Stress Overload in Buying and Selling

In the almost 2 years since I last posted, a lot has changed. Some has not.

The big change is that we're selling our house. We're also buying a new home. We even have a buyer for our house. It's never simple though.

In order for us to buy our new home, our contract has a contingency that we must sell our house. That contract ends November 1st.

When we accepted our buyer's offer on our house, she didn't know until a full month later that she had to sell her house in order to buy our house. Her retirement community house has been on the market now since August.

Our mortgage commitment expired on Friday. Our interest rate lock expires today. The other deadline is looming. We will need multiple extensions at this point. Financially, we're not in a place where we can make the down payment out of savings, pay for movers because we can't physically do that job ourselves anymore, and still pay for the mortgage and utilities on our current house.

Being in limbo like this sucks. We're still showing our house given that our realtor is hoping we get a better offer since we had no contingency clause with our current buyer. He also doesn't know when she'll be able to sell her place.

Until we got the news about her situation, we had been diligently paring down furniture and stuff. We have quite a few packed boxes lining the walls. I had packed away my winter clothes thinking we wouldn't need them for at least a month or two because we were supposed to be in our new house by early September.

But here we are.

Because we can't do anything by halves, we also threw in Matt getting major surgery at the beginning of December. That can be moved, but only by a few weeks to a month. It's much-needed surgery but it also comes with being down for 6-weeks.

It has been increasingly hard to stay positive and to not let the stress wear me down. It's a major fight to stay on task at home and work. I've always worked hard to make sure I didn't let my personal life affect work life, but the stress has bled over to there. I did get away last week for a couple days for an on-the-road Rolling Hills Radio but even that, as fun as it was, wasn't really relaxing. I'm sure my friends and family are super sick of hearing me complain about the situation. It's also frustrating to have people ask how the new house is and have to update them, because we actually did sell our house less than 3 days after listing it but that buyer walked on us 2 weeks later.

I really need good news soon because this is paralyzing.

Away, Away

We're on a mini-vaca in an area where they're experiencing forest fires (thanks asshole arsonist). It's an area that makes Clifton Hill in Niagara Falls, Ontario look rinky dinky. Holy cow. Pigeon Forge/Gatlinburg is no joke. Tomorrow we try to escape it and find some peace and nature in the (literally) Smoky Mountains.

Where A News Junkie Goes During Social Media Blackout

I'm a fan of sites that automatically refresh. It means I don't have to worry I missed something because I hadn't refreshed in the last 5 seconds.

This social media break is going to kill me. Well, it was until I got to today: Monday. Today is the day I get my first Skimm since Friday. 

I signed up for the free service earlier this year and have found it's an easy way to keep up with non-local news. Granted, I only receive one email a day but it's enough since it preps me for what to expect after I finish consuming it along with my first cuppa caffeine.

If you want to check it out for yourself, use this link as they've teamed up with FEED who will donate a meal to a child for every click through.

When You Love Pumpkin Flavored Everything

Some years ago, my friend Jane created a group on Facebook called "Everything Pumpkin Flavored" in honor of all those wonderful pumpkin spiced items that come out in the Fall. The group has garnered several hundred members over the years, posting recipes, beers, food, and weird things like pumpkin-spice dog treats.

As one of the admins of the group, I had the horrifying realization that I deactivated my Facebook account at the HEIGHT of everything-pumpkin-flavored season. MY GOD! Thankfully, I can still blog so I will share with you two links that I also sent to my friend/EPV admin, Ali, for her to post in my absence:

Get Your Pumpkin Fix With This Pie In A Mug

Make Better Pumpkin Pie With Twice Pureed Canned Pumpkin

On Tuesday, I'll be baking my pumpkin pies for Thanksgiving. I'm going to try baking both pies at once per instructions given to me by my co-worker, Leigh Anne. This will be life-changing if it works out as it usually takes me all day to bake the 4-5 pies that I bring for Thanksgiving dinner.

Elections REALLY Got You Down?

If you find you're having difficulty coping with things lately, here's an article that might help:

Top 10 free and affordable mental health and counseling options.

