St. Joe the Realtor Saint

Shortly after we put our house on the market in December a friend excitedly told me, "You should get and bury a St. Joseph statue!" Being the Jewish woman married to a Catholic school boy (he's not a school boy anymore of course, he's a grown man) that I am I had no idea what she was talking about, it turns out my husband didn't either. 

One morning soon after as we met for a morning run she delivered the said saint in a box, all commercialized up, pamphlet of explanation included. I will paraphrase what it said...bury St. Joseph upside down in the front lawn of your house either by your for sale sign, your front door, facing north, facing south, in the middle of the night during a full moon with a shovel in your front yard so your neighbors will talk about how crazy you are your house will sell. As long as you have fixed major repairs, the foundation is sold, your house is clean, your house is listed, you say a prayer and believe that this little statute will help you sell your house, then your house will sell. 

Okay, okay at this point St. Joesph started to sound more like Realtor Joe to me so I figured since I already didn't believe in him I'd have a little fun with him. 

After rescuing him from the box I unthinkingly put him on the shelf by my front door. Soon after I said, "Oh hey! Look, some people have an Elf on the Shelf, I have St. Joseph on the shelf?" Let the fun begin! It started with me putting him in our Lego Christmas Advent Calendar scene (no picture).

My son awoke the next morning and St. Joe was blocking the next door to be opened so he moved him to theses snowmen. (House still not sold)

A few days later my daughter thought he might want to play football with a different snowman. Unfortunately the snowman fumbled St. Joe soon after this photo and in the words of my daughter, "His head popped off and rolled under the couch." (House still not sold)

After head surgery by Krazy Glue he was cuddled and cared for by this snowman. His head is pointed toward the neighbors' house, also for sale, which received an offer soon after. (Our house still not sold) 

Before leaving for our Christmas vacation I turned him upside down in the arms of this snowman (no picture) after some friends assured me that if I buried him in a flower pot outside (the ground was frozen) that my house would sell. I appeased them by putting him upside down.

A week later we came home to two offers on our house. We closed on our new house on Jan. 30, moved in on Feb. 1 and handed over the keys to our "old" house that "Realtor Joe" helped us sell the following week.

It was then brought to my attention that once moved into our new house he should be placed somewhere in our new house to ensure a happy life there. The snowmen grew quite fond of him so they continued to hang out with him by the fireplace (no photo). Two days ago the snowmen were put away in hopes that spring will arrive sometime this year.

Yesterday he found his new calling in our new home.......

My daughter has made him a fashion model with paper doll clothes. She announced this morning as she posed him leaning against an anchor (no photo) that he has won many photo shoots. 

She then declared this his wedding dress.

When he is buried she stated that he has to be buried in all these clothes. I'm not sure if she was talking about his funeral or his realtor duties...

Our house sold in about a month of putting it on the market and we are very happy in our new home. Hmmmmm..................

Late Mother

My mom died 4 ½ years ago, this is nothing new. She passed on, is deceased, but yesterday it occurred to me she was my late mother for years before she died, all my life she was late for everything.

Right Where I Belong

It’s been a whirlwind of a life between Thanksgiving and Christmas this year. I only went one place to shop on “Black Friday” and that was to the realtor’s office. We put an offer in on a house after seeing it the previous Sunday. On Sunday at the open house I had no intention of this being the house. The location was right, and that’s what mattered the most, still within the limits of my neighborhood of 12 years. Well, after spending 45 minutes in this house it was evident that it was indeed the house.

By the motivation of driving by the “new” house four times a day to get to and from my kids’ school we were able to get our house cleaned, de-cluttered and neutralized in just over a week’s time in order to get on the market. The “new” house can only be ours if we sell the house we are in now. I can honestly say I have only been as exhausted as I’ve been in the past three weeks two other times in my life: when I was pregnant!

Our “new” house is still within our trick or treating boundary and when I told a friend how close we were moving she laughed at the idea. My neighborhood is filled with neighbors with an abundance of kindness I thought only existed on TV. Yesterday I brought one of my neighbors, who I don't see very often who is in her 80s, mail that was accidentally delivered to me. WE were hurriedly heading to my kids’ concerts at school and then heading out of town.

She told me she and other neighbors were sad to see the “For Sale” sign go up in my yard. I had called a few close neighbors ahead of time, but not everyone. She said that she understood that our family needed more space and have outgrown our home. I told her where we'd be moving and how we looked at houses in other areas but they didn't feel right because I love this neighborhood. Her reply was simple, "That's because you belong here." She warmed my heart and made me feel so thankful for bringing the envelope to her door rather than simply giving it back to the mail carrier.

One of life's basic needs is the feeling of belonging.

May you all be where you feel you belong this holiday week.

Replacing Annoyance with Gratitude

I’m annoyed! So annoyed that I want to run. It’s moments like this that I realize that deep inside I am a runner. I don’t have a lot of stress in my life, but when it arises my first, okay maybe second, thought is “I want to go run this off”. Now, with that said I only had 40 minutes before I had to pick my kids up from school so inside of running I paced my house and ate a great deal of the pan of brownies my son made yesterday with milky way bars. So, now I feel sick to my stomach, instead of feeling pissed (okay maybe it was more than feeling annoyed). BUT I have a run planned for the morning and it will be fueled by the feeling of 30 minutes ago.

