Hodge Podge

I have been crocheting lately, just not saying much about it.

A couple of weeks ago, I discovered that a friend of ours had lost her sister.  It was not a sudden death, but of course, it is a tragic and heartwrenching loss.  I decided on the spot that our friend would need a hug, so I spent the week crocheting this for her.

Pattern: Feather Stole by Elizabeth Myers
Yarn: Reclaimed Acrylic/Angora
Hook: I’ve already forgotten (oops…E, maybe?)

If you like it, if you want to compliment it, I ask instead that you visit the Scleroderma Foundation and make a donation with our friend’s family in mind.  Even if you can only manage a dollar or two, please consider it.  This is a disease that – in its most serious form – can completely debilitate its victims, with no known cure and unknown cause.

I’ve felt oddly out of crochet mode since finishing the stole.  I’ve worked a bit on a hat and some other things for the Mattaponi project.  I know I’ll get back in the mood shortly.  I have too many unfinished projects and too many hanks of yarn tempting me from their drawer in the closet.

Today, Mom and I visited Knitch for some yarn fondling and to find her a set of DPN’s.  (She’s going to knit her first socks!)  Yarn was fondled, and DPN’s were purchased, after which we headed out for an amazing lunch.  I needed a few hours of not thinking about the near future.

In a couple of weeks, Jason and I will be driving to Seattle, where I’ll leave him to find a room to rent, and I will hop a plane back here.  Again, Mom & Dad come through, offering to watch the boys while I’m gone.  I’m decidedly unthrilled at the upcoming indefinite period of single parenting, not to mention missing my best friend in the world like crazy.  Still, I know it’s what needs to happen, and it is only temporary, after all.  Jason’s already lost one position to a Seattlite, for the sole reason of distance.  One that we know of, that is.  He needs to be local to get the interviews.

We’ve had two showings in the past three days, after a drought of more than a month.  I hope this is a sign of things to come, and that the rebate for first-time house buyers in stimulus package encourages more lookers and an offer or two.  As our Realtor says, “Everyone wants a deal,” but what ‘everyone’ fails to realize is that they’re already getting a deal.  Regardless, we can’t afford to be too choosy.  Serious offers will be considered and counter-offered, and a deal will happen.  Someone is going to get an incredible deal, indeed.

Last week, we had parent-teacher conferences.  Kalen’s consisted of, “Any questions?  No?  Here, sign these forms…he’s doing great.”  Nicky’s was nearly as simple.  Consequently, I spent too much time just chatting with the teachers, wonderful women all.  Okay, not too much time; nothing but good can come from being friendly and on good terms with your children’s teachers.

The boys have taken the news of Jason moving very well, which leads me to wonder if they really grasp it.  They had been prepared for the possibility of his getting a job and moving before the house sold, but this is a quick decision and thus a quick blow.  We’re working on assigning simple chores that will help them fill Daddy’s shoes and give them some responsibilities and distractions.

Forgive my stream-of-consciousness, a literary style I greatly despise.  My brain seems to be in that mode lately, though, so I suppose it’s best to just let it go.

In Limbo

So, where are we?

Well, obviously, since I haven’t begun blogging about packing and movers and signing contracts, we’re still in Atlanta.  The house has been on the market for nearly three weeks, a tiny drop in the bucket of time these days.  Considering how the housing market is going, the three walk-throughs we’ve had can be considered good traffic.  We’re lucky to be at a low price point, although that already low price is going to be falling, due to the foreclosure in the neighborhood and the house down the street that closed for significantly less than the listing agent hinted it had sold for.  Regardless, if we can sell without owing money to someone somewhere, we’ll have to consider it a win.  Our Realtor is awesome, working hard at marketing us, and checking in with us often to ask how the job search is going.

On that end, I have to admit, it’s tough.  Jason went out to Seattle last week (There are some incredible airfare sales right now, folks!  If you want to travel, now’s the time.) to meet in person with some of the recruiters he’s been talking to and some of the other folks he’s met through networking.  This includes a drama friend he hasn’t seen since high school graduation.  How cool is the internet?  We can thank Facebook for that reconnection.  The job boards are starting to pick up dramatically in comparison to their holiday slump, although we’re still getting word of companies putting positions “on hold” due to economic strain.  It is not a fun time to be job hunting anywhere, but add in a 3,000-mile removal, and you have to work twice as hard.  Jason did get a cell phone with a Seattle area code, however, in anticipation of the house selling (Mom and Dad don’t have a home phone, so we’ll both have to have cell phones at that point), and to show recruiters and HR folks he’s serious about moving out there.  We think the trip he took really helped with that.  He’s no longer just a name on a resume to them.

As for me, I am in limbo.  I’m loathe to commit to anything here, knowing (in my optimistic frame of mind) that we won’t be here that long.  Nicky’s karate contract runs out next month, and we’ve passed on the sign-ups for spring tee ball for Kalen.  (He’s quite upset – not about the game, but about missing after-game snacks.  Apparently, my snacks don’t compare favorably to the Oreos and donuts often provided by parents at practice.)  I’m beginning to stress about the money running out in a couple of months, and I’m frustrated at the lack of nibbles for the stuff we want and need to sell – the china, the crystal, the dining room suite (and, yes, the house).  I’ve contacted an auction house about the furniture and dishes, so it’s a good feeling to have that decision made.  They will sell at auction (no reserve); the only question now is for how much.

I’m also feeling a bit cut off from the world.  My internet relationships (how funny does that sound!?) are all the same, but with the public decision to move, the IRL contacts have become fewer and further between.  I realize this is probably 100% my doing, as I’m working so hard, mentally, at placing us across the country, I can’t realistically be “here” in any significant way.

The kids are feeling it, too.  Both have gone through a rough patch at school with their behavior (Kalen not so much, but to a certain extent), but I think they’ve evened out as of this week.  We had discussions on what happiness is, and Nicky and I especially had a heart-to-heart about what truly makes us both happy.  I told him I am happier when he is happy, and I wondered out loud how happy he could really be getting in trouble like that at school?  I could practically see the light bulb turn on as he made the decision to “make good choices all day.”  His behavior reports have been stellar so far this week, so I’m crossing my fingers.  I know we’ll deal with this off and on for the remainder of his school years, but I love that his emotional maturity has come so far.  They are both such cool kids.

I realize the time has come for me to commit to finding a job myself.  My fall-back plan of working at the store I worked at for so long is a no-go.  They wouldn’t even take me on for the busy season, when in the past they would hire upwards of twenty people for this busiest time of year (their post-holiday sale is usually busier than the holiday season).  My only other option besides retail is getting back into admin.  I refuse to take a long-term job.  Besides the fact that I am trying my damndest to retain my positive visualizations about moving out of state, I could never in good conscience take a job under the assumption that I’ll be there longer than I plan to be.  That leaves administrative temp work.  I can say with all modesty that I am a really freaking good administrative assistant.  I have six years out of the work force (I did admin for a while right before Kalen was born), but the great thing about temping is that they test you on all the computer stuff, so those blank spaces in my resume don’t speak very loudly.

On that note, this long-winded update comes to an end.  Now, let’s hope I still have a copy of my old resume in my computer files somewhere…