Happy November

It's been so long but fear not, I have not disappeared completely. We were busy shunning Halloween and celebrating Diwali. Though fireworks were harder to come by here then in Bangalore.

I've also been busy keeping up with election '08 news. I keep forgetting who is running, we hear so little about the candidates. A couple of my favorite recent headlines are: 1. Sarah Palin, who was picked because she is a like-minded maverick, is now being criticized because she is acting like a maverick - speaking without being censored by the McCain campaign. 2. Politicians are now creating infomercials. Forget the qualifications of city planners or small town mayors, why don't we just recruit the country's best sales people for the job? We could just run a 800 number along the bottom of the screen and people could call to place their votes. It works for American Idol and this would eliminate the whole "hanging chad" business. It seems we've already begun to embrace the "early voting" notion though I have yet to figure out why.

At least we have the economy to distract us. With the holiday season upon us (yes, it's true. All the weekend fliers say so), we can also take comfort that were going to see "amazing markdowns" on everything from video games to bath towels. Recession equals opportunity. Buy now. One local restaurant is now offering a "recession special" dinner for two.

The good news is we have our country estate to distract us. In a few weeks, I'll be able to retreat to the one room we have sort of furnished. Buying furniture has not been so fun and not because of the economy. I think my roommate might say it's because I don't have a "style." But I think it's because we haven't actually moved in yet. I need to see the place without any of the Moribito's (current owners) stuff in it.

We went back to the house a couple of weekends ago to take some measurments thinking this might help. All it really helped was to reinforce the fact that I need to see the place empty and not keep thinking about how strange it will be to live in someone else's house. Of course, I realize it is our house now (or soon will be) but I think it's going to take some time before it really starts feeling like ours and I stop thinking about how someone else was washing their dishes in my sink. The most recent trip was not a total wash though. We did get to meet the Moribito's. And as strange as it is for us to think about making it our house, they must be starting to think about how their house isn't really theirs anymore.

The Mister was very gracious and offered to leave us all their paint in case we need to "touch up" anything. We didn't have the heart to tell him not to bother because we are planning to repaint almost every room in different colors. He also asked if we wanted to keep all their bird food. They apparently are big bird watchers. They have "quite a few" bird feeders in the yard. And while he was asking if we wanted the bird food, he was sort of telling us he wanted us to keep the bird feeders. "Well, you don't have to keep them. Eventually the birds will just stop coming because they'll realize there is no more food here. They'll continue to come for a while because we feed them well. We just sit here at the kitchen table and watch them." When I mentioned that my grandparent's always had bird feeders, a look of relief fell over his face. Knowing the birds could continue to visit, he launched into the dangers of the squirrels. They will eat the birds' food if we are not careful. They started panicking again when we started taking measurements of the kitchen. "Are you planning to build something?" We assured them we were not and that we just wanted to know what kind of table would be best. "Well, this was all done by a designer," the misses chimed in. We heard all about how the kitchen was custom designed by a professional designer who really showed them how to maximize their space. Obviously, we would want to keep it the same...unless of course, one of us is a professional designer.

As I said, the exchange of a house from old owners to knew owners is a strange experience for everyone involved. The Moribito's were very nice and gave us lots and lots of hints and tips and places to go and services to use that we will certainly use but at the same time, I wonder what their reaction would be if they were to return in a year or two and see our house, that once was theirs.

In a little more than 3 weeks, we will officially be Balling in Bethel.