Now, I think, is a good time for writing the blog post that’s been running in my mind lately…Thankfulness/Gratitude and what it means to me, in no particular order.

1. I have consciously and successfully surrounded myself with positive, loving, genuine and caring people.

2. My grad school program focused on counseling and self-care.

3. I am raising confident, respectful and compassionate children.

4. I live within my means, even if I dream of more I am thankful for what I have every day rather than focusing on what I don’t have (most days).

5. Running and all that it has given me: supportive, awesome friends who run with me, and the feelings of strength and accomplishment.

6. My cat.

7. My amazing neighbors who look out for my kids as if they were their own grandchildren; the least I can do is help shovel driveways and share food (mostly, but not always desserts).

8. My husband’s support of me being a stay at home mom….working part-time when it fits in with my #1 job: mom.

The list must end here, time to get the kids from school!

Monday Night Football Under the Lights

I watched the most exciting football game last night. There were lights, fireworks, a tunnel for the players to run out of and through fog while their names were announced, the field was spray painted in color with logos and words, there was a trophy and medals and music played loud. The score was tied several times throughout the game and the underdogs came through to win the game by one after completing a two-point conversion in overtime!

I cheered loud, my heart was in my stomach a few times, but in the end my son’s flag football team beat an undefeated team they had lost to twice this season to win the city-wide Park n Rec bowl game.

The temperature was mild but after a day of light rain it misted through most of the game. My son is in 4^th grade and I found myself, more than once, during the game picturing the future. Is this what it will be like if he plays high school football? Do I hope he plays high school football? Honestly, not really, if flag football was a varsity sport I’d be all for it, but the danger of concussions down right terrify me. In baseball and soccer (his other sports of choice) there are dangers of dislocated or broken bones, but bones heal, brain injuries are permanent.

Being a University of Alabama alum I have watched and cheered on many college football players who make it into the NFL, but in the end when their football career is over I often wonder if their college education has prepared them for life after football. My mom gene also causes me to worry about the guys who choose the NFL draft over completing their degree.

Speculation, analyzing and negativism aside I am so proud of my son’s team for working together and giving their families and friends a great night of Monday Night Football!

Running Rut

I began this school year in a running rut, much like last year. I thought I was really excited to get back into a running routine that included running three times a week, but it has been slow to materialize. Last Wednesday I had a great five-mile run, that came after a miserable 3-mile walk/run a few days earlier. I didn’t run many races this past summer and I think that’s what I need to motivate me right now. Well, during my great five-mile run I found myself focused on two races I am excited about running, one in the near future, one still a year away.

In a few weeks I will be running a 10K called the Chocoholic Frolic! I registered for this race over two hours away because I have never been so excited for a race before. Not only is there a chocolate fountain as part of the post race food, but the day before there is a running and chocolate expo! This one is going to be fun! Oh and they recently announced a mini chocolate cupcake will accompany one of the water stops along the race course.

Next October I have mentally committed myself to running the Hartford Half-Marathon; hopefully with my husband and two junior high friends who also would have never thought about running a mile for fun 25 years ago, let alone 13.1 of them.

So, for the next few weeks I will focus on Chocolate and Hartford as I run. 

My Head is All Blogged Up

I haven’t posted a blog in quite awhile, not from a lack of ideas though. My mind has a continual blog running through my mind. How it doesn’t all get typed up is beyond me.

I went to a Volunteer Appreciation breakfast this morning. I love volunteering and I love being appreciated, I also happen to love The Parenting Place (enough to bake for their silent auction two years running now), so I was excited to attend. They had a great inspirational and to me, motivating speaker, which is probably what is leading me to writing tonight. She calls herself a personal historian, you can hire her to interview you, and she’ll write your story, memoir, or family history for you. I love the idea of this, but I’d miss out on the writing portion of the project. It’s true I haven’t written in awhile, and I have missed it.

I think about the power of the written word, especially in its handwritten state and that is the one thing my blog is lacking, but when I began the blog I told myself that I would still try to journal and take notes on my kids’ great words using pen and paper.

Beside the dishes I use every day and the photographs hanging, my favorite inheritances from my mom are the thoughts and words she put to paper using a pen, most often a fountain pen, and later in life the fountain pen she bought during our trip to Australia.

The speaker this morning gave us questions to get “in the mood” for talking about our family history. I didn’t verbally share too much, but I sure enjoyed the thoughts that were triggered in my mind.

Think of a relative who has died who you would love to learn more about. Why do you want to know more from or about this person? What questions would you ask this person if you could and why? A sense of relief washed over me when I thought about the poems, diaries, and journals I have of my mother’s. What a relief that I can read her deepest thoughts and feelings. I guarantee you that before I go to bed tonight I will read some of them. She always liked to ask questions like, what have you learned from me? What do you remember from when you were younger? As I get older I find myself asking those very same questions.

Shortly after her diagnosis of lung cancer I took these questions to heart and collected many stories about her from friends, family and her colleagues and what I came up with was a wonderful book to give her for Hanukkah that year. I treasure this book, especially for the stories from people I have never met, the stories that I shake my head reading and think to myself, yep that was my mom. I am so thankful to not only have these stories for my children, but also to have been able to have given them to her. That book was right up there with in the top 5 best gifts I’ve ever given her; I’m pretty sure her two grandchildren would be numbers one and two.