Awesome daughter

We moved out of our old house on a Thursday, and on Sunday my awesome daughter (with granddaughter) came to stay with us in the new house for almost a week.  If she hadn't, my life might have become a conversation like this:

"Hello boxes.  Yes, we've been good friends all summer.  I started packing all of you in mid-June, when we made the offer on this nice house we are now occupying.  And I continued to pack through July, when we listed and immediately sold the old house, and continued to pack through August as moving day approached. You were acquired high and low, through craigslist and (gasp) the cardboard recycling bin behind KFC/A&W.  Some of you were handled nicely by the movers, others were handled roughly, sorry.  I know, what part of a huge black arrow on each side of the box is not understand as 'this end up?' 

"But NOW I WANT TO SIT AND VEG and I don't care if you stay packed for THE NEXT TEN YEARS!"

No, no, thanks to my daughter, my wonderful driven daughter, the front room/sitting area is set up and the bookshelves loaded, the kitchen unpacked (and reorganized by her while hubby and I were out to dinner), and the master closet torn out and rebuilt.  I should have taken before-and-after pictures.  Oh, oh, don't forget the den episode: the movers couldn't get the roll-top desk into the den, so I was on the verge of switching den and guest room #2.  Actually, we were part way into the switch, as middle son and I hadn't taken the two twins out, and moved the roll-top in.

Lovely daughter said that just won't do, "I will just take off the whole den door frame so the desk can go in."  And she did! So even though the den isn't completely set up, we have the desks sited.

So much more, but it was a very productive week. Oh, and did I mention she did this while working (partly from home, but two days on the road for training in Portland), and the baby to care for, of course!

Thanks B!

wow, time to update!

I haven't been on here for quite a while! Soooo much to catch up on.
June 29 was my last day of work.  Paid work. I've been a-whirling ever since:
Sweetie's doctor appointments
Little sweetie (granddaughter) play dates
But mostly packing excess stuff, more packing, storing, staging, cleaning, thankfully-helped-by-middle-kid, arranging contractors (staging consultant, carpet cleaning, stove repair, door repairs, HVAC, etc.), rebuild 40' feet of fence, runs to the dump/recyle, spot painting, meeting with realtors (and finally getting agreement with Sweetie to list with one of them).  Plus continuing paperwork exchanges on the new house purchase.
Too bad the new A/C won't be in for another 10 days, because we will be pushing 100 today.
Gotta run. Need to shower and set off to this afternoon's baby shower!

It was the donuts' fault

Mike wrecked the truck Tuesday; he thinks it is totaled. I haven't seen it yet, but later today we plan to go get the personal stuff out of it.

Brooke said it was because his birthday is next week, and he wanted a new truck.  Well, he certainly didn't have to take out two other vehicles in the process!  Luckily no one went to the hospital.

But here is the true story:

On Monday, Mike went to his favorite donut shop. After selecting six donuts realized he didn't have his wallet.  They said, "That's okay, you're in here a lot so just pay us next time."

He wanted to make good on it sooner than later, and it was the trip back home that ended in all the smushing of cars.

Therefore, obviously, it was the donuts' fault.

Oh, add on to condescending

...AND the Jiffy Lube guys didn't reset the service display (maintenance

Condescending

I am going to complain about condescending men, after car-related encounters two days in a row. But I'm wondering now, are we women condescending in certain areas, too?  Any thoughts or comments are welcome!

Situation number one, Les Schwab Tires.  We have a tire that I noticed (a few weeks ago) had a bald outside edge. I finally took it in and ended up getting two tires.  But my interest was also in finding out why this one tire had the problem, not the others. The fellow who came out to talk with me (much later - 90 minutes?) seemed to have just one cause on his brain: it must have a misalignment, but because the bad tire is on the back, it must have been rotated from the front recently. So he was trying to pin me down on when the last alignment and rotations were.
AND THEN he tried a couple of upsales. "We might have to replace four tires.  The front have 10-32's [I think that's what he said, but I was honestly tuning him out] which is fine for tread. But with your four wheel drive, if one set of tires is balding and the other has good tread, it can harm your drivetrain because of the different diameters."  I'm staring at him, maybe gaping a bit. He might be thinking I am some dumb blonde, but I'm really thinking he's the dumb one. Time out buddy, it's not four wheel drive.  The Toyota hybrid means the gas engine runs the front wheels, and the electric engine runs the rear wheels. He backs off a bit, "All I know is the computer comes up with all wheel drive."  And then he asks if I've thought about getting prettier wheels. I say with emphasis, maybe too loudly, "It HAS pretty wheels."  He says, "Sure, pretty STOCK wheels."

Situation number two, Jiffy Lube. "You've been using 5-20W but Toyota requires 0-20.  We only have that in synthetic, so the oil change will be $59.99." Note that is why more than the current special for $19.99.  And my reply, "Funny nobody has ever mentioned that in the four years we've had the car.  Just go the next one up." I guess that didn't make sense to him, but I finally got through that he should use the closest grade conventional (non-synthetic) oil. And he had to caution, "We just have to let you know because it could affect your warranty." 

He should be happy I didn't put him through my usually environmental questions (how do they recycle the used oil, etc.).

Then insult to injury, they didn't even reset the 'maintenance required' message display.

Here's what the Toyota manual really says about oil:

Two months

Two months since my last post.

Two months until my last day at work.

Accepting the way things are

I am on my second read-through of the book "The Art of Possibilities" by Rosamund Stone Zander and Benjamin Zander. I seldom read a book a second time! The subtitle is "Transforming professional and personal life" but I cannot bring myself to categorize it simply as another book in the self-improvement genre.

Now I have to agree with one book review that the husband-wife authors have simple examples, and that the husband's life examples COULD be seen as egotistical, where he did amazing things. Yes, the examples are simple, but not EASY. We humans survive by repeating what has been successful for us, and breaking the repetition (to see new possibilities) is hard work; it is our nature to fall back on old patterns when times get tough. Which leads to an argument against the 'egotistical' review: the husband cites his own failings, and in those cases he went to his wife for help in changing what he saw as the problem, and yes, there were amazing results.

My only wish is that each chapter ended with a practice to apply in our own lives. Some chapters do, most don't. But that's also why the re-read is important, so I can design my own practices.

I also bought a copy for my boss. Of course this could be dangerous, but I did not approach her with an attitude of, "You really need to read chapter 6." Instead, my message was: I am very excited, got a lot out of it, and the book has something for everybody. (Admittedly, my dear readers, I pictured her in chapter 6 immediately ~ "Don't take yourself so damn seriously.")

One of my many lessons is around the "world of measurement:" central positions of assessments, scales, standards, grades, and comparisons. This leads to winning versus losing, hoping to get to a better place than where we are, but struggling with raised hopes and dashed hopes, seeing others as competition rather than as comrades.

There is much, much, more. My hope is to live it!