Ebay and Fig Newtons

Grrrrr!!!! This just in.. Nathan's job finally officially posted so he can now officially go through the interview process.. even though he already has the job. That brings us one step closer to the confirmation of this unofficial position. I wish I was better at keeping secrets.. then the rest of you guys would not have to watch this agonizing process... alas I am not a good secret keeper when it comes to my own life drama.. it leaks into all aspects and thus would have come out anyway. No worries.. it will happen. It just takes patience and time to grow that patience into full maturity. Sarasota isn't going anywhere.

So our Memorial Day Weekend was just fab. We spent most of it with Judy, Don, Riley, Taylor, Tagg, Elsie, MaryAnn, Jay and Lisa (wshoo!) Sorry if I misspelled anyones name there guys. YO! It was family weekend in a massive way!!! Totally fun totally crazy as only a weekend of tourism in New York can be. By Saturday evening I saw that all too familiar look of zoned out indifference in the eyes of the younglings. No matter.. we had a sweet time hanging out with everyone. We even got to bring Elsie back to our place for lunch, napping, and walk through Park Slope and finally dinner at Rose Water (a cute restaurant I have been wanting to check out). Its always interesting to me the way New York can kill you or make you feel like you just stepped out of a spa treatment, depending on the way you approach it. It takes a lot of practice (in my book) to come out the other end feeling relaxed. I don't know how they felt when they actually got on the plane on Saturday but I would say the Wilber Family did a pretty good job of keeping it low key and going with the flow. Well done. I hope you guys had as much fun as well did.

See below for my latest Ebay purchase. It is a Jadite Chenille blanket/bedspread from the 50s or whatever. It is perfect and I can't wait to air it out and use it on the bed. I love these spreads in the summer time and frankly I could become addicted to collecting them. I feel that contemporary design could learn a lot (the good designers already do) from the 20-60s era. That's not true.. I don't want them to learn from it.. they knock it off in Targets everywhere.. I just want to recreate those 40 years in my own home. I love everything from the Bakelite to the the wall clocks. Whatever.. I like vintage.. who doesn't ? Right? Rephrase.. who reading this blog doesn't ? Right. That's what I thought. If you guys ever want to get me the perfect birthday present.. just Ebay me some Chenille pillows or a milk glass sugar creamer or a really retro salt and pepper set. Spend $4 and make me the happiest girl in town. Just puttin' it out there.




Anyway all this waiting is making me anxious of course. I just want to nail down our next living spot.. but can't. So I keep talking to people who have homes available (one awesome lady in particular) hoping that when they are ready to have us we will be ready to move in. It's a little nerve wracking. When I get nervous I shop. Bad habit. So Ebay. Better than going downstairs at work to browse JCrew.. at least with Ebay it is cheap and there is a huge chance that I will lose.. sad for me but happy for Stephen who is trying to curtail my nervous habits. Today I took on another one.. a bad one actually. I ate an entire sleeve of Fig Newtons at my desk. The whole thing.. gone. I bought it today to be snack for the rest of the week. Yeah, no. Just today. Yikes.
Salad for dinner.

I also have a summer cold. Lovely. I have never had allergies but whether these are them or in fact the summer cold I have self diagnosed.. its no fun. I had to show my ID and get some Advil Cold and Sinus at Duane Reade today. Welcome to the 21st century. Thanks to the MethHeads of the world we can't even grab a quick decongestant without filling out a form and swearing to our age. "Yes ma'am, I am in fact 28 years old and if you sell me this little red box I promise I will only make enough Meth for my personal use." Bitter ? Me ? I really tried not to be.. but then the woman took forever to fill out the form and the guy behind me kept inching up to see what I was doing until he was literally staring over my shoulder, so close I could feel his breath on my neck. Sick. I should have sneezed on him. I kept giving him dirty looks.. but he didn't seem to care. Too preoccupied by my all too interesting purchase of St. Ives body wash and the controlled substance formerly known as Advil Cold and Sinus.

So all in all.. nothing new. We are still waiting to hear. The one good thing in the waiting so far.. we are getting more and more excited about the move.. loving Brooklyn as much as ever but starting to get antsy to start a family.. the stress of that long discussed topic melting into a sweet anticipation. Much love ya'll.

for the love of gravity..

