The Town Mouse and the Country Mouse

The chronicling of one family’s journey east in search of a plot of land to call their own.

[townmousecountrymouse]

Work Hard, Play Hard

Taking two weeks off was both relaxing and refreshing. I think we all felt renewed and ready to get back to work after the New Year. Big D’s mom is going to start moving her stuff in next week, so we have been making room for her in our house (and in our minds). Our time living together is most likely going to be ... trying.

And then, my mom will be joining us in our home sometime after the middle of the month. I don’t think Big D and I thought it through when we invited both of our mothers into the house at the same time (they get along with each other - it’s us we are worried about). I suppose it is the only way, since we need my mom’s help during the Great Move of 2019.

In other news, Big D cut his hair very short, so that just the tips of his hairs are blue, now. He looks like he belongs in an early 2000s boy band (which is not helped by the thick silver choker necklace he found hidden in his belongings while he was packing his things). I still think he is as handsome as ever, which is good because we want to try to have another child.

“Bandersnatch,” the Netflix choose-your-own-adventure movie was meh. I didn’t get to make my own choices anymore than a whipped husband gets to choose what he wants to eat for dinner. Instead, I just got asked the same questions over and over again until I finally guessed the right one, the one that would move the plotline forward instead of just circling back again. Like an abused spouse, I started trying to guess what choice Netflix wanted me to make so that I could get the movie over with faster. But, I guess I can’t fault them for trying something new and innovative.

I should have been asleep a few hours ago!

[townmousecountrymouse]

Somebody slap me!

Well, Big D’s mom put her house on the market a few days ago and she already has a potential buyer. If she sells her house faster than we expected, she will have to go ahead and buy our house before we are all packed up! Even though we have been packing nearly every day, we still have a lot to do before there is room for her to move in here.

But, still, it’s great news! And, right before the Yuletide. We celebrate the 12 Days of Yule in my home, which begins tomorrow. That means no work (and no blogging) until the new year begins on January 1, 2019. How exciting!

Toodle-ooh!

[townmousecountrymouse]

12-11-2018

”Is it too good to be true?”

Big D’s mom offered to buy our house from us, as-is. He and I both spent a week in shock because it seems too good to be true. All of a sudden, we don’t have to fix the hole in the wall, or try to move a piano. What’s the catch?

I guess it is possible that there is no catch. It would not fit in with the general theme of our life, but, as Big D has said, “it’s plausible.” My mother-in-law has been flipping houses for years, and she really enjoys a good bit of general home repair to keep her busy. She is single and in her 70’s, after all, with no pets (and she made sure to tell us twice that she does not want our chickens, not even for soup).

Speaking of her status, our house (that will become her house) is sandwiched right between the homes of two single, grandfatherly men who stay active despite their joblessness. We aren’t exactly hoping for Big D’s mom to find a fourth husband to outlive, but it gives us comfort to imagine that her life could be akin to a warmhearted, made-for-TV movie starring Robert Redford and Jane Fonda.

Well, since we’ve been re-writing our To Do List, it has been hard for us to gather up much more motivation than in takes to play The Sims App. Time to go live my virtual dream of being an oceanographer!

[townmousecountrymouse]

12-4-2018

“I hate talking to strangers on the phone!”

I had to make a lot of phone calls today, which means I had to spend a lot of time charming strangers. I found a sucker to take my upright piano (which currently serves as a haphazard jewelry display) but the catch is that I have to assemble a team of people willing to move a piano. I find that a lot of loved ones are perfectly willing to help you move things, so long as all of your belongings are pillows.

Big D did his fair share, too, by getting our realtor friend over to look at our property. He gave us a checklist of things to do with the house - typical stuff, you know, like fix the jagged, gaping hole in the side of our house that we call the “crawl space entrance,” and turn the mountain of mossy paver stones stacked in the corner of the yard into an actual patio.

Bless his heart, our realtor is too kind to us. After walking around inside the house for awhile, he said, “And, you know, you may want to...de-clutter a little.” De-clutter a little. We have an 18-month old son, our little “X-man,” who is like a hybrid between the Tasmanian Devil and a spider monkey (which makes sense if you know my husband and I personally). X-man is currently in the search-and-destroy phase of development. In some rooms, everything is piled on all surfaces that are 42 inches or taller. Other rooms are completely enclosed by gates and fences, with more gates and fences inside those rooms. Our home is like an American Ninja Warrior obstacle course that only the most well-trained gymnasts and rock climbers can successfully make their way through.

I was worried yesterday, because Big D was having a major case of the Mondays. He spent most of the day in nap mode, with his hair color reflecting his mood. I vowed, then, that today I would crack the whip on him, but really I think I just tickled him gently with it. He hates talking on the phone to strangers even more than I do, and he must be smarter because he managed to replace a couple of his calls with emails. That sly fox!

In other news, Big D finally believes me that the elderly population in our area is on the attack, as he has now been swiped by multiple shopping carts, and even became the victim of a (very mild) hit and run caused by an old guy in the grocery store parking lot. I have been telling him for months that grocery shopping is more dangerous than he thinks. Now that he has no job, grocery shopping is his job, and I also don’t have to worry about which of the 17 brands of eggs I should choose. Win-win.

[townmousecountrymouse]

12-3-18

“Did we make a huge mistake?”

Yesterday was the first day that my husband was unemployed. It was planned. It was intentional. It was still terrifying. I feel like, although we haven’t said it out loud, we are both thinking the same thing: Did we make a huge mistake?

Well, even if we did, “what’s done cannot be undone,” as Shakespeare’s Lady Macbeth said. And, she never gave her family terrible advice that caused a lot of problems, right? I’m sure that she and I have nothing at all in common...

Either way, my husband - let’s call him “Big D” because he is tall (and handsome) and his name starts with ‘D’ - well, Big D died his hair blue yesterday in honor of his joblessness. He wastes no time moving ahead into the future, unlike me, who would rather spend as much time as possible in the planning phase of things (and I am great at making lists). Our shower looks like a Smurf murder scene...which is fine, because I can just add “bleach the shower” to my 18-page To Do List.

I have to say, I am probably more excited than I should be to have Big D around to keep me company. Since becoming a stay-at-home-mom, I have turned into quite the house mouse, and my hobbit-like tendencies are not the best for making new friends. I keep trying to lure the acquaintances I have over by baking cakes, but instead I end up eating each one, by myself, over the course of seven meals. That day.

I may currently be a town mouse right now, but I am a country mouse at heart. Did you know that was the first book I ever read, “The Town Mouse and the Country Mouse”? Much to my mother’s delight, I began to piece that story together, aloud, while we lived in a fire-warmed house in the country. The tale is based on one of Aesop’s fables, which tells of two mice who live in very different places. They visit one another, with the town mouse finding the country to be too harsh and meager, and the country mouse finding the town to be crowded and dangerous.

I don’t necessarily agree with either mouse, but I do know that my house is falling apart and our neighbors’ trash blows into our yard every day. Living in town can be hard work, and the country can be dangerous, but (I think) I know which place I would rather be, and, for some reason, Big D has agreed to go along with me. I guess he loves me, or something. He sees that I miss my mom, who lives 2,000 miles away (near some very affordable countryside, I might add).

We decided to start on our To Do list today. There is something about a Monday that just feels like a good time to start things (except maybe a drinking binge, but who am I to judge?). So, although, technically, every day is sort of like “the first day of the rest of your life,” for us, today really feels like it.

Did we make a huge mistake?