Questionable

To blog or not to blog

I have to admit that I'm diggin' Facebook. It is an easy way to reach lots of people quickly. And, I really like using Twitter to update my FB status. These two marvelous inventions have contributed to my lack of blogging. It is really easy to dash off a tweet rather than compose an entire post. So, if you like my stuff here, I encourage you to also follow my Twitter feed (or join FB - I'm looking at you, Shan).

Lots of stuff has been happening around here, mostly to do with the move that deserve mention, but are going to get short shrift. But here's a few:

I sold my curio cabinet to a woman who sells antiques and home goods. She showed up to get it by herself, wearing a foot boot/cast. I don't trust myself enough to carry a heavy, glass-sided piece of furniture down my front steps. So, J helped her move with the assistance of my neighbor, who we had to call for help at the last minute. I was happy to get rid of it, but surprised at the woman. She told us she was planning on moving it herself.

As if you didn't know, Craig's List is full of scammers. $300 seems to be a sweet-spot for them. List something for that price or more and you are bound to get an email saying something about a cashier's check. I'm not so stupid, but I wonder how many people are taken by these scams.

Speaking of furniture, are you sure you don't need a big closet/cabinet or a bedroom set?

---

We move J into his little studio this weekend. His new position starts next week. I'm hoping this house will sell. We are putting about $4000 into the house just to put it on the market for the same price we bought it for seven years ago. One bright spot is that sales seem to be up and my price range seems to be a sweet spot for St. Paul, but I'm worried. We had the electrician here last week and the plumber here this morning. Next week the handyman arrives followed by the painters the next week. The house is a disaster and I'm tired of living in the mess, but I guess this is how it has to be.

We moved our king bed into the garage this past weekend when I had a bunch of guys over to move things around. So, I'm sleeping on the futon in the guest room and J is in the basement on the bed that will move into our bedroom once it is painted. I can't sleep in the basement because of my allergies. I feel like a college student in my futon.

We've spent the last few weeks really cleaning out the crap and donating lots of nice things to Goodwill. We've also given a number of things away (more to come). And, are trying to sell the rest. It isn't a great time to be selling furniture because everyone seems to be doing it. Bad economy = selling things to make food money. My electrician, one of the highest rated ones in the city, was telling me just two years ago he had a crew of five. Now it is just him. His wife was laid off and they are selling everything in their house to afford college tuition for the kid. He just has no business.

---

Finding J's studio in Chicago was interesting. We ended up with a tiny, but very sunny unit right in the Loop a few blocks from his job. One problem was trying to find a place that permitted a six-month lease. That limited our options. We ended up looking at three places in one building and one in another. The building he selected has few amenities, but is cheap, while the other building had everything under one roof, but was expensive. I rooted for the one he ended up picking because it is on a corner and gets cross-ventilation.

He'll be home every weekend for a while because he is teaching a class at the U, which has been move to Sunday nights. It was that or do it via video conference, which the students don't like.

---

I am really beginning to feel normal. The more activity the better, but my stamina is still really not there. Moving, cleaning, and packing isn't the best way to get back in shape, so I'm looking forward to walking as soon as it is slightly warmer. I might even get in a short walk later today. One of the biggest problems I'm having (along with just being generally weak and inflexible) is with my feet. The one that I broke a few years ago is back to acting up and the other one has terrible plantar fasciitis. I'm thinking both of these things will go away (again) when I am walking more. I am doing my stretches, which is helping, but I need working feet. After trotting around all day in Chicago, I didn't go out at night because I couldn't imagine any further walking.

Earlier this month I went and visited the kids via the train. It was the first time I traveled by myself or on public transportation since I caught cancer. It was wonderful to see the kids in their own element again. I'll get the pictures posted to Flickr one of these days, but I have uploaded the videos to YouTube. There are a bunch under the username questioningyou. Here is a super cute one to get you started. Note that she has a cold so her upper lip is full of snot.




