Happy Halloween!

Will post pictures of adorable children in adorable home-made skeleton costumes later. Until then, I thought I'd give a little update.

It was 68 degrees here yesterday. The boys and I played in the backyard for a while, having managed to retrieve from the mess of the garage the backyard toys. Then we walked a mere 2 and half blocks to the Walgreens to purchase Halloween treats for Noah's classmates. I have to admit, it was awesome to be able to just walk out of the house and run our errands in the fresh air. Every time we needed to get anything from any store in the last three years we needed to take the car. It was like Park Slope all over again, but with 60% less rent. During our walk, Noah looked at me and said, "Mom, I love this city."

I think the rest of us are doing a little better with the change, too. I went to a Moms Group yesterday at a local Episcopal church. I just saw a sign in front of a church that I'd been admiring during the past couple of weeks (it's situated next to a creek, has beautiful gardens, looks very medieval and grand). So the boys and I decided to take a chance, and it was great. The boys went to the nursery and had lots of fun playing with other kids, something they've been missing in the last month. And I was able to have a conversation with adults that didn't involve how much I missed them or Charlotte or my old life. I just got to pretend to be a normal person for a couple of hours. (Except for when I left early, thinking it was noon and I had to get home to meet the plumber, when it fact it was only 11 and I had failed to switch this watch to central time.)

It's going to be in the mid-60s here until next Thursday, when it will be 47. Friday will be 37 and snowing.

October 25, 2008 Minneapolis, MN

WOW this place is SMALL!

It's fascinating how relative space is. When we first moved to our huge 2500 square foot house in Charlotte, we were overwhelmed. All that square footage -- 2600 to be exact. We had room after room, closet after closet, cupboard after cupboard. We had so much space we didn't think we could possibly fill it up. We scoffed at neighbors who complained about the tight surroundings of their 4 bedroom homes, who were looking for more space for their family of 3 (two grown-ups, one baby).

Fast forward three years.

We had actually started shopping around our neighborhood for a larger house before Matt was laid off. We were bemoaning the lack of cupboards in our kitchen, thinking we needed a larger space for guests, wishing we could have a third story and a larger master bath and even a walk-in closet. We were looking for something around 3500 square feet, because, you know, anything else would be just too small. We were such idiots.

But God saved us from our own stupidity. And, seemingly to teach us a little lesson, four months later we now find ourselves living in 1000 square feet. As our movers repeatedly pointed out to us, this is really a one bedroom house. To give my loyal readers a "virtual tour" of sorts:

• The "master bedroom" upstairs is really nothing more than an attic. The movers actually laughed at us when we asked if our king-size bed would fit up the stairs. So goodbye, king size bed (which was purchased a mere six months ago). They managed to shove the queen bed upstairs only because a) we coincidentally had a split box spring from our Brooklyn walk-up days, and b) they folded the top mattress almost in half, like a taco. I'm pretty sure we voided that warranty.
• In sweetie's words, he has never in his life showered in a space so small. The shower stall is ridiculous. We can't turn around in the shower without popping the door open with our elbow. The only shower I've encountered that has been smaller has been in the camper my parents rent ever year in Myrtle Beach, which I can't fit into when I'm pregnant. Not sure what I'll do in this shower if I ever manage to get pregnant again.
• The boys' bedroom is 9x7.5. That is smaller than the walk-in closet I was dreaming of in Charlotte. We had to order them bunkbeds because there's no way two beds would have fit in there otherwise. There is a closet, but there's no door on it because there's not enough space to be able to open the door. We have to change Luke's diaper either on Noah's bed (sorry Noah) or the hardwood floors (sorry floors) because there's no room for a changing table anywhere.
• Do any of you who remember the bathroom we had in our walk-up in Brooklyn? That's about the size of the main-floor bath here. And if anyone ever needs proof of evolution, try to sit down on a toilet in a house built in 1921. People used to be a LOT shorter.
• The one room that our movers would say constitutes a bedroom is what we're using as the boys' playroom. We should actually call it a toy room, because there's no actual room in there to play. The toys line the walls and cover the floor. There's enough of a path for the boys to enter, retrieve a toy, and exit the room in search of a place to play with their selection. Right now they're in our closet upstairs.
  
