Hangin' in there

I have decided that next year, DH and I are spending our Thanksgiving in Maine. I'm having lobster for Thanksgiving dinner, and am going to spend the night gazing at a roaring fire in a seaside bed and breakfast in downeast Maine. This year is simply pushing me over the edge.

The plumbing has yet to be installed in the kitchen; I'm told that they'll be here on Tuesday to put it all in, plus finish a couple of things that need doing (cabinet doors, heat vents, etc). Tuesday night and Wednesday all day and night I am going to be washing dishes, counters, pots, pans,... more or less every kitchen related implement that I own. I am not looking forward to it. Not having basic plumbing in my kitchen for 3 months has actually made me clincally insane. And no, it is not helpful to have people note that the first Thanksgiving didn't feature indoor plumbing either.

That stress aside, I am not really sure why I feel like I am clinging desperatly to the dangling threads at the end of this rope. DH and I rented a "Rug Doctor" today to clean the living room carpets, which have been lovingly decorated with puke stains by my cats. We knew that it was too late to hire a professional, and didn't really want to spend the money to buy our own steam cleaning vacuum, so we went ahead and rented this little thing. Damn it all if it doesn't do a real good job. It's not perfect - it didn't get out all the stains entirely, but that would have taken a miracle - but it was really worth the $50. We did the living room floor today the stairs and the upstairs hallway tonight, and tomorrow morning before we have to return it we'll hit our bedroom. I'm darn impressed, I really didn't think it would make that big of a difference, but it truly did.

Also, the new oven was making a horrible rattling sound when it was on, which prompted me to call JennAir last week to schedule a service call. I don't know what I was expecting (I think I thought they were going to find a screw loose, tighten it, and then be on their merry way), but they sent a service guy out today who basically took the whole thing apart, replaced a cooling fan, and re-installed the whole thing. It took him like 2 hours, but the oven doesn't make a sound anymore. Again, I was duly impressed. I really didn't know if they would be able to make it soundless, I kind of figured it would always be a little noisy (it's a convection oven). But tonight I baked a pizza for dinner and I had to keep checking the oven to make sure it was in fact on. So that was good, too.

DH and I bought a rug from Target for the den, and arranged the furniture in there such that it looks not too bad. The dining room has its table back, which has had the leaves put in for Thanksgiving and is clothed for the occasion. Tomorrow I'll tackle the bathrooms (ick). Things aren't spiraling out of control like they seemed to be this afternoon. Actually, I had my first White-breasted Nuthatch visit my feeder today, which was quite exciting. I've had loads of Chickadees and Titmice and Snowbirds, and even a couple of Cardinals and Blue Jays.

So why am I still feeling so stressed. I haven't gone grocery shopping for Thanksgiving yet (+4 stress points), the kitchen isn't finished (+7 stress points), and ... wait for the kicker... I was guilted by my father into inviting my sister and her husband for Thanksgiving dinner (+100 google stress points, game over)

It's less stressful if I just leave on that note.

Meditative Thoughts

I can feel myself getting worked up into a frenzy, with the chaos at work, the stress of family drama for the holidays, the kitchen debacle, and general seasonal malaise all converging into a swirling vortex of frustration. So today I am listening to Gregorian Chants by some Benedictine monks to try and rachet down the stress levels. Combine with reading Siddhartha, I'm hoping it's enough to do the trick.

Listening to the chanting, it reminds me of visiting San Miniato al Monte in Florence, where in the late afternoon on certain days you could go into the church, down on the lower levels, and listen to chants by the monks there. It was nice and cool, the architecture and art are awe inspiring, and the musicality of the chants was so beautiful and relaxing. I am not a religious person by any measure, much less in the Roman Catholic tradition. And I know that in theory, the art and decor of the Catholic churches - at least as perceived by the Protestant strains of Christianity - is tantamount to idolatry and false worship. But there is something to be said for the peace and spirituality that being in such beautiful places inspires. It's actually one of the things I miss most about being in Florence; simply by walking into a church one was easily transformed from rolled-up stressball to person at peace. I think it would be interesting to do an experiment where one tested people's blood pressure before they walked into one of those churches and then right before they exited. I guarentee it would eliminate the need for blood pressure medication!

Unless they climbed to the cupola atop the Duomo, in which case it wouldn't really count.

Aw my Gawd - What's your accent?

I saw this fun American accent quiz linked today from Gene Weingarten's weekly chat. I took the quiz, and the results were dead on. Really incredible. I've frequently been told I talk like a Southern girl... which goes to show that no one knows what he/she is talking about.

