Not Much to Tell

I’ve come on here almost every day thinking I should write something, but just couldn’t think of anything to write. Quite honestly, life here in the Slinsky household has been quiet. No changes, no emergencies, nothing even remotely pressing… just blissful boredom. The cars don’t even need oil changes.

I’m not saying it hasn’t been pleasant. On Friday we drove down to Norwalk and saw the penguins at the Maritime Aquarium and had lunch with Lisa. After that we went to Stamford and visited with Bill (Alan’s grandfather) at work and spent quite a long time chatting with the people who stopped by his office.  And I found out that a house in West Haven that I absolutely loooooooove is for sale. It’s a beautiful old Queen Anne Victorian less than a block away from the beach on almost a full acre of land. Five bedrooms, two and half baths spread over three floors, beautifully remodeled kitchen and bathrooms, full basement… ::sigh:: They’re asking $495,000… Just little out of our price range at the moment.  I can’t help wanting it though.  Maybe in ten or fifteen years.  In the meantime I’ll lower my sights to a nice three-bedroom, one (and maybe a half) bath with a basement that’s either finished or finish-able. Perhaps a fixer upper.  I’m of the mind that I’d rather buy a really cool house that needs some work than a boring house that’s move-in ready.  Maybe that’s what comes of having some really cool houses in the family. There’s The Farm out in Ohio with enough additions and alterations to get lost in; my grandmother’s house on East Ave that was set on fire during the burning of Norwalk; and then the house I spent my high school and college years in on East Rocks.  It was a simple little Cape Cod style house, but everyone knew it, and it was even featured in national magazines back when it belonged to my great-grandparents.

As for today, I’m anticipating further serenity.  At least, I’m hoping for further serenity. I’ve got a bad headache that started last night, possibly induced by the accidental consumption of a chili pepper in my chicken biryani… I swear my tongue hurt for an hour. However it started, Alan has been nice enough to go to the laundromat without me so that I can sit here nursing tea and Tylenol and wincing at the sound of cats racing full speed around the apartment.

My birthday is this coming Thursday. More specifically, my golden birthday… Twenty-six on the 26th. As Alan likes to point out since he’s a year and half younger than me, almost 30.  Isn’t he sweet? LOL… Then again, I get carded for R-rated movies and most people think he’s 28 or 29, so who’s laughing now? Hehe… Really, I’m okay with my age. It doesn’t bother me in the slightest to leave childhood and adolesence behind. They’re fairly over-rated anyway. I mean, who wants to be a kid forever. All that drama and misplaced idealism and the complete lack of respect from the world around you. No thanks.  And I’m looking forward to what’s next. I can’t wait to see what Alan is like as a father and to meet our kids and to raise them (I hope) to be good and responsible people. I suppose that’s the trick, isn’t it? To always to be looking forward to the next step.

And on a completely unrelated note, I’m pleased with what I’ve heard so far about the stimulus plan. Granted, I haven’t heard much. It’s hard to get news when your only source is the radio.  But I did hear that the price of COBRA (the system that extends health insurance after you leave a job) is going to be cut by more than half, which is wonderful. I mean, it was prohibitively expensive when I left Kiddie World, more than triple what had been taken out of each paycheck and that was just for myself.  And unlike some people, I think it’s better to have the money added to our paychecks in small amounts rather than a big lump sum.  If someone sent me $1000 right now, I would save some of it and use the rest to pay off some of my credit cards.  I’m probably not the only one who would. And those who chose a different path would probably use it to buy one big item.  Lots of cash into the system at one shot.  But if they add an extra $15 to each paycheck, maybe I’m buying steak for dinner one night instead of stretching leftovers. Or maybe I’m going to a movie, or a museum, or I’ll buy my kids a toy. The point is, $15 is not the kind of money that people think of saving, so it has a far better chance of going back into the economy.  I’m sure there are plenty of people out there who will disagree with me… and I’m sure at least a few of them are better informed. ~_^ This is just my humble opinion. I try to look on the bright side of everything.

So, new OD tomorrow! Who’s excited? I watched a little more than half of the preview video, and I have to say, I like what I saw.  I’m glad to see that the drop-down menus are making a comeback, and I’m very excited about the pictures and the autosave feature.  How many of us have written entries lamenting the loss of the entry we had just finished writing when all of a sudden everything went pear-shaped? It may take a little while to get used to the Friends/Bookmarks distinction, but for the most part, we are a relatively intelligent group of people.  Anyway, I guess I’ll see y’all on the flip side. ^_^

~Liz