• There's no dining room. We have a table on the front porch. The porch is heated, but not insulated. So we should be okay to eat in there for about another week and a half. The weather wizards here are calling for snow showers next Wednesday.
• We miraculously managed to fit the sectional into the living room, which means that as many as 6 people have someplace to sit in this house. There is literally only one spot it can possibly fit though, and even that leaves it hanging into the doorway to the kitchen by 4 inches. Eh.
  
• The kitchen is large, thank you Jesus. No room for a table, but there's a bar where the kids can eat or where, for example, I can sit with the computer and write a blog entry. Lots of cabinets, though all of our china and fancy stuff and several big kitchen items are still in boxes in the basement.
• Aah, the basement. The glory of the midwestern home. Ours is unfinished. You have to duck your head to walk up or down the stairs. But that's where most of our possessions are being stored. Everything except the stuff that wider than 28 inches. So our sofa bed, our leather couch, the chair and ottoman from Luke's room, etc., etc. are all in our garage right now. We haven't figured out what to do about that.
• The garage is detached. It's two-car, which is awesome for this neighborhood, and it has a two-spot car port, which is even more unusual. And you drive into it through an alley. All of these older neighborhoods throughout Minneapolis have the alley system. Kind of cool, until you're trying to haul two kids and a trunk full of groceries into the house in the pouring rain.

All of that for a mere $1500 per month. We've made it look great though, and it's charming and cozy and warm. And we truly feel so lucky to have a job and a place to call home. That being said, we ask you all to submit your request to God and the powers in the universe that our house in Charlotte sells soon.

All Hail Krugman!

If there's anyone I'm going to listen to right now about the state of the economy, and what's the best plan for alleviating the pain, it's Paul Krugman, recipient of this year's Nobel Prize for economics. Here's his op-ed piece in the New York Times.

To summarize, he says the government needs to spend, spend, spend! Among a variety of welfare projects, he advocates public works projects as well. And, most importantly here, he says McCain is bad news for the economy and that Obama needs to follow his instincts and ignore Washington-insiders who warn against spending.

Dear God, please let Obama win.

Live blogging the debate...

We're concerned that the Boy Wonder is going to fall down on the job again, so the Mr. and I have decided to step in and fill the void. With that, we shall begin "live blogging" the final presidential debate:

• I love Bob Schieffer. I wish he was my grandpa. He seems cuddly. And smart. Just what you want in a grandpa.
• We're playing a drinking game. We get to drink whenever John McCain calls us his "friends." Who I am kidding? We'll be drinking the whole time.
• McCain's response to the first question -- specifically talking about "fannie and freddie" causing this problem -- shows that he has no idea what this crisis is really about, or how it started. The housing crisis is now a relatively small part of the bigger problem -- he's pandering to the middle class because he knows he's in trouble.
• Obama has an awesome look. It says, in a friendly kind of way, "Dude, you are a total idiot d-bag."
• Matt, to McCain when talking about poor Joe the Plumber: "Say 'socialism.' Say it."
• I just changed the drinking game. Now we're going to drink whenever either of them mention "Joe the Plumber."
• McCain's crap about how he "knows how to save billions" -- how?!? how?!? don't hold out on us Senator! Dude -- enough with the f-ing projector! Obama nailed it when he said the earmark issue is basically irrelevant -- 1/2 of 1%! Why is McCain still talking about it? Because he just doesn't get it. Moron.
• If McCain wants to argue that he's not President Bush, maybe he shouldn't have his campaign being run by the Bush White House. He may not be Bush, but he's not doing anything substantive to truly distance himself from Bush.
• NICE rip on Fox NEWS!!! This is why I love that man. No, no. I am IN love with him.
• Q: "Will you say to each other's face the negative attacks launched by your campaign?" A by McCain: that man LIES! How can he possibly say with a straight face that he has repudiated every negative thing said about Obama? How can he say that? How can Palin say she was exonerated by the commission investigating her abuse of power in Alaska? They LIE! How DARE McCain suggest Obama needs to repudiate the comments of a man criticizing Palin & McCain for allowing their supporters to call him a terrorist and for calling for his assassination!
  