Autumn Break

I'm on day 2 of no Facebook and Twitter. I will admit I'm feeling a little twitchy. I figured at least I could blog given how many times I've picked up my cell and stared at it in frustration.

Why am I off social media? I needed a break from the endless negativity that ratcheted up after the elections. I also needed a break from news in general. Aside from social media being a time suck, I also found it affecting my mood and productivity.

I figured a two and a half week break would be a good timeframe since I'm also on vacation from work. I'm still looking at Instagram and have the ability to tweet my blog posts on Twitter courtesy of a Chrome app that allows me to tweet from the address line. Gone, but not for good!

There Are Some Bad People On The Rise

https://youtu.be/xrsOQyfxDtM

[UPDATED VERSION!] The Trouble With The Electoral College

In light of this week's Presidential election, here's an update on why the Electoral College is awful. Watch the original video after this short update:


[UPDATE] The YouTuber went back and did ANOTHER update to correct himself on some issues. It's also worth watching especially because one part of it reminded me of the awful governing situation we have in New York State that is referred to as "3 men in a room."

Selling Bridges and The Like...

No new jokes-on-you this year, but if you want to know all the fun I've had in the past on this date, check out posts from the following years. The 2008 post really got some people going while my parents thought we were actually moving after they read the 2011 post:

2015
2011
2008
2003

Rolling Hills Radio

Last April, I auditioned to be the announcer for the local, live-recorded radio show, Rolling Hills Radio. The former announcer, the most awesome Jason Sample, was stepping down after being part of the show since its inception. I hadn't done anything regularly on WRFA-LP in several years and thought it would be a cool way to get back into doing some on-air work in addition to getting to hear some great music every month.

Apparently I still had the vocal chops, as I've been with the show now since the end of April 2015. It's been quite a ride! Most people who know me know I'm an alt-rock kind of girl. I sure love my electric guitars and drums! At the same time, I also like some singer-songwriters and have been more open-minded when it came to other styles of music since I took History of American Pop Music as a freshman at Baldwin-Wallace (College) University.

Over the summer, the semi-annual Chautauqua Institution show featured Michael Gablicki from Rusted Root. Being able to be the Donna Pardo for this gig was the stuff of dreams. I had a damned hard time not fan-girling all over the stage as I sat feet away from the one of the guys responsible for providing the soundtrack to my senior year in high school through my early college years.

One of the other cool things about Rolling Hills Radio is the stories. I love hearing our host, Ken, draw out the stories from featured musicians about why they write, how they got started, and other fantastic tidbits.

Tonight I get to hear some more. Podcasts of all the shows are available on WRFA's website along with the link to where you can buy tickets to future shows too. Maybe I'll see some of you there sometime.

Carpool Karoke

My latest obsession/spirit animal is James Corden and his Carpool Karaoke sketches. Here's the latest one with Sia:

If it wasn't for YouTube, I'd never get to see this kind of fun stuff that comes out of Late Night TV. My night owl tendencies I had as a baby went dormant at some point and 10pm is my bedtime lately.

Book Duels

I'm having a stare-off with a pile of unread books on my coffee table while some e-books wink at me from the Kindle app on my phone.

We're more than halfway through February and I've completed just 2%, or 5 books behind, of my 2016 Reading Challenge on GoodReads.

I lowered my goal for this year to 45 from last year's ambitious goal of 50 books. I was 3 books shy of meeting my goal once December 31st rolled around, so I thought I'd be slightly more realistic about how 2016 would go. Honestly, that's still a pretty crazy goal given that I hadn't come anywhere near reading that many books for many years. There were some years where if I read 5 books, that was a lot. I'm at a point where I have one or two books that have been waiting for years to be read. I know at least one of them was on the coffee table when I wrote this post. 

If you're on GoodReads and want to link up or just see what I've been reading or want to read, you can find me here.

