Maslow can kiss my behind

The very bottom of Maslow's hierarchy is really no place for a woman my age with three kids to support and a houseful of furniture and dishes. I don't know if I'll ever see the top.

We're still searching for new housing. Since we put up our beloved home for a short sale, there has been a flurry of activity, as in showings every day. Last summer, our house was worth $359G's. Now it's listed for $175G's. The fact that the bank will take that kind of money in a short sale, but wouldn't renegotiate to our proposed $225G's is leaving me more than just a little bitter. Yes, bitter and angry.

But I must remain positive and focused. Here are the choices left to us now:

1. A wonderful fixer-upper with great bones and a double lot. An investor friend will buy it and rent to us for a year, then we'll pay off with a loan. We are still searching for an investor to put up the $ needed for renovation. If you know one, send them my way! This place is great and I know I'd love living there.

2. A small, and I mean small, townhome to rent. It needs nothing - move in ready - but small. But our kids can ride the bus to and from school, and everything else is a bike ride away. AND it's just doors down from two of my best blogging and real-life pals.

3. A large townhome to rent that needs work, but the owner wants us to do work in lieu of some rent which is a GREAT deal. But it's quite far away from everything we do. AND the school wouldn't bus my kids from there.

Wonder if Maslow had these kinds of problems?

UPDATE: Option #2 was just rented to someone else

Good News Story #1

I have a new job! I am now the Site Specialist at the Northfield Middle School!
I will be coordinating all volunteers, mentors, and college student volunteers as well as several events. This is so exciting for me: lots of public interaction and a great position for my education and talents. I'm a rabid supporter of public education, and this truly fits my values. I'll work during the school year, which leaves the summer for some kind of fun job, like barista or umbrella holder for Al Franken.

More good news stories are in the works. Watch this channel for updates!

Story Developing, stay tuned

Hey folks. I have a lot brewing right now, so please be patient with my lack of writing and reading. But stay tuned for further developments!!! Some of it is really good!

Would you buy one?

Remember when I told you Cousin Anne's joke about the Grandma's Kitchen candle?
Well I was telling a friend about it today, and we got to thinking about other "homey scents" you could put in a candle to evoke memories. Place your order! I'm sure we'll be a HUGE success! Give me your ideas . . .

PRETEEN PARTY - a delightful blend of wet sneakers, a hockey locker room, BO, and cheese popcorn.

BAKING LESSONS - the woodsy smell of dough burning off the bottom of the oven.

COLLEGE DAYS - an evocative mix of bong water, beer soaked carpet, and Domino's pizza.

CHILD OF THE 70s - A patented blend of LOVE's Fresh Lemon, LOVE's Baby Soft, and AVON's Sweet Honesty.

TAILGATER - cheer on your team with a blend of brats, beer, and truck exhaust.

OLD MCDONALD's - who doesn't enjoy manure ponds, pesticides, and sour milk?

A TASTE OF GARY, INDIANA - oh, let's just not go there

MINNESOTA SPRING - a northwoods blend of road salt, mud, dirty winter coats.

THE NURSERY - happy memories of spit up, formula, and the diaper pail

FAMILY VACATION - an original combo of old car, french fries, bologna, and Perkins.

LAZY SUMMER DAZE - a sunny array of bug spray, lighter fluid, sunscreen, and Campho Phenique

Documentary Review

One thing I love about Netflix is getting to view great documentaries that they don't carry at the bubble-gum movie rental businesses.

This week I watched The Garden . . . from netflix . . . .
Filmmaker Scott Hamilton Kennedy's politically charged, Oscar-nominated documentary follows a group of low-income families struggling to protect a 14-acre urban farm in the middle of South Central Los Angeles from bureaucratic real estate developers. A lightning rod for controversy in 2004, this cause célèbre drew the attention of numerous notable activists and politicians, including Dennis Kucinich, Joan Baez and Los Angeles Mayor Antonio Villaraigoisa.

This summer was the first time I planted a vegetable garden, and it wasn't all for fun. It was to stretch our family's food dollar during some incredibly rough times. But I found more than food in my garden, I found soil & heart & hope. This movie really resonated with me and left me in tears.

Randomitis to the tenth power

1. A good quote from an excellent blogging and FB friend: "Just a message to all those opposed to "big government:" feel free to stop using roads, drinking clean water, using police and fire services, courts of law, military protection, and, oh, anything else that the government by the people, for the people, etc. is set up to provide."

2. The search continues for our housing. Rentals are expensive and hard to find. Investors are slow to make decisions about fixer-uppers. Short sales for our house are enigmatic. And all the while my patience is slowing running down the drain.

3. Big garage sale tomorrow. Come over and buy our junk!! Johnny C and I will be up late making the garage presentable, then up at the crack of dawn for the early birds. I've assigned the kids to make AND clean up supper tonight so we can work on the garage sale. Wish them luck!

4. My Twin #2 made the Varsity soccer team! She's only 15 but that girl is a whiz with a soccer ball. And she's darned cute to boot. We're very proud.

5. An extreme right-wing friend complained to me that all her cowardly liberal friends and relatives have unfriended her on facebook because of her views. I told her I wouldn't, but that I also wouldn't stop anyone from taking her on in the comments . . . which happened . . . so she unfriended me. So who's the coward?

6. Feels more like late September here. Although there were tornadoes in Minneapolis yesterday!! They don't usually drop down out of a cool cloudy sky, but drop they did. Lots of windows out and trees down.

7. I need some time with my extended family. I just feel it in my bones. Wish life weren't so freakin busy.

8. Last night I made zucchini bread, because that's almost all I know what to do with all that zucchini this time of year. The recipe must have had a misprint because it sure seemed like a lot of baking soda. The dough rose like crazy, fell in globs to the bottom of the oven, and smoked up like wet branches on bonfire. The house reeks now, and the bread tastes like too much baking soda.

9. Fall is upon us. Summer flew like the clouds.

10. A casual friend died suddenly on Monday. Mother of 3, 45 years old, active in our town and schools. Sad doesn't even begin to cover it.

Things I want to hear

I'm waiting to hear the following . . .

From a GOP member: "Now people, cool it with the death threats and the stupid accusations of death panels and forced euthanasia. You're just proving we're all wingnuts! Some of us have an education, and some brains, and we need to discuss this matter like adults!"

From my kid's friend's parents: "Hey, how 'bout we split the driving? We drive one way and you drive the other?"

From Sarah Palin: "I must admit, I'm just really not qualified."

From our mortgage company: "We finally understand what you've been saying all along! We'll stand to keep thousands by renegotiating your loan!"

From my kids: "Mom, I'm really sorry I've been such a pill. How about I make dinner tonight?"

From my employer: "We've decided you are all valuable, and all this talk about layoffs will end right here, right now."

From my neighbor: "We're going to be keeping our yappy dogs inside more often, and definitely after 10pm. You need your sleep!"

From President Obama: "We freakin won! Enough of trying to appease these yahoos! We're going ahead with what's right and what's decent, and they can just sit on their thumbs and spin."

From Rupert Murdoch: "What have I done?"

From Dick Cheney: "I have a few things to get off my chest. Start the tape recorder."