THE BUSY-NESS CONTINUES....
The busy-ness continues!
The move went well, and Katie is safely ensconced in her dorm room. It looks like it will be a good situation for her. Her roommate seems very nice, and their room shares a bathroom and a small kitchenette with the floor’s RA. The laundry facilities are about two doors away, and the elevator is straight out their front door, right there in their floor’s lobby. The dorm has a nice dining facility, and there are loads of cool shops and eateries within a few blocks. My cousin’s house is ten minutes away by car, and the magnificent Powell Books store is about a 20-minute walk. Now if Katie will just get her studies taken care of…! Heh… I am confident she will learn to balance the work with the fun.
Kit and I will now do some extensive housecleaning... both our kids are NOT housekeepers. There will be lots and lots of crap to sort through and stow away (and throw away) in both their rooms. At this point, Katie’s older sister Kelly (who lives in an apartment a few houses away from our place) has not come to pick up lots of her loose miscellaneous stuff, and it is sitting around in her room in small boxes and plastic bags, or it's just loose. She hasn't taken her computer desk or her dresser to the apartment, either. Kit and I will put most of Kelly's stuff into her closet and then move the bed from Katie's room into Kelly's room.
We will sort and put away as much of Katie's leftover stuff as there is room for in her closet and dresser, and then we'll repaint her room… It has only one window, which is on the NE corner of our downstairs, providing very little outside light. Katie and I painted the room to her specs about five years ago: a blood-red ceiling, bright red doorframes and window frames, bright yellow doors, and bright yellow walls with red sponge painting. Ugh... It will probably take a couple of primer coats to cover all that color. Once that room is repainted, my music stuff will probably be set up in there.
But that's getting ahead of things... this week we will just be cleaning up lots of the loose clutter that has built up in our house. Our dining room table does not often get used as a place to eat, because it tends to collect so much of the kids' junk that it's often too messy. The end tables by our couches are covered with loose papers and other stuff. There are lots of cobwebs, lots of dust. The bathroom the kids shared is a mess and needs a thorough cleaning. Anyway, during the next few days we plan to make lots and lots of progress.
I am at once sad and happy to have the kids out of the house. Due to their messiness, it is a relief they are moved out. Due to their fun personalities and the unconditional love our family members have for each other, it's no fun to be without them. So I guess I could say materially, I don't miss them much but spiritually, I miss them like crazy. Kit and I have some good ideas for how to spend time without the kids around, and one of those things involves eating what we want, when we want to. Our girls are so picky about what they like to eat that we have rarely if ever been able to please them with anything we cook for the family to eat. Now, Kit and I will have less stress around the food thing, and we will probably eat less, eat less often and/or eat less due to stress… and we will eat healthier. I look forward to the times Kit and I will have to reconnect after years of focusing on, living with and dealing with the girls and their issues, as much as I look forward to the times the girls will be home to visit. And I'm certain we will see Kelly quite often as long as she is in town.
I feel like I don’t have much to say re. politics that I haven’t already said a thousand times or more. Bush stinks, Cheney stinks, and the way they inspire fear in so many millions of people here and abroad stinks too. I think there are about 490 days left in the Bush administration, and the number continues to decrease… I can remember when the number was around a thousand, then down to 900, then down to 800… and not too far from now, it will be less than a year! Nonetheless I find it hard to convince myself that any light I might perceive at the end of the tunnel is little more than the headlamp of an oncoming train. Given that the administration is jonesing for a confrontation with Iran, and given their stubborn stupidity on Iraq, I see things getting worse before they get better.
Maybe cooler heads will prevail, and America will prevent Bush from getting us in a worse mess than he already has. Maybe not. We will have to take things one day at a time and see what happens, and do our best, whatever that might be, to help prevent things from getting worse. As I see it, this means “keeping the faith” and “fighting the good fight”. I am not sure that if the Democrats prevail on a large scale it will mean things would suddenly be great, but I have to believe things would at least be better for America. As long as America realizes we are better without neoconservatives running the country, things will be better. And I think that is what we can talk about during the next year: how can we help to make things better for America and for the world?
Let's keep talking about it!
The move went well, and Katie is safely ensconced in her dorm room. It looks like it will be a good situation for her. Her roommate seems very nice, and their room shares a bathroom and a small kitchenette with the floor’s RA. The laundry facilities are about two doors away, and the elevator is straight out their front door, right there in their floor’s lobby. The dorm has a nice dining facility, and there are loads of cool shops and eateries within a few blocks. My cousin’s house is ten minutes away by car, and the magnificent Powell Books store is about a 20-minute walk. Now if Katie will just get her studies taken care of…! Heh… I am confident she will learn to balance the work with the fun.
Kit and I will now do some extensive housecleaning... both our kids are NOT housekeepers. There will be lots and lots of crap to sort through and stow away (and throw away) in both their rooms. At this point, Katie’s older sister Kelly (who lives in an apartment a few houses away from our place) has not come to pick up lots of her loose miscellaneous stuff, and it is sitting around in her room in small boxes and plastic bags, or it's just loose. She hasn't taken her computer desk or her dresser to the apartment, either. Kit and I will put most of Kelly's stuff into her closet and then move the bed from Katie's room into Kelly's room.