Bloggery (a repost)

I wrote this on another site:

Perhaps I'm too old for the reveal-all-confessional type of blogging but reading claw marks lately makes me want to start blogging again to at least expand upon the thoughts I wouldn't otherwise write out in a Facebook post or vague tweet.
 A couple of years ago, I took the month of February off from Facebook under the premise that the time I wasn't wasting on Facebook could be channeled into other things. I blogged quite a bit, I read a few books, got out a little, and generally tried to avoid looking at anything on there. It wasn't perfect, by far. A fair amount of friends still use Facebook to communicate about social events and general happenings, so I was out of the loop on all of that, thus defeating part of my goal to be in better touch with hanging out with them. Weird how that shit works.
 Ultimately, I think I want more conversation. The introvert in me loves social media because it allows me form a complete thought and reply to what I'm reading. In the early days, blogging allowed me to write long essays of my thoughts. Now? I share links and a couple lines of dialogue. It's not much different than my in-person interactions. The obvious problem is whether anyone actually wants to listen or read and if they have to patience to even interact in a thoughtful way in response. Maybe I don't give people enough credit.
 So going back around to my first paragraph, I would like to blog more but I just don't know if I can. I don't have anonymity on my current blog. This post is friends-only public. I don't necessarily enjoy the idea of having to start a new blog from scratch to try to have a certain kind of anonymity but there are a lot of things I wouldn't necessarily feel comfortable talking about on my current blog. I don't need to jeopardize my job or relationships. Not that I am doing horrible things or plan to say horrible things, but when you live in a small city you do have to be careful who you target if you want to spout off about something. Self-censorship is a real, daily occupation.

My best friend had this to say when I debated about whether to just post from here or start a new blog and ohmygodwhatifIoffendanyone,

"you're a big girl now
 a real, grown-up woman with her own thoughts and opinions
 you're going to be 40 this year, for crying out loud"

So that's that. Stay tuned...

District Coffee FTW!

I just learned about this cool new project that the BPU is working on to help combat issues with water main breaks in the winter time and provide a tasty new service to customers in the service area. The District Coffee project will tie into the heat exchange system of District Heating where both the water for District Heat and cold brewed coffee will be heated in separate tanks by waste heat. After being heated, the coffee will be distributed in lines that run alongside water mains, which will help keep those mains from freezing in the cold winter months. As water mains and the district coffee lines will be adjacent, it will be easy for local businesses and residents to tap into that line for an on demand supply of hot coffee. An initial hook-up fee and monthly fee will be assessed to those who opt to take part in the service. Hey, it’s a better way to get coffee on demand than using a Keurig!

2014 Moratorium

It doesn't seem fair to do a moratorium in a year I'm still living in, if just for a few more hours, but I felt the urge to scribble a post.

2014 had a lot of good moments. It was a kind of relief from everything that had happened over the previous two years between Matt's mom dying and losing our dogs, Buddy and Zak.

Accomplishments: This one is not my own but I consider it a pretty major deal that Matt not only completed his Bachelor's Degree through Houghton College but he maintained a 4.0 the entire time!

Matt and I also celebrated our 10th wedding anniversary in July. It doesn't really seem like it has been 10 years!

Travel:

• Four-day trip to Washington D.C. in March to see our friends, Brian & Tim as well as getting to see M. (long time friend and shenanigans associate) and Brandy (Jamestown transplant)
• Overnight to Cleveland, OH in May to take part in an alumni orchestra rehearsal at Baldwin-Wallace under Dwight Oltman's baton one last time. Saw many old friends.
• 10th Wedding Anniversary trip to Burlington, VT with a day trip to Montreal in September to finally meet Maurice.
• plus numerous trips to Rochester, Buffalo, and Erie, PA.

Books: I read at least 15 books according to a scan of my Goodreads list in 2014, which is a marked increase from recent years.

Movies: Between Netflix, movies at The Reg, and our local theatre chain, we saw some good flicks including The Monuments Men, The Way Way Back, We Are The Best!, The Grand Budapest Hotel, Le Week-End, Guardians Of The Galaxy, Frozen, Mrs. Brown, A Single Man, Miss Pettigrew Lives For A Day, The Trip, Funny Face, Slacker, New York, I Love You; Coffee & Cigarettes, Don Jon, Blue Is The Warmest Color, Geography Club, and The Interview.

