact that we have no real control over our heat.
9. Having no friends.
10. Having no church.
11. Lack of street signs. (It's true. Street signs are a rarity around here. It can be very frustrating at times.)
12. Getting nearly run over on a daily basis. Leaving the house is always an adventure.

Hmm....that's all I can come up with for now. I'll let you know as I think of more. Only 27 more days.

Things I Will Miss About Boston

As we are preparing to leave Boston I am starting to think about the things that I will miss and about the things I won't miss. I'm sure I'll be adding to this as my time here draws to a close, but to start with here are

Things I Will Miss About Boston
1. Not needing a car to get everywhere. Public transportation is really pretty cool. It's a lot cheaper than owning a car, too.
2. The benefits that come with having to walk nearly everywhere. Michael and I have both lost some weight since moving here just because we walk all the time.
3. Being surrounded by so much history. It's everywhere. I work next door to the meeting house where they held meeting during the Revolutionary War, and the Old State House (the center of government for Massachusetts as a Colony and for the first bit of its statehood) is the subway stop I get off at to go to work. Literally, it's underneath the Old State House.
4. The fact that the New State House was built in the 1790's. (It's been added onto since then, but the oldest part is over 200 years old, and it's the New State House.)
5. The Public Garden. It's so pretty.
6. The neat architecture.

That's it for now. Tomorrow we will see what I won't miss about Boston. Only 28 more days!

"You Can't Fire Me! I Quit!"

Well, that's not exactly what I said to my boss yesterday, but it pretty well sums it up. Let me just say that my boss is impossible to please. She is unclear about what she wants and then gets upset when things don't work out the way she wants. (Hmmm...perhaps if she could articulate cleary exactly what she wants she would save herself and everyone else a lot of frustration...just a thought.) So, she asked me to do something for her that actually has nothing to do with work, but I'm her assistant so I did my best. Basically I had printed out a couple of lists for her for something on Monday, then on Wednesday she told me she never got one of them. I, trying to defend myself, tried to tell her that I had given the list to her, told her what I had said as I handed it to her, what she had said when she looked at it, and she just responded, "You never gave this to me." That's all she would say. "You never gave this to me." I, of course, said "Yes, I did!" But she apparently thinks I was lying, and just said, "No, you didn't." She then proceded to tell me that things weren't working out "for the long-term," to which I replied, "That's fine. I'm moving back to Idaho next month anyway. I was planning on talking to you about it later. I had planned on having December 13 as my last day. Is that okay, or do you want me gone sooner?" She said the 13th was fine, so now I don't have to worry about giving my two weeks' notice. I'm still so mad, though. I can't believe she thinks I lied to her! And why would I lie about that?! It's just a stupid list, it's not the end of the world. But, everything that doesn't go exactly right around here somehow becomes my fault. I've beat my brains out since August trying to please this woman, and I've come to the unavoidable conclusion that she is impossible to please. Then, later in the afternoon, she had the audacity to ask about the move and what Michael will be doing, etc, trying to be all nice. Right, that makes it okay that you called me a liar earlier in the day. I really wish I could quit even sooner. I really wanted to just leave right after that conversation. I found this job working for Google reviewing websites in Spanish, so I'm going to apply for that. If it pays well enough, I might just quit sooner and spend lots of time doing that. I guess this is just another sign that we've made the right decision to move back to Coeur d'Alene. I can't wait. Only 29 more days until I leave.

Random Thoughts for the Day

So, I'm kind of a random person, and here are some of my random thoughts from the past 24 hours or so....


Random Thought #1

Happy Birthday, Mr. Vonnegut...


a few days late.



Kurt Vonnegut, one of my favorite authors, turned 84 on Saturday, November 11. I realized this last night as I was lying in bed trying to go to sleep. I know this because in his book Breakfast of Champions (great book, by the way. I highly recommend it.) he mentions that he was born on Armistice Day, which is now known as Veteran's Day. It's kind of ironic that he's made it this long, since he's been admittedly trying to commit suicide by cigarette for the vast majority of his life. But, he's still writing some (his latest book was published last year) and even creating artwork. It's featured in several of his books (including Breakfast of Champions), but on his website vonnegut.com you can purchase prints that he's done, or T-shirts with his drawings on them. I kind of want one, but $20 is a bit steep for a T-shirt, even one with a Kurt Vonnegut drawing on it. If you've never read Vonnegut and would like to, I recommend, in addition to the aforementioned book, Slaughterhouse Five (which has nothing to do with slaughterhouses, really), Hocus Pocus, Welcome to the Monkey House (this is a collection of short stories, but very good), and Slapstick: or Lonesome No More! He has many other very good books that are likely available at your local library. If not, I'm sure your local bookstore will have many of them as well, not to mention the internet. I would be willing to loan my copies to local friends, however, the vast majority of my books, including most of my Vonnegut collection, are still in Texas at my grandparent's house. They kindly offered to store some of our less essential items until we could afford to have them sent to us, and my books were declared non-essential. (I did manage to smuggle some of them with me, but most are still in Texas, where they are likely to remain until June, when my parents will drive down to visit their newest grandbaby and stop through Dallas and pick up the rest of our stuff.)