---

Guess what? My entire family, sans J, is going to Disneyworld in October. My brother, the dad, really wants to do this trip so his tax return is going toward paying for their family. He is looking at it as a celebration of health and life. The kids will be 5, 5, and 3. Oatmeal is already suspicious of our plans. We speak in code, but she still figures out we're talking about Disney. She knows more about the place than I do.

---

I liked the changes at the Oscars, particularly when the old winners came out and said nice things about the nominee. I also liked the first and later musical numbers. They were fun. And, I loved Kate Winslett's dress.

When we were in Chicago we watched Milk via on demand. I liked this movie far more than I thought I would. Two thumbs up for this one.

---

J needs a new computer (he is using a laptop that I got almost seven years ago). So, I got a new MacBook Pro (bought with his student/teacher discount) and he is getting my old one. The coolest thing ever is how you can connect the two laptops and just move everything from one to the other.

Bedroom set and Ikea Pax cabinet / closet for sale

I have a cool, modern suede-looking metal four-piece bedroom set for $350.

See: http://www.flickr.com/photos/11270919@N05/sets/72157614265866785/

I also have an Ikea Pax cabinet/closet for $150.

See: http://www.flickr.com/photos/11270919@N05/sets/72157614348333696/

Curio cabinet and shelves for sale

More selling of home goods:

I have three very different bookshelves for sale ($15 each or make an offer) and a very nice curio/china cabinet ($300 or make an offer).

Flickr sets to the left. Here is a taste:

Free Purses

I'm cleaning out. Lots of my things are going to Goodwill, but I have some almost-new purses that I'd like to offer up to the masses (free) before I give them away.

Here is the link to the Flickr set, which includes purse descriptions.

The crazy cat lady

I wonder how often cleaning out a house to ready it for sale leads to divorce? J has, what I call, a schnibble pile. Every receipt, playbill, important paper, or ad that makes it into his hands ends up in his schnibble pile. The schnibble pile goes back years and sits on a table in our basement. Like looking at the rings of a tree to determine when a fire occurred, he can often find something in the schnibble pile by going backward through it. It is stacked, roughly, by date. Much to my dismay (and after harping on him about it for years), the dismantling of the schnibble pile is going to fall to me. Oh, how I wish it only contained playbills and grocery receipts. But it doesn't. Somewhere in the schnibble pile are important receipts and documents for things like our house refinance. A few days ago, I told him that I didn't think we'd ever get the house on the market because I'm not sure I can deal with the schnibble pile. I picture myself old and gray, sleeping in a pile of paper, surrounded by my cats.

Ten down, two to go

I come to you, like usual, from my bed. I had chemo on Tuesday this week because my doctor nurse (she's a nurse practitioner with a doctorate in nursing) was off on Monday. I see her before every chemo day unless I see my oncologist. Usually by Thursday, I am feeling a little less fatigued, but I'm off a day this week and man, oh man, the fatigue just keeps getting worse. I slept about 12 hours last night and can't imagine doing much more than sitting today. Hell, propping up my pillows takes work. I'm even too lazy to download a movie.

My blood counts were low again this week - just over where they needed to be to go on with chemo. So, let's everyone reading this do a little cheer for my white blood cells. They need to encouragement to build back up more quickly. It isn't the end of the world, if they take more time, but I want my last chemo to happen before the end of the year. There is something about putting all of this behind me in 2008 that is comforting.

Have I mentioned how much chemo makes me stink? I know, gross. But it is really peculiar how in the two to three days after chemo, it manages to make its way out of my body. And, I'm not talking about going to the bathroom. My feet, my breath, everything just smells. I can't stand it. I've never had stinky feet and now I'll need to throw my slippers in the garbage after all of this is over. If the hair loss and weight gain weren't enough, I also get to stink.

In most excellent news, my tuition stops today.

My ipod is dying. It is four years old and the battery is getting flaky and the click wheel isn't really working any more. I'm trying to figure out what to do. Should I bite the bullet and buy a new one? Should I limp along with this one, never knowing if the battery is going to hold a charge? I listen to music during chemo. Each week I select a different band/artist and imagine that my chemotherapy is being brought to me by them. Usually the music puts me in a good mood, so I don't want to go without it. This round, I listened to the Killers. Last time it was Pink.

