Oh, the emotional investment in the place in which you live. This afternoon, I looked at the key my mother-in-law had made for me to use while we live in their upstairs addition for the next eight months, while we're building The New House. The key is blue with yellow happy faces all over it, in a cheesy fake-hippie style that makes me laugh, and she said she picked it so that when it gets hard living there, not in our own home, I can look at it and know she loves me. So very, very sweet.
I immediately, with my blogger-and-photographer hat on, thought I ought to take a photo to post here. And half a second later, got a sick feeling in my gut, realizing that I couldn't take a photo my house-key, the key to our Old House that we left for the last time this morning at 2am, because it was on the counter in that house we no longer own. Or more likely, by this point, it's on someone else's keyring. It made me want to cry, then and there, but I cried so much last night/this morning that I'm in the brush-it-off stage. After all, I've got tons of homework to do, all of it due this Friday.
But let us have a small moment of mourning for the passing of this age, the age of Our Very First Home together, the house in which our marriage survived four flooring projects, a 30' by 40' building project, thirteen fireworks parties, and innumerable amounts of painting. The house in which we kind of grew up together, dreamed together, and even planned The New House together. The house in which we spent 6 and a half out of over 7 years together, the house in which we did not raise any children--a house they will never know. Truly the end of an era.
Eesh, I don't even know how or where to end this post. Looking forward to the next house? Still more reminiscing about the old one? Talk about the past three days of moving and the pain and the tired and the wonderful family help? Obsessing about the last week of homework? Looking forward to summer? Gratefulness for a place to live while simultaneously mourning the loss of space and privacy?
Hmm, yes, total and utter confusion of emotions, I think that about sums it up.
P.S. Have lots of old-house photos to get up later. Probably will be a post-homework project, so look for them in May.
P.P.S. Bonus points for anyone who noticed that the label of this post is also the title of a Garrison Keillor book. There is a reason you and I are friends. (And now I know that an appropriate gift for you is a NPR mug.)
4.27.2008
4.22.2008
The 30-Second Update
So, here's what I've been up to:
- blogging at the TLA Conference
- meeting Gene Luen Yang
- reading Cory Doctorow's Little Brother
- finishing homework (everything's due by May 2nd)
- dreaming of May 2nd
- planning to go see Iron Man on May 3rd
- packing our house; we close on Thursday!! This week! Aack!
- very successfully not reading Eclipse (until May 3rd)
- getting some photos uploaded
- Robin and Barney made out?! ZOMG!!!
- dreaming of all the things I can finally get to this summer... like having a life.
4.10.2008
Big Storm
Um... wow.
So, that was interesting. We woke up instantly last night to the oddest, loudest sound--wind, bashing the south and east sides of our house, alternating what must have been ever 5 - 10 seconds. It was so loud, it didn't sound like wind--I've never heard a storm like that. I was terrified--Alex and I leapt out of bed, he managed to grab our pillows and our phones, and we slept (badly) on the floor in the master closet, which we reinforced against storms when we built the house. It didn't seem like that was going to be enough last night.
We woke up in the morning--me groaning about my lack of sleep--to no power. Which I proceeded to moan about how hard it was to find clothes and put on makeup, etc., without power.
Then I heard Alex at the front door talking to a neighbor. The neighbor said something about his trampoline flying into our yard, over our cars, and into the next backyard. This neighbor being a joker, Alex laughed. But the neighbor didn't.
(More photos on Flickr.)
Yeah. This was the guy across the street, two doors down--at least a hundred feet away. There were long divots in our yard, several of them with trampoline springs in them. And then--yeah, it didn't exactly sail over the Edge. It banged into the frame, on top of the passenger side front and rear doors, leaving dents and missing paint, and a few plastic pieces came off the luggage rack (looks like it was just the wind that ripped off my rear wiper blade). And then it didn't just end up in the neighbor's backyard--it took a huge section of their shingles first.