We will sort and put away as much of Katie's leftover stuff as there is room for in her closet and dresser, and then we'll repaint her room… It has only one window, which is on the NE corner of our downstairs, providing very little outside light. Katie and I painted the room to her specs about five years ago: a blood-red ceiling, bright red doorframes and window frames, bright yellow doors, and bright yellow walls with red sponge painting. Ugh... It will probably take a couple of primer coats to cover all that color. Once that room is repainted, my music stuff will probably be set up in there.
But that's getting ahead of things... this week we will just be cleaning up lots of the loose clutter that has built up in our house. Our dining room table does not often get used as a place to eat, because it tends to collect so much of the kids' junk that it's often too messy. The end tables by our couches are covered with loose papers and other stuff. There are lots of cobwebs, lots of dust. The bathroom the kids shared is a mess and needs a thorough cleaning. Anyway, during the next few days we plan to make lots and lots of progress.
I am at once sad and happy to have the kids out of the house. Due to their messiness, it is a relief they are moved out. Due to their fun personalities and the unconditional love our family members have for each other, it's no fun to be without them. So I guess I could say materially, I don't miss them much but spiritually, I miss them like crazy. Kit and I have some good ideas for how to spend time without the kids around, and one of those things involves eating what we want, when we want to. Our girls are so picky about what they like to eat that we have rarely if ever been able to please them with anything we cook for the family to eat. Now, Kit and I will have less stress around the food thing, and we will probably eat less, eat less often and/or eat less due to stress… and we will eat healthier. I look forward to the times Kit and I will have to reconnect after years of focusing on, living with and dealing with the girls and their issues, as much as I look forward to the times the girls will be home to visit. And I'm certain we will see Kelly quite often as long as she is in town.
I feel like I don’t have much to say re. politics that I haven’t already said a thousand times or more. Bush stinks, Cheney stinks, and the way they inspire fear in so many millions of people here and abroad stinks too. I think there are about 490 days left in the Bush administration, and the number continues to decrease… I can remember when the number was around a thousand, then down to 900, then down to 800… and not too far from now, it will be less than a year! Nonetheless I find it hard to convince myself that any light I might perceive at the end of the tunnel is little more than the headlamp of an oncoming train. Given that the administration is jonesing for a confrontation with Iran, and given their stubborn stupidity on Iraq, I see things getting worse before they get better.
Maybe cooler heads will prevail, and America will prevent Bush from getting us in a worse mess than he already has. Maybe not. We will have to take things one day at a time and see what happens, and do our best, whatever that might be, to help prevent things from getting worse. As I see it, this means “keeping the faith” and “fighting the good fight”. I am not sure that if the Democrats prevail on a large scale it will mean things would suddenly be great, but I have to believe things would at least be better for America. As long as America realizes we are better without neoconservatives running the country, things will be better. And I think that is what we can talk about during the next year: how can we help to make things better for America and for the world?
Let's keep talking about it!
9 Comments:
I know what you mean, Snave. I've had Blog Block the last couple months. Maybe the change of season will help. Or maybe our minds will be more stimulated when we get closer to the start of the primaries.
If it's any consolation, Rosemary and I have found there's a lot of good things about the empty nest phase...of course, we may be starting the grandparent phase here in a year or two...
Every day these criminals remain in office is a scary day.
Empty nest. Aching heart. Never stops. Time to revisit the Mariners and birding. On the other hand, would you be interested in Brat, a really, really fine, old, old, loud goat? We would be glad to transport him. How's Kit taking it?
Snave, while you're doing all that stuff, try to think about how pleasant it will be (someday) to clean house after the Bush administration is gone.
Crap. Did it again. I posted under my dog's name.
-Scruffybutt's Mom
Right there with you, hence the lack of daily comment on my blog.
I really fear Hillary - should she get the nomination, and win the election - you can bet on a Republican Congress.
We can't survive that train.
Hi Snave. I get sense of the sadness between the lines. Rosie (you know her as "Wosie") has finally decided to actually move into the apartment that she has been renting for about 4 months. I've started on her room (orange and blue with a lime green floor). We still have Betsy (almost 25) and Suzi who is a senior in high school.
The room is a mess. Rosie left a bunch of stuff and I have started using it to sort out the clothes that no longer fit after having lost about 50 pounds. My grandaughters will be here this weekend and I have to clean.
Tom and I had a child even before we got married. Okay, we were hippies! We've NEVER had a child-free home. Nnow it's more like living with two other adults. We would miss them like crazy but there's also something to be said for not having to get dressed before making a trip to the bathroom.
As for politics, I sense a general apathy with everyone lately. It's just so damned frustrating to hear the same bullshit over and over. Isn't there at least one mainstream jounalist with balls enough to report the hypocracy? If they can manage it on the Daily Show, they should be able to expose these freaks elsewhere.
Check my blog when you have time.
http://joyfullysubversive.blogspot.com.
You & Kit are such good parents. I will keep a thought for all of you as you enter this new phase of your lives.
As far as the politics stuff goes, I'm with ya, buddy.
Hi snave!
I have three girls that I have put through college and have moved out and I'm still getting rid of their stuff! Finally, a couple of months ago, I told them that whatever they have in my basement or closets will be donated to charity if they don't pick it up. Then, they said, "that's ok mom, we don't want it." Yikes!!! I was so mad that I've been stuck with all that clutter and they didn't even want it!
I have one son left at home who will be going to college in a year. Lucky for me, though, he's not a pack rat like his sisters.
I'm not looking forward to the empty nest, though. I'm afraid that I may find out my husband and I have nothing in common...after 34 years of marriage! ;-)
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