Remember when I wrote about the house down the street that went into foreclosure and then was sold at auction? Well, the buyer/investor/flipper never closed the deal so it is back on the market for $10,000 more than the auction price, which is about half what it is worth. I wonder if he couldn't get financing or what? I notice that ReMax is now advertising the place as student housing. The frats and sororities passed on it the first time. Who knows what will happen now.

Speaking of houses, we'd like to sell ours. I'm done owning a single-family home. We've mostly owned one because of me. Now that I've had cancer, I don't want the maintenance. I don't want to own anything that weighs me down and I feel like all our belongings are like an anchor holding us back. We're getting rid of lots of stuff as soon as I'm up to cleaning it out. Then it is going on the market. We're going to list it lowish so we can be done. What will happen next? I don't know. Maybe renting until we can figure out if we want to buy a condo/townhouse.

I conclude with a few cute kid stories all having to do with Oatmeal.

She asked me why I didn't have kids. I told her because then I wouldn't be able to spend so much time with her. That shut her up.

She asked me if I went to church. I said, "no." She said, "why?" I said, "it isn't for me." She again asked, "why?" This lead into a discussion of why it wasn't for me. I didn't do a great job of explaining. But she eventually stopped asking.

Finally, the nieces have been learning about secrets. It started with SIL teaching them that adults shouldn't ask them to keep secrets (basically a stranger danger kind of lesson) and has lead into other conversations about secrets. At some point they learned that secrets can be rude. Then, last week during the twins' pre-school Thanksgiving program (singing four songs to a room full of parents), one of the teachers whispered to one of the other students because he was misbehaving. Oatmeal noticed the conversation and said loudly, to the entire room, "We don't tell secrets. It isn't polite." Oatmeal, Oatmeal, Oatmeal, what are we going to do with you?

Two of the prettiest daylilies

New garden pix are up to the left. I love these two daylilies.

So summer's finally here?

The peonies are just about done blooming. Usually this happens earlier in June, but marks the beginning of summer for me. Spring flowers done, summer flowers not quite ready yet. I took this shot a couple of weeks ago just as this bud was opening. (Note the bug). The rest of the penoies can be seen via a link at the upper left.

How green is my garden?

Every year, at a bunch of different times, I take a whole slew of pictures of my garden. I use them to remember from year to year what is growing where, how big each plant is, etc. I decided to throw them up on Flickr so I had access to them when away from my laptop. Nothing spectacular, they are up for your enjoyment. My mom loves this plant. It is a type of brunnera. This picture doesn't do the pretty little blue flowers justice.

 
And I love bleeding hearts.

A few other gardening notes:
My peonies haven't bloomed yet. Usually they are done by now. I also have a very cool shade peony which is grown for the seed-pod rather than the flower. Because of the crap spring, it isn't even going to flower this year, which is really depressing.

The lilacs and lilies-of-the-valley are almost done for the season. I love their fragrance and will miss them until next year.

Does it stink like rotten meat?

My apologies to L. Hughes.

I get weirdly obsessed with seeing unusual things and have always wanted to see a blooming corpse flower. Three times prior, I have been in a city with one at the height of stinkyness and missed out. Not this time. I made a very quick trip to Como this morning to see our own, tiny, version of putridness. Unfortunately, our corpse flower is not going to open all the way. It is just too cold, even in the green house. The horticulturist told me that the plant would like 100+ degrees. It isn't like the room isn't warm. But without the external warm temperatures and the sun, it just didn't get hot enough. So, it only half bloomed. It really stunk yesterday and today there was still some scent left, but the whole spectacle will be over soon. Here is a picture of a fully blooming one. Compare to the Como one with my picture below or on their blog (with video and pictures of the whole blooming cycle).

P.S. J and I need a break so we're going to find some sun this weekend. Back next week.