Monday and the world goes on

First Things First: Thanks. I appreciate all the comments and support and sympathy and suggestions. You guys are awesome.

Seconds things second: OH MY GAWD, my heating pad feels SO GOOD right now. It’s one of those barley-filled things you put in the microwave for a minute (or two) and then plop over whatever part ails ya? Stupid thing cost me, like, three bucks at a craft fair about…oh gads…fifteen years ago. Still going strong, still like magic on my back. And shoulder. And knee. And anything else that could do with a bit of good old fashioned heat therapy. Also, the smell makes me think of horse stables – the good parts, not the parts I was usually scooping up in there.

So things are utterly crazy around here. I mean, crazy. Not just the usual crazy – CRAZY-CRAZY. We’re moving forward with selling the house, and we’re plotting our course on atlases AND I’m one shot of vodka away from quitting my job for various reasons only a few of which actually have anything to do with the job itself PLUS there may be a change in my husband’s situation AND ALSO one of our daycares is closed for two weeks for Easter AND I can’t afford to pay for the ‘extended care’ option AND HONESTLY – have you ever felt like the Universe is playing Don’t Break the Ice on your psyche?!

However, it was pointed out to me that Mercury is in retrograde (darn); then it was stated that it would be out of retrograde on March 8 (whew); but then I realized that isn’t necessarily true, because there is the return trip, so to speak, which means the full effects of the cosmic temper-tantrum won’t be over until March 28 (ARGH!).

I firmly believe in astrology – it conveniently handles just about anything that goes wrong in life.

See, when standing in the ruins of what was a wonderful house of cards, I can either say, “This is mine to own. I own the original construction, which maybe wasn’t so good; I own the consequences, which are kind of messy; and also I own the reconstruction, which may be a big old bother I’d rather not deal with right now because I am emotionally distraught but oh well, boo hoo for me, such a pity, now suck it up and walk it off, Momma!”

Or, I can say, “Drat, Mercury is in retrograde again!” and we can all nod sagely and say, “Ooooooh, of course!” and, well, there you go. No need to bother about any of that ‘hard work’ part, because it was all preordained by the movement of the planets.

Now seriously, people. Which would you rather do?!

I’m not really as much a skeptic as I pretend on these issues; subtle forces can be the most powerful, and ones we don’t acknowledge can push us in directions we find surprising. (This, by the way, is a common symptom of the Universalist – we can accept that darn near anything is possible and love to romp through everybody else’s thoughts and dogma and potluck suppers.) (Presbyterians use more cans of cream of mushroom soup per capita than any other Christian denomination! Coincidence? I THINK NOT…)

But I digress.

My husband and I have had more meaningful conversations about life-direction in the last week than we’ve had in the nine years we’ve lived here. The brief flirtation with the Flood Plain Palace did a lot to open up our issue-box and let them out.

So I’m glad we found it, and I’m glad it fell through. It was the least perfect Perfect House™ ever. And now, we can move past that and get on with the more important thing: the Perfect Den™ in the Just Right© town with the right blend of culture and beauty.

And also getting the current Den ready to be sold. We’ve got, uh, a little bit to do, there…

…oy vey…