We were lucky--being just two weeks from closing today, there was no more damage to the house than an uprooted bush. And we have comprehensive on my Edge--aka the Magnet for Disaster, this being its third incident in less than a year. And there's no damage at all to our property in Cross Roads--the storm didn't hit Denton nearly as hard.
But on the way in, we saw the transformers down--ripped from their platform, actually. So it looks like it will be awhile before the power's back on.
Dallas news about the storm:
http://www.dallasnews.com/sharedcontent/dws/dn/yahoolatestnews/stories/041108dnmetweather.4d53e357.html?npc
Winds of up to 75 mph, and they're still trying to determine where some tornados in the DFW area touched down. Yowza.
So, that was interesting. We woke up instantly last night to the oddest, loudest sound--wind, bashing the south and east sides of our house, alternating what must have been ever 5 - 10 seconds. It was so loud, it didn't sound like wind--I've never heard a storm like that. I was terrified--Alex and I leapt out of bed, he managed to grab our pillows and our phones, and we slept (badly) on the floor in the master closet, which we reinforced against storms when we built the house. It didn't seem like that was going to be enough last night.
We woke up in the morning--me groaning about my lack of sleep--to no power. Which I proceeded to moan about how hard it was to find clothes and put on makeup, etc., without power.
Then I heard Alex at the front door talking to a neighbor. The neighbor said something about his trampoline flying into our yard, over our cars, and into the next backyard. This neighbor being a joker, Alex laughed. But the neighbor didn't.
(More photos on Flickr.)
Yeah. This was the guy across the street, two doors down--at least a hundred feet away. There were long divots in our yard, several of them with trampoline springs in them. And then--yeah, it didn't exactly sail over the Edge. It banged into the frame, on top of the passenger side front and rear doors, leaving dents and missing paint, and a few plastic pieces came off the luggage rack (looks like it was just the wind that ripped off my rear wiper blade). And then it didn't just end up in the neighbor's backyard--it took a huge section of their shingles first.
We were lucky--being just two weeks from closing today, there was no more damage to the house than an uprooted bush. And we have comprehensive on my Edge--aka the Magnet for Disaster, this being its third incident in less than a year. And there's no damage at all to our property in Cross Roads--the storm didn't hit Denton nearly as hard.
But on the way in, we saw the transformers down--ripped from their platform, actually. So it looks like it will be awhile before the power's back on.
Dallas news about the storm:
http://www.dallasnews.com/sharedcontent/dws/dn/yahoolatestnews/stories/041108dnmetweather.4d53e357.html?npc
Winds of up to 75 mph, and they're still trying to determine where some tornados in the DFW area touched down. Yowza.
4.01.2008
We've Got Two New Nephews!
...Don't know names yet, but the twins each weighed in around 5 1/2 pounds today. That makes for a grand total of five nephews for us--the Hoffman genes run strong to the male tendency, apparently. ;)
Alex is in Vegas for a work trip through Thursday, so I'm trying to be good and get homework done while he's gone. And am crossing my fingers about our current contract on the house during this 10-day options period.
Had a blast last night finally hanging out with my old pal Amy and her man Jaime. Had quite a nice chat--I miss how we all used to hang out once a week--but alas, my schedule won't allow that for awhile. Was good to see the ol' Amos Moses and remember the old times while dishing about the new times. And dude, she hooked me up with some pants--I do love me some hand-me-downs, cheap gal that I am.
Also, I am wearing AWESOME shoes. That is all.
Alex is in Vegas for a work trip through Thursday, so I'm trying to be good and get homework done while he's gone. And am crossing my fingers about our current contract on the house during this 10-day options period.
Had a blast last night finally hanging out with my old pal Amy and her man Jaime. Had quite a nice chat--I miss how we all used to hang out once a week--but alas, my schedule won't allow that for awhile. Was good to see the ol' Amos Moses and remember the old times while dishing about the new times. And dude, she hooked me up with some pants--I do love me some hand-me-downs, cheap gal that I am.
Also, I am wearing AWESOME shoes. That is all.
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