Music: My top ten artists according to last.fm for 2014 have a lot of overlap when you consider that Johnny Marr and Morrissey both were part of The Smiths and Adam Schlesinger is writing/singing/performing songs for both Fountains Of Wayne and Ivy.

1. Fountains Of Wayne (132 plays)
2. U2 (126 plays)
3. Morrissey (99 plays)
4. Taylor Swift (62 plays)
5. The Smiths (59 plays)
6. Ladyhawk (52 plays)
7. Enya (51 plays)
8. XTC (48 plays)
9. Johnny Marr (47 plays)
10. Ivy (44 plays)

Violining: My violin was attached to my neck most of this Fall but for overall ensembles/concerts that I performed with this year, I offer this:

• March - "Annie Get Your Gun" at Falconer High School
• May - Jamestown Area Community Orchestra Spring concert at Jamestown High School
• October - Jamestown Area Community Orchestra Fall Concert
• November - "Les Miserables" at Jamestown Community College
• December - The Living Christmas Tree at First Covenant Church

Random Bits: I was diagnosed with hypothyroidism in October and have been on medications since that seem to have stabilized my levels so far. Matt made the decision in 2014 to get Lasik surgery on his eyes, but that won't happen until 2015. We bought a fancy, new convection oven, 5-burner gas stove in December after another pecan pie filling failure on Thanksgiving. I also bought a Pono device after buying Neil Young's pitch hook/line/sinker. It really does have great sound quality although I will admit I'm still mad at Apple for discontinuing the iPod Classic as that probably would have been my music player replacement for my iPod Touch, which is old and doesn't hold nearly enough music for my liking.

Looking Ahead to 2015: Who knows what could happen? It's going to be a year of some change with my office being moved to City Hall, Matt being able to see without glasses, and the fact that it's an election year for our Mayor. I've never been a fan of resolutions because they're far too easy to break, but I'm hoping that we go into 2015 with an open mind and patience for what lies ahead.

28 Days Later

Here I am at the end of 28 days away from Facebook. What have I been up to?

Books I've Read:
Morrissey: Autobiography (UK Edition)
Why Can't I Be You - Allie Larkin
Eleanor & Park - Rainbow Rowell
Summer In A Glass: The Coming of Age of Winemaking in the Finger Lakes - Evan Dawson

Movies I've Seen:
The Monuments Men
The Way Way Back

Blog Entries I've Written = 29

Pounds Lost = 2

Exercise Classes Attended = 8 (guessing at this since I only started recording on Feb 18th)

Nights Spent Snuggling on the Coach with Sammy & McKinley while watching many episodes of Poirot on Netflix = Too numerous to count

Outings Out Into the Cold to See Friends Socially That Weren't Connected to Work/Boards/Organizational Events = 3

Phone Calls to Parents = Three. One 2-hour call and one 1.5-hour call and one 40-minute call.

New Beers/Ciders Imbibed = 7
Southern Tier Brewing - 2XOne
Southern Tier Brewing - Grand Arbor
Otter Creek Brewing - Citra Mantra
Ballast Point Brewing & Spirits - Tongue Buckler
Stella Artois - Cidre
Dogfish Head Craft Brewery - 75 Minute IPA
Lagunitas Brewing Company - A Little Sumpin' Wild Ale

Musical Rehearsals Attended - 2. Will increase exponentially in the next week

Paczkis Consumed Prior to Fat Tuesday - One solitary over-filled, seemingly double-glazed wonder

Tickets Purchased To See Morrissey In Concert at Artpark: - 3. One for me and 2 for my cousin and his friend.

Buffalo Sabres Traded: Two

Stealing & Recovering a $5 Million Stradivarius in Milwaukee

It's easy to put a romantic spin on a story about the theft of a Stradivarius violin, but it was anything but for Milwaukee Symphony Concertmaster Frank Almond when he found himself tasered and his $5 million "Lipinski" Stradivarius stolen just before he got in his car following a concert.

Indulge me with a moment of levity. I can't help it. I imagine that there are many in my age group who automatically hear the pronunciation offered by Vincent Furnier, known professionally as Alice Cooper, in this movie scene:


Done? Done.