• You can see in Obama's face that he is essentially throwing his hands in the air when McCain is completely full of crap. He'll rip all over Obama and bring up Ayers, again, or Acorn, again, and then say the focus of his campaign is the economy. Who does he think he's kidding?
• Palin's qualification for the presidency of the United States is that she understands that autism is on the rise? That she understands special needs families? McCain, "Biden has been wrong on foreign policy issues. . . and that needs to be a strength." REALLY?!? So YOU put a first-term governor of Alaska in that role? I don't care how close Alaska is to Russia -- the hypocrisy is killing me here. I may have to stop blogging now, lest I have an aneurysm.
• Obama says "we." McCain says "I."
• Matt wonders if Joe's middle name is "Six Pack."
• Pro-choice does not mean the same thing as pro-abortion. The uncommitted Ohio voters approval (yes, we're watching CNN skyrocketed when Obama argued that no one wants abortion, and we should all be able to stand behind the goal of reducing intended pregnancies. Why couldn't McCain have just said, "absolutely. We, as Americans, should unite behind that goal." And leave it at that. His shit-eating grin during that argument of Obama's cost him more points than he earned by his conclusion on the point.
• Seriously, why does McCain have to be such a sarcastic shithead?
• "Go vote now. It will make you feel big and strong." Thanks, Grandpa. I love you.
  

Calm down everyone

For those of you who have been clamoring for a "life in Minneapolis" update, here goes...

The last week has been sad, stressful, annoying, difficult, sad, heartbreaking, scary, depressing, anxiety-ridden, sad, tiring, painful, and did I mention sad? But above all that, we've spent the last week being very, very thankful.

We miss our friends and my family like crazy. We desperately miss our house -- our big, beautiful house with all of our stuff in it. We miss the sense of familiarity that we worked so hard during the past three years to achieve. We would do almost anything to get back that sense of comfort we had knowing our way around town, knowing friends were just around the corner and family was just a couple hours down the road. So we didn't want to leave Charlotte. But we had no choice.

That being said, Minneapolis is awesome! It's a beautiful city, full of trees and lakes. The population in general seems to be very "outdoorsy" -- people jog around the lakes even in the rain, there are tons of parks, trails and bike paths everywhere. Each lake (and I'm not at all exaggerating when I say that there is water everywhere around this town) has canoe racks that you can rent from the city to store your canoe (cause apparently, lots of people have them), and there are lots of "parking spots" for sailboats -- I'm sure there is a proper term for that.

Right now we're living in a corporate rental in Uptown Minneapolis -- the equivalent of the East Village in New York. And I know what lots of you are thinking right now, and you are correct. Matt and Mary are not East Village kinda people. And thus, we are not really Uptown kinda people either. We're totally not that cool. So although this is not the neighborhood we would want to buy a house in, it's still very nice -- restaurants, coffee, grocery store, shops and a lake all within walking distance. But corporate apartment life with two toddlers and a dog is not that great -- and I'm sure the young single guys that live above us and below us will be as happy to see us leave as we will be.

And so we've rented a house in the neighborhood we would ultimately like to buy a house in. This past weekend we actually put an offer in on a house, but in between the time we got the preapproval letter from our lender and the time we had our offer accepted, the credit markets tightened that much more and we lost the house. Alas. We decided it was a blessing in disguise, because we really don't want to own one house in this market, let alone two. So without any idea at all of how long it will take to sell that house in Charlotte (since NO ONE right now seems to be able to sell a house in Charlotte), we're just going to settle in to our "cozy" rental. You folks familiar with the NY rental market will know what I mean when I say "cozy." For a little more perspective, this house has less square footage than our 1st Street apartment in the Slope. Ouch. But it's cute, and it has a fenced in backyard with a two car garage. Here's a picture of it from Zillow and the Craigslist posting. The neighborhood is actually very Park Slopey, but with houses instead of brownstones and apartments. The stores do a trick-or-treat night for the kids, and there's a fall festival in one of the parks this weekend. So the movers are going to bring up all of our stuff in about two weeks, and we'll put a fraction of our possession wherever they can fit in the house and vast majority of our possessions will go in its basement. We're open for company, but Matt says you'll have to sleep on the air mattress in the garage. That's the only floorspace we'll have available.

And so far, Matt's firm seems awesome. They have been incredibly welcoming and they have real work for him to do. And that's why we feel so thankful to be here. At least he has a job. Only one other person that we know of who got laid off with Matt has found work, and he had to move out of state, too. And even contract work is hard to come by in Charlotte, so lots of attorneys are scrambling. So even though this is not what we would have chosen to do with ourselves right now if it were up to us, and even though we never, in a million years, would have thought this is where we'd be three years ago when we were so excited to be moving to Charlotte, the bottom line is that we have an income, we have a place to call home, and everyone is healthy. The rest will come in time.

Now I have to go finish filling out my application to take the bar exam. Again. Mother f-er.