Greener Grass Part Deux

So five years ago we moved into my childhood home. We had a nice little two bedroom ranch that had an airport runway for a backyard, we had amazing neighbors and we loved it there. When my father died, he basically left The Nephew with no one to care for him. We decided that the best thing for everyone was for us to sell our little piece of sunshine and move into this house, 1) because our house was too small and 2) because The Nephew had had enough loss in those past few months. We couldn't throw one more change at him. So, although he did lose his bedroom to our boys, things mostly remained the same for him, as much as they could.

When we moved into the house it was in a relative state of disrepair. We quickly slapped some nice paint on the walls and made it feel warmer. Because of some of my father's debt that I inherited, we have always stayed here with the thought that we may not be able to afford to stay. Every improvement we have done. was done with the notion that we may have to sell, and if that particular need remains, then we would never be able to sell this house.

Our house is a raised ranch, by far my least favorite layout for a home. Recently we have started looking at houses in our neighborhood of envy. Which is literally a quarter of a mile from where we are right now. The houses are older, colonials and capes, they have a lot of character and a lot of our friends are in that neighborhood. I always envy lovely colonials and big capes. They are so pretty and Normal Rockwell. Here's the thing though, every time we go look at a house, no matter how lovely, it doesn't compare to ours ( in our eyes). We have, at this point, done so many little things to our home, that the big picture is pretty darn nice. And it's funny, every time we go look at other people's houses, I come home, find something I want to fix and fix it, or find something to get rid of and get rid of it. Our house gets better every time we go look at what we think will be "THE" house for us. I think we've already found it though.

So once again, the grass is greener right here. I'm thankful for it. I may keep looking just to be reminded of how lucky we are here.

The Grass is Always Greener....

...in your own yard.

Yesterday was one of those days. It wasn't a bad day, per se, but it was a weird day. Nothing horrible happened but little things kept going wrong. I woke up thinking that I should just stay in bed. I said to my husband, "I feel like I should just stay home". As I drove to work with tears in my eyes and a Starbucks latte next to me, because of all the little things that had gone awry, I was happy to think that I might get some empathy soon. Here's the rub though; everyone had or was having one of those days or weeks too. Basically, everyone one-upped me on my day of woe. Now, that didn't necessarily make my day easier or make any of the stupid stuff go away, but I certainly appreciated that my problems were small, very small, and I knew that the next day would most likely be better. I would definitely choose my problems over anyone else's. They are mine, they are familiar and they help to make me who I am. Just like my successes and joys. They are a part of the fabric that makes me me. So, I'll take my version of green over the next guy's. You never know what's going on beyond the pretty green grass.

Time Flies and Facebook is a Black Hole Sucking it Out of the Sky

I used to post a lot. I used to take time every couple of days to sit and write something down. And then I found Facebook. And then I just constantly lost track of time. But that's ok. Maybe I had nothing fantastic to say for a while. I keep in mind a phrase that a friend of mine uses. "OCD with ADD". I get very excited and focused and then totally forget that I was interested in something. My focus could last a day or a few weeks, or even months, and then I just forget about it. But the nice thing about the blog is, like anything else, it's always here for me. Although, I wonder sometimes, isn't it a delusion of grandeur to write this? Isn't is self absorbed of me to think anyone would be interested in what I have to say? I guess that doesn't matter. There are thousands if not millions of blogs on the internet now. I don't need mine to be huge. I don't need it to change the world. If I can make a friend laugh or reminisce with me, then it's doing what I need it to do.

By the way....in the time that I lost touch with the Yellow Tent, the Nephew graduated !! Yay us!!