Almond recently told his side of the story to The Violinist's Laurie Niles.

Fortunately, the tale ends positively with the recovery of the violin and the arrest of the two individuals suspected in the case. Almond was back on stage with the "Lipinski" in concert a week after it was recovered.

One of the things I appreciated is that the value of both of the bows that resided in the violin case along with the Stradivarius were divulged: $20,000 and $30,000. Stradivarius violins are so desired because they produce an amazing sound, are rare, and still retain some mystery in terms of the exact combination of materials that work to give the instrument its sound. But every violin needs a bow if you are going to realize the instrument's potential. A bow's construction is just as important as its larger partner. Of course, a bow isn't much without a violin where you can still make music on a violin in the absence of a bow.

My public service announcement for the day to any parent who has a child who is becoming more serious about being a violinist and who is playing on a full-size instrument, is that it's worthwhile to invest in owning a violin and it's worthwhile to buy a quality bow. Your wallet may be unhappy in the short term, but your child will enjoy playing on a better quality violin versus struggling with a violin-shaped-object. The goal of purchasing a violin is not just to save on rental costs but to give your child the opportunity of a lifelong enjoyment of her instrument. Here are some other thoughts on the topic.

Coffee To The Extreme

Caffeine addicts, like me, will joke about needing a mainline of the stuff on particularly rough mornings. It's probably a good thing it never occurred to most of us to try something like this. As the sub title says, Never Ever Do This At Home:

Facebook-Free Month - A Two-Week Update

As of yesterday, I had gone somewhat Facebook-Free for two weeks. The "somewhat" is a bone of contention for me because I still have to log in to do updates to the work Facebook page. In fact, not even a week into my month-long hiatus I got an email full of pictures from my boss asking if they could be uploaded to the work page.

Logging in means there are glances at the top item in my newsfeed. Other times, clicking on shortened-urls in my Twitter feed that have led me to a Facebook post or image. Then there is the dilemma whether to allow 3rd-party apps, like FourSquare or Untappd, to send my update to just Twitter or to both that and Facebook. I'd say I definitely cheated when I used Selective Tweets  to send Matt a Valentine's Day wish to Facebook by adding "#fb" at the end of my tweet.

The negative newsfeed was the big reason why I wanted to take a break from Facebook for awhile. While it feels good to not have that sitting in the background constantly, I feel like I am missing out on stuff happening in my friends' lives. My first week away, some high school friends posted quite a set of hilarious (so I'm told) pictures of Friday night fun. One of them even taunted me via Twitter,

"there are pics on FB... You can enjoy them on March 1st ha ha"

Schedules have aligned so that I've had more face time than Face(book) time with some friends lately, but those get-togethers wouldn't have happened if not for the use of Facebook Messenger. Then there are friends who live far away who I wouldn't be able to keep up with if not for the dialogue we maintain on each others Facebook posts because they're not emailing/texting/phone call types. I'm definitely missing those people right now. I even thought about name-dropping them in this post but the list is getting rather long in my head.

This morning I was reading an article online about The Pub, a popular local bar that had a devastating fire last month. In it, it mentioned how pictures were being posted on the establishment's Facebook page of the interior of the bar and of work being done. I sighed, knowing that I wouldn't get to see them for another 2 weeks.

And then I thought, "There's nothing saying I HAVE to stay off Facebook for a month. It's a self-imposed hiatus." Of course, I'm not a fan of quitting a project early. It's one of the reasons why I steadfastly continue growing my hair out even though it's at a length that's driving me nuts. So onward I plow. I suppose it's a good thing that what I miss most about not being on Facebook is how it helps enhance actual relationships I have as opposed to missing the myriad of link bait that fills the newsfeed.

History of Women Moving On

Yesterday I shared the History of Men Moving On. Today is for the ladies. The ones who have been wronged. The ones who will get back up again and sing their heart out in the shower or in the car when any one of these gems comes on their radio/iPod/satellite radio/Pandora/Spotify/etc. etc. etc.