Random Thought #2





Squirrels Are Good For the Soul





This is not a new thought, really, more of a revisit of an inside joke from my freshman year at ACU. My friend Andrew declared this into his mini tape recorder one afternoon after having witnessed the ACU squirrels frolicking about, digging, attacking people, and various other squirrely things. The squirrels at ACU are among the bravest known to mankind. They have been known to charge people, run up their legs, throw things at them from trees, and one guy I know swore they were out to get him and the birds were helping out as spies. Despite his warnings to be careful around the squirrels, none of them ever attacked or threw things at me, thus I often enjoyed watching them. They're like paranoid little people, running around and hiding things from whoever might be watching, looking around skittishly every couple seconds, covering their tracks in the dirt. That was my favorite part. The frantic swishing back and forth of the front paws over their newest hidey hole. Today on my morning walk to the T (that's what we call the subway here) I saw two squirrels out and about. One was climbing the tree in front of our front walkway. They're so funny! He sort of jumped a couple inches every time, pulling with is front paws quickly and throwing himself up, to get another grip on the bark. The second squirrel was in someone's yard a block away. It had apparently found something to munch on, because after I spotted it, it sat up and scurried over to hide behind a ceramic donkey. (Why anyone has a ceramic donkey in their yard is beyond me, but it makes a good squirrel hiding place I guess.) In any case, every time I see a squirrel it makes me smile, thus reaffirming that squirrels are indeed good for the soul.




Random Thought #3



I Am A Slacker

I'm at work, and I'm posting on my blog. Need I say more? In my defense, my job is pretty boring and I don't have much else to do right now. Fortunately, I only have four more weeks at this job, and in exactly one month from today I am moving back to Coeur d'Alene.

On Moving to Coeur d'Alene

So, I've decided to set up a blog to chronicle the process of moving from Boston, MA back to Coeur d'Alene, Idaho. For those of you who don't know, I graduated from Abilene Christian University in December of 2005. I auditioned for graduate school, with the hope of attending this school year, but unfortunately that didn't happen. So, in May we moved to Boston with the idea that I could hook up with a teacher, work, save money, and try again for next year. Unfortunately, that hasn't happened either. I have a job that I don't like very much, I'm not playing at all, and there's no way I could get back to where I was this time last year by February without a teacher. Even if I could somehow manage to become good enough to be accepted to a graduate school, there's no way we could afford it, since the only way we can afford to live here at all is with both of us working full time. So, as of Thursday, November 9, 2006 we made the decision that we're moving back to Coeur d'Alene. Both of our parents still live there, and Boston's just not working out like we'd hoped. Besides, being 3,000 miles from your family isn't all it's cracked up to be.

It's odd, though. Don't get me wrong, I'm thrilled to be able to spend time with my family whenever I want, to have friends again, to have a church home again. But, I feel as though I'm coming full circle, and in so doing, I can't help thinking about memories of growing up in Coeur d'Alene. Now, I had a great childhood, but we all get battered a bit in growing up. Some of the memories aren't the most pleasant. Although, thankfully, one of the central figures in many of my unpleasant memories is no longer there. I have forgiven him for his treatment of me (however unententional, he did a lot of emotional and spiritual damage), but I haven't been able to forget. Most things that truly require forgiveness cannot be so glibly dismissed by "forgive and forget." So, whenever those memories resurface I must make an intentional decision to continue to forgive. That would be much more difficult if faced with this person on a regular basis. I am thankful that I won't have to. Regardless of all that, however, I haven't lived in Coeur d'Alene for over five years now, and not at all since I got married. We'll all have some great big adjustments coming our way. Especially since we'll be living with parents again... Don't get me wrong, I'm extremely grateful for all the help supplied by both my parents and my husband's parents, and for their generosity in opening their homes to us once again, though we have both long since left the nest. In some ways I'm excited to get to stay with them for a little while. I love getting to stay up late talking to my mom, which is something we did regularly when I was a teenager, and still do over the phone at times. But, I'm just afraid of what might happen when a "little while" gets longer and longer. So, we're just praying that jobs and cars and money come through sooner rather than later, and that a "little while" remains just that.

So, here are my thoughts to be sent off into internet land as my first blog post. I'll keep everyone updated on all of the adventures that come with moving for the third time in 8 months. (Yes, 3 times. From Abilene to our first apartment in Boston, from our first to our second apartment in Boston, and now to Coeur d'Alene. Then we'll have to move again once we get our own place. All I know is that once we do we better stay there for a long time!)