December 01, 2002 - 8:26 p.m.
This year, I believe, will hold the record for the shortest interval between Thanksgiving dinner and putting up the Christmas decorations. Of course - we had motivation. Mike's only around on the weekends and the realtor stopped by this afternoon to get the appropriate details and signatures to put our house on the market. We wanted to be ready.
And we aren't. Quite. There's still a pile of laundry to be sorted, washed, folded, and put away; a few dishes in the sink to also be washed and put away; the hot tub to be refilled with fresh water; my car to be vacated from the driveway (so it won't be in the photo of the house); and bills for the beginning of the month to be paid. But the rest of it is done. Now if I can just keep order for however long it takes to for an interested (and qualified) buyer to stumble by and offer a contract... and even in this market I don't expect it to be very soon, though it would be nice. The house looks great right now, decorated for the holidays. I can't help but think that it will lose some appeal once the wreaths and garlands and little red bows are all packed away again.
So that just leaves the shopping. I'm beginning to realize that I began that just a little too late. All the little things I've been eyeing in mail order catalogs for the past few months are either discontinued or backordered until Valentine's Day. And I have to find something to suggest to Mike for myself. I already told him I wanted a signed first edition of Umberto Eco's newest novel, but the way he keeps asking me "And what else?" hints that they've already sold out. But I can't think of anything, other than a few more books that I don't really have much time to read right now. What I'd really like is a couple more hours every day or the ability to get by on only 4 hours of sleep at night. But I haven't seen any catalogs that sell that.
