The absence of an imminent move has made me feel ambitious again. For close to 2 years, I've told myself, "no, not now," to so many of the values I want to pursue. I was afraid it would become a habit, but the moment we moved I felt a weight lifting and an excitement brewing.
I thought my to do list was long before, but now it's growing like mad. The difference is that the things on my list now will advance my life instead of just maintaining it.
One thing that's going back on my list is a big project called getting a Western Civ education. I have temporary but open-ended custody of the Great Books of the Western World series (thanks, Stace!). I started reading straight from the ten year plan about ten years ago, but dropped it...well, when we moved from Chicago to New Orleans. Three things have inspired me to start up again: 1) I heard an interview with this guy on NPR and he talked about St. Johns College where they have a Great Books program, 2) We unpacked our series and put it back up on our bookshelves, and 3) I ran across this reading challenge and thought that I can finally get organized about reading again too.
Let life begin again!
Thursday, December 4, 2008
Wednesday, December 3, 2008
A Little Thing
Our new neighborhood is pretty upscale and I must say, it is a pleasure to shop in a decent grocery store again. Our old neighborhood was fine but for some reason the supermarkets were horrible. I have a new appreciation for all the services my new store provides. They keep the shopping carts inside so you don't freeze your hands. They have cart return caddies in the parking lot. The aisles are wide enough for 3 carts. And there is a Starbucks inside. Heaven.
Prepared Environment
I'm in my third home since I took my course with Cornelia Lockitch and learned about the Montessori principle of the prepared environment. In the first house, I did things like set up a "shoe basket" for Sam to put her shoes away in, but not much else since Sam was just starting to walk and we were moving in a few months. In the second, I set up the basement as Sam's playroom, putting her toys on shelves at her level and buying some kid-sized furniture. I put my office there too, so that we could both "work" at the same time.
This time, I'm trying something new. I'm integrating Sam even more into our household set up. We are in a three-level townhouse again, which really chops up the living area. But instead of relegating Sam to the basement, I've made the dining room her main play area, with our dining table in the eat-in kitchen (much more convenient anyway). Since I need to have access to my computer in small bursts as well as long stretches, I have to have it on the main level of the house where we spend most of our time. The basement did not work for me in the last house - it was just too much trouble to go down there, and I ended up using an old laptop in the kitchen most of the time. The need for an office on the main level sparked the idea to make our living room a "library" instead of primarily a TV room.
Adam and I do like to watch TV and movies, but we do it almost exclusively after Samantha is asleep for the night. We don't leave the TV on while we are doing other things - we decide to watch and we make an event of it. It makes so much more sense to put the TV in the basement. We even have an extra refrigerator and microwave down there.
Our living room now houses my office and all of our books. Luckily it's a big room! Adam has so many books and he loves to see them out on display. Although we'll still keep most of Sam's books in her bedroom where we do most of our reading, we are setting aside one shelf of each bookcase for her in the living room. I think this will become even more important as she gets older. We plan to get some cozy reading chairs, which will also serve to make the room work for those rare times when we invite people over. Still, it's not a formal living room because it is open to the playroom (or should I call it Sam's living room?) and there will be toys in view. Oh, horror! We have a child and there are toys in the house! What about clutter and toy encroachment? Well, part of the principle of the prepared environment is that the child should respect the order of the house and keep toys in their proper places. Having them in the main area of the house forces that issue for all of us. I'll be sure to post updates about how I set up the play area and how it is working. Right now it's just full of boxes.
Sticking the child's area into a back room or basement may be necessary in some cases, but I think you need to be careful about why you are doing it. Are you acting on the premise that your child is a less important member of the household? Are you keeping the toys away from public areas so that you don't need to teach your child to clean up, or because of some idea that toys are unsightly?
I'm very excited about this new set up. I think it will change the way we live. I think it shows respect for Samantha. I think it reflects my own family's values instead of some second-handed idea of what a house should look like.
And there is still an extra room that I can turn into a classroom when the time comes. Yipee!