What American accent do you have? Your Result: Philadelphia Your accent is as Philadelphian as a cheesesteak! If you're not from Philadelphia, then you're from someplace near there like south Jersey, Baltimore, or Wilmington. if you've ever journeyed to some far off place where people don't know that Philly has an accent, someone may have thought you talked a little weird even though they didn't have a clue what accent it was they heard.
The Midland
The Northeast
The South
Boston
The Inland North
The West
North Central
What American accent do you have? Take More Quizzes

New Fitzgerald fan!!!

Today I finished reading "The Great Gatsby," the first book I've read by F. Scott Fitzgerald. Let me just say what a tragedy it is that I didn't read this book in high school - it has to be one of the best books that I've ever read. It took me quite a while longer to read than I expected - it's not a long book, but the prose is fairly complex. It's really a fantastic book - which I highly recommend!

Tomorrow we're finally going to have the island countertop installed, which means that the sink for the island can be installed, which means that the plumber can finally come over and install the faucets, drains, and most importantly the dishwasher! There's a lot of detail work that's left to do (shoe molding around the baseboards, backsplash, painting, etc) but it will be at least complete enough for Thanksgiving.

Sadly the endless nights spent late at work have not yet come to an end. I thought that the light at the end of the tunnel was near, but no, it was not to be. But celebrate, it's a three-day weekend for me! Moreover, Friday Night Lights was awesome last night.

However, I must end on a desperate note. WTF is wrong with Virginians - or at least 58% of them - for voting for the "gay marriage" ban. It's bad enough that they allowed the Senate race to get that close - and I say that as a card-carrying Libertarian! (BTW - hooray for Kevin Zeese getting more votes in the MD Senate race than was the spread between Cardin and Steele - because that's when I feel like my vote counts!) Anyway, I just hope that the flip in control of the House and (possibly - damn Virginians) Senate at least brings a modicum of centrist policies back to our government.

And Rummy resigning, well that was just icing on the Congress cake.

Update time!

Wow! There was a lot of housework to be done at home and on the blog page. I updated a lot of stuff along that right sidebar there... see it?

First, I updated what I have been reading. The trouble with keeping that section up to date is that the hour long train ride each day really affords me a lot of time to plow through books. I've just recently ordered and received the five books you see there now from Amazon. One is a re-read (Siddhartha,one of my all time favorite books), one is a new-but-should-have-read-before author (The Great Gatsby), one is a pop culture history read (History of the World in 6 Glasses), one continues my love affair with Italian - in particular Florentine - Renaissance history (The Italian Renaissance), and one continues my love affair, period (Lord Byron's Major Works). It was actually really hard to choose books for this order. Despite the fact that I have over 100 items on my wish list, I never seem able to either trim it down or simply choose books in some kind of logical order. It's all momentary passion.

Next, I updated what I have been watching. I'm watching, still, one of the best "Amazing Race" seasons in years, still watching the wonderful "The Office" and the fun "How I Met your Mother" (Swarley!). This season I've stopped watching "My Name is Earl and "Lost," meh, they just weren't doing it for me anymore. I've started watching (and have become hopelessly addicted to) "Ugly Betty" and, unbelieveably enough, the unparalleled, wonderful "Friday Night Lights." If I had to recommend one of my shows to someone, it would definitely be FNL; I can't get through an episode without crying.

Finally, I updated my weather and news links. Since DH is home now, I don't have to torture myself looking at the weather (which is always nice) and the news (which is always terrible) from Palm Beach. That's certainly a comfort.

Ahhhh. It always feels so good to get some housecleaning done.

What it's like to be a busy girl

I don't know whether to laugh or cry about how completely nuts life has been lately. Staying late at work has become a norm rather than an exception (a norm to which I take exception), the kitchen is STILL not finished, and rather than continue to look at patchy and multi-color walls, I spent the weekend painting most of it just to have it look like it's all one color. DH and I are perpetually finding more little projects that we should tackle, and there just isn't a moment of rest. Add on top of that enormous family drama (on DH's side, naturally) about whether or not they are going to grace our home with their presence on Thanksgiving (never mind that we drive 4 hours every Christmas from my g-parents to their house without complaint)and we have the beginning of yet another house project: padding the walls in a room where I can spend the rest of my days mumbling "kitchen not done, kitchen not done"

I did have a very, very delicious dinner with a girlfriend at Matchbox Friday night, which I highly recommend. It was cheap, and the miniburger appetizer was to die for. DH and I spent Saturday doing much needed housework rather than driving up tp Carlisle for Dickinson's homecoming weekend, which was both a bummer and a necessary evil.

Thank Buddha I have this coming Friday off, and also have the following Friday off for a very exiting doctor's appointment, and the following Friday off for Thanksgiving. I won't spend a Friday in the office for the rest of the month... how nice.