Ok. So I guess I have some explaining to do. I have been absent for the usual reasons, cloudy minded days, nights, breaths and everything in between. Uncontrollable crying for such husbandly offenses as asking where the duck tape was last seen, posing unanswerable student loan consolidation questions or offers to book me an appointment for a massage. What an evil man I live with. I have been living my life aboard the Cyclone since the day before we flew to Palm Harbor for Papa's Memorial Service. What could have lashed me to this roller coaster of emotions? Grief? Maybe. Fatigue ? More than likely..but there is yet another catalyst. We are leaving Brooklyn.
Yes, I know.. we just got here. Yes, I know... we do love it here. No, I am not really ready to leave. What's that? More grown up decision making among the Shinglers of Greenwood Heights? Indeed.
Short Version:
Literally the night that we are packing to leave the next morning to head to Florida for the service, Stephen gets a call from our pal N. Skiles informing us that he has been offered a better job at Ringling (Stephen's Undergraduate School where Nathan is currently working Stephen's dream job.. we were very happy for him when he got it)... he has called to say that he has recommended Stephen as his successor and Mark (Fine Arts Department Head and Stephen's former sculpture teacher) is enthusiastic and would love it if Stephen could drive over while we are down there (?!?!!!!??!) Say again ? Stephen work for Ringling? In... Sarasota Florida ??? Too good to be true. Maybe not. Stephen goes out for a beer with Mark and boys - "If you want it.. you are the man for the job." Done. Family, ecstatic at our pending return to the area. Me, ecstatic at the chance to start a family with Stephen as the man in charge and bread winning father. Cut to the present: Collegiate bureaucratic red tape. 99.999% sure that Stephen has the job but still having to wait to negotiate a living wage ... waiting and waiting and waiting.
So there you have it.... our latest drama. My latest drama. Stephen floats along rolling with punches while I feel as though the rug I was standing on was yanked out from under me by an angry primate. Suddenly nothing is certain. Will we go? Stay? If go, where will we live ? We need a car now... what should we get? What can we afford? When? How? What kind of job will I have to take this time? How many interviews will I go on.. ? When can we start trying for a baby? Externally I say "One day at a time! There's nothing I can do about it so I just try not to think about it." Internally my mind works itself into a frenzy - I watch back to back movies and the ENTIRE season of Heros in one sitting. Gotta keep that voice in my head quiet long enough to get some sleep.
Try to sleep - no good. My mind stays awake while my body drifts to sleep - I am consciously aware that I can not move... I am in the dark and I can not breath at will .. my ears are ringing.. I think " I am dying and I need to tell Stephen that I am dying " I can't move to wake myself up. I worry that no one will know what happened to me. My house is too dirty to die. I desperately will myself to move and I wake up with a jolt and a cry. This happened 3 more times that night. Good LORD Sarah!!!!! Take it easy why doncha ?!?!? Apparently my subconscious does not know what to do when it doesn't have at least one aspect of the present existence nailed down. It goes haywire.
I am haywire. I can't even tell you what the job entails because I can't get into that much detail because there is still that .0000001% chance that this is all a cruel cosmic joke and we are destined to remain here in our beloved Brooklyn abode for another year as previously planned. That would be ok. I am not even ready to talk about how much I will miss my life here. For that matter, I am not ready to talk about how excited I am at the prospect of a new life in Sarasota. At this moment, all I can do is let you guys know that I am up here at the top of the Cyclone, ready to rush down and back up again at any moment. Clinging to my flimsy seatbelt and trying to keep it together. Waiting for that finalizing phone call to bring me back to earth so that I can begin to celebrate our choice to take the family direction.. and leave our solo New York life behind. Your prayers are desperately desired by this pathetic brunette... who was never meant to be an astronaut.

Bloodsucker

I can't write much this morning but I had an urge just let everyone know that I am still here and have not dropped off the face of the planet..yet. I am TIRED. We have been going and going and doing and such for weeks and its catching up with me. The trip to Bill's service in Florida was inspiring. I have lots to tell and pictures to show from the prior weeks but that will have to wait until Saturday.. TGIF!!!!!! Yaaaaaaaahoooooooooooooo!!!!
For now.. please accept the above offering. The Malarial Mosquito. This is the exhibit at the Natural History Museum that I have to go and stare at each time we are there. It is really old. A model that someone built using wood and various plastics of the day. I think its fascinating and mesmerizing in its detail. Not to mention the "EEEW!!! It's a giant bloodsucking mosquito!!!" factor. Sweet.