This time, I'm trying something new. I'm integrating Sam even more into our household set up. We are in a three-level townhouse again, which really chops up the living area. But instead of relegating Sam to the basement, I've made the dining room her main play area, with our dining table in the eat-in kitchen (much more convenient anyway). Since I need to have access to my computer in small bursts as well as long stretches, I have to have it on the main level of the house where we spend most of our time. The basement did not work for me in the last house - it was just too much trouble to go down there, and I ended up using an old laptop in the kitchen most of the time. The need for an office on the main level sparked the idea to make our living room a "library" instead of primarily a TV room.
Adam and I do like to watch TV and movies, but we do it almost exclusively after Samantha is asleep for the night. We don't leave the TV on while we are doing other things - we decide to watch and we make an event of it. It makes so much more sense to put the TV in the basement. We even have an extra refrigerator and microwave down there.
Our living room now houses my office and all of our books. Luckily it's a big room! Adam has so many books and he loves to see them out on display. Although we'll still keep most of Sam's books in her bedroom where we do most of our reading, we are setting aside one shelf of each bookcase for her in the living room. I think this will become even more important as she gets older. We plan to get some cozy reading chairs, which will also serve to make the room work for those rare times when we invite people over. Still, it's not a formal living room because it is open to the playroom (or should I call it Sam's living room?) and there will be toys in view. Oh, horror! We have a child and there are toys in the house! What about clutter and toy encroachment? Well, part of the principle of the prepared environment is that the child should respect the order of the house and keep toys in their proper places. Having them in the main area of the house forces that issue for all of us. I'll be sure to post updates about how I set up the play area and how it is working. Right now it's just full of boxes.
Sticking the child's area into a back room or basement may be necessary in some cases, but I think you need to be careful about why you are doing it. Are you acting on the premise that your child is a less important member of the household? Are you keeping the toys away from public areas so that you don't need to teach your child to clean up, or because of some idea that toys are unsightly?
I'm very excited about this new set up. I think it will change the way we live. I think it shows respect for Samantha. I think it reflects my own family's values instead of some second-handed idea of what a house should look like.
And there is still an extra room that I can turn into a classroom when the time comes. Yipee!
Tuesday, December 2, 2008
It's All About Values
Two years old is not too young for an Advent calendar. Sam has already been "counting," meaning that she parrots the sounds, one-two-three, etc. She definitely knows the concepts "one" and "two." I have a feeling that she's going to be focused on learning her numbers this month, now that chocolate is involved. It's all about values.
The Sam Update - Twenty Seven Months Old
This is supposed to be the big quarterly update with multiple photos, but since we're unpacking I'm glad to simply say that Samantha is handling all the chaos like a champ. She loves the new house and on her first day at her new daycare, she napped and ate and had a great time. What a great kid!
Friday, November 28, 2008
The Grand Finale
We're homeowners again! I am so tired of moving around and renting. I've really felt homeless since we left Michigan 17 months ago.
Of course, the last week has been hell.
Thursday: My agent reminds me that I need certified funds for closing. We use ETrade which does not have branches so that means a wire transfer. I get the instructions from the title company, print out the ETrade wire transfer form and fill it out. The cold that I've had since October 2 (not kidding!) takes a turn for the worse and I get a very sore throat. Meanwhile, Sam has diarrhea and is getting a bad cold sore.
Friday afternoon: I fax the wire transfer form to ETrade for a Monday transfer.
Friday night: We learn that ETrade is close to bankruptcy and worry all weekend about whether our money will be there on Monday.
Monday morning: I wake up 2 hours early because Sam had another nightmare. She's been doing fine with the chaos while awake, but the stress comes out in her dreams. She fell back asleep but I didn't. Later, I check my bank account and the money is still sitting there. I call ETrade to check and they tell me, "We do not do third party wire transfers." I know it's a lie but what can I do? After a few panicked phone calls, I find that our title company will accept a personal check. Again, kudos to our real estate agent, Sharon Chamberlin, for working with good people.
Monday afternoon: Seller doesn't show up for settlement. Duh, he went to the wrong office. Yeah, right. Luckily, we were able to close via fax and the upside was that we never had to see his stinking face. We have a house, yea!
Later Monday afternoon: The wire transfer goes through. NO! If the title company has already put my check in the bank, I'm toast. More panicked phone calls. The wonderful woman who did our closing actually noticed that the funds were wired and hadn't deposited the check. Still, I had to drive out to their office to pay a small balance due and get my first check back. But not before loading up my car with the first of the moving boxes, picking up Sam from day care (where she did not nap at all), meeting the handyman at the new house to get a quote on some small jobs, and finding that the extra set of keys the seller promised to leave under the mat were not there. The worst part of that day was that Sam was just miserable, falling asleep in the car just as we'd arrive somewhere and having to wake right back up. Not good for a borderline-sick child.
Tuesday: The plan was to move as much stuff to the new house as possible and monitor the installation of new carpet. The carpet got installed and we did move some things, but Adam also had to spend 6 hours on IV fluids after puking his guts out all morning. I've never seen him so sick. Definitely in the Top Ten Worst Days of My Life.
Tuesday night: My turn. I got a much milder case of it. Still, it kept me up until 2am because it takes much concentration to NOT vomit. Must never, ever vomit. Stay awake all night and focus, but do not vomit.
Wednesday: We moved more stuff and got our Internet and cable hooked up. Adam painted Sam's room. It was Sam's last day at her current day care and saying goodbye was very emotional for both of us. I don't think anything horrendous happened. Oh, except that we were moving, which is one of the most horrendous things in life to begin with.
Thursday: More packing, painting, and moving. Brief Thanksgiving with friends which was the highlight of the week. Up until 2am packing boxes in preparation for the moving company's arrival the next morning.
Friday: Official moving day. We hadn't packed as much as we'd hoped due to all the illness, but we had done amazingly well, considering. We knew the movers could pack up the last of our stuff and we'd just have to pay a bit extra for the supplies they provided plus extra time. The biggest challenge seemed to be waking up at 7am. In the end, this moving company stole about $2,000 from us. I can't describe it any other way. They wrapped a plastic toy mirror in bubble wrap and said it cost $19. I'm not kidding. They held our stuff hostage until we paid. We knew they had the power to do it - this happens with moving companies all the time (although I had done so much research on this one and I've moved so many times that I thought I was smart enough to avoid these problems). If they say, "Pay me or we'll keep your stuff," you pretty much have to pay whatever they ask. After an hour of phone calls trying to resolve it with a manager, we decided to pay but to note on the contract and credit card receipt that we were paying under protest. They would not accept this and demanded payment with NO changes on their documents before they would release our goods. We had to call the police out to our new home on our first night here to get these bastards to allow us to pay the extortion, but with a stinking note on the paperwork. After the officer made them allow it, I went with the mover into the kitchen to find a horizontal surface to use to sign. With no shame, with the officer in the next room, this slimebag tried to get me to sign a separate document which signed away all my rights to dispute the charges at a later date. I brought it to the officer, who forced the mover to call his supervisor to allow us to get our stuff without signing such a document. Of course, we had to pay the moving company for the 2.5 hours it took to resolve the whole dispute. Then, at the end, these immoral creatures kept a few boxes in the truck and made us pay another $150 before they'd release them. We were too tired to call the cops again, and what's the difference between being reamed to the tune of $2,150 versus $2,000 anyway? THIS MOVING COMPANY IS CALLED METRO VAN LINES LLC OPERATED OUT OF ROCKVILLE MARYLAND DOT NUMBER 1496324. DO NOT USE THEM IF YOUR LIFE DEPENDS ON IT.
Friday night: Drinking champagne (finally!) and loving our new home. Thanks for listening to my rant.
Of course, the last week has been hell.
Thursday: My agent reminds me that I need certified funds for closing. We use ETrade which does not have branches so that means a wire transfer. I get the instructions from the title company, print out the ETrade wire transfer form and fill it out. The cold that I've had since October 2 (not kidding!) takes a turn for the worse and I get a very sore throat. Meanwhile, Sam has diarrhea and is getting a bad cold sore.
Friday afternoon: I fax the wire transfer form to ETrade for a Monday transfer.
Friday night: We learn that ETrade is close to bankruptcy and worry all weekend about whether our money will be there on Monday.
Monday morning: I wake up 2 hours early because Sam had another nightmare. She's been doing fine with the chaos while awake, but the stress comes out in her dreams. She fell back asleep but I didn't. Later, I check my bank account and the money is still sitting there. I call ETrade to check and they tell me, "We do not do third party wire transfers." I know it's a lie but what can I do? After a few panicked phone calls, I find that our title company will accept a personal check. Again, kudos to our real estate agent, Sharon Chamberlin, for working with good people.
Monday afternoon: Seller doesn't show up for settlement. Duh, he went to the wrong office. Yeah, right. Luckily, we were able to close via fax and the upside was that we never had to see his stinking face. We have a house, yea!
Later Monday afternoon: The wire transfer goes through. NO! If the title company has already put my check in the bank, I'm toast. More panicked phone calls. The wonderful woman who did our closing actually noticed that the funds were wired and hadn't deposited the check. Still, I had to drive out to their office to pay a small balance due and get my first check back. But not before loading up my car with the first of the moving boxes, picking up Sam from day care (where she did not nap at all), meeting the handyman at the new house to get a quote on some small jobs, and finding that the extra set of keys the seller promised to leave under the mat were not there. The worst part of that day was that Sam was just miserable, falling asleep in the car just as we'd arrive somewhere and having to wake right back up. Not good for a borderline-sick child.
Tuesday: The plan was to move as much stuff to the new house as possible and monitor the installation of new carpet. The carpet got installed and we did move some things, but Adam also had to spend 6 hours on IV fluids after puking his guts out all morning. I've never seen him so sick. Definitely in the Top Ten Worst Days of My Life.
Tuesday night: My turn. I got a much milder case of it. Still, it kept me up until 2am because it takes much concentration to NOT vomit. Must never, ever vomit. Stay awake all night and focus, but do not vomit.
Wednesday: We moved more stuff and got our Internet and cable hooked up. Adam painted Sam's room. It was Sam's last day at her current day care and saying goodbye was very emotional for both of us. I don't think anything horrendous happened. Oh, except that we were moving, which is one of the most horrendous things in life to begin with.
Thursday: More packing, painting, and moving. Brief Thanksgiving with friends which was the highlight of the week. Up until 2am packing boxes in preparation for the moving company's arrival the next morning.
Friday: Official moving day. We hadn't packed as much as we'd hoped due to all the illness, but we had done amazingly well, considering. We knew the movers could pack up the last of our stuff and we'd just have to pay a bit extra for the supplies they provided plus extra time. The biggest challenge seemed to be waking up at 7am. In the end, this moving company stole about $2,000 from us. I can't describe it any other way. They wrapped a plastic toy mirror in bubble wrap and said it cost $19. I'm not kidding. They held our stuff hostage until we paid. We knew they had the power to do it - this happens with moving companies all the time (although I had done so much research on this one and I've moved so many times that I thought I was smart enough to avoid these problems). If they say, "Pay me or we'll keep your stuff," you pretty much have to pay whatever they ask. After an hour of phone calls trying to resolve it with a manager, we decided to pay but to note on the contract and credit card receipt that we were paying under protest. They would not accept this and demanded payment with NO changes on their documents before they would release our goods. We had to call the police out to our new home on our first night here to get these bastards to allow us to pay the extortion, but with a stinking note on the paperwork. After the officer made them allow it, I went with the mover into the kitchen to find a horizontal surface to use to sign. With no shame, with the officer in the next room, this slimebag tried to get me to sign a separate document which signed away all my rights to dispute the charges at a later date. I brought it to the officer, who forced the mover to call his supervisor to allow us to get our stuff without signing such a document. Of course, we had to pay the moving company for the 2.5 hours it took to resolve the whole dispute. Then, at the end, these immoral creatures kept a few boxes in the truck and made us pay another $150 before they'd release them. We were too tired to call the cops again, and what's the difference between being reamed to the tune of $2,150 versus $2,000 anyway? THIS MOVING COMPANY IS CALLED METRO VAN LINES LLC OPERATED OUT OF ROCKVILLE MARYLAND DOT NUMBER 1496324. DO NOT USE THEM IF YOUR LIFE DEPENDS ON IT.
Friday night: Drinking champagne (finally!) and loving our new home. Thanks for listening to my rant.
A Little Thing
I got the greatest satisfaction just now in moving my nightstand just a little bit closer to the bed - because I like it that way - and because it was worth the trouble since I am going to live here for more than just a few months.
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