Not So SAHM

Old fashioned

I’m old fashioned to a point. I believe in manners, chivalry, that prints and plaids do not mix no matter what Lucky (or Harper’s for that matter) is trying to tell you. I also believe in common courtesy, which should manifest itself both inside the store and out on the sidewalks.

There’s no doubt that customer service in retail and restaurant establishments is waning. What used to be expected is now surprising if you actually receive it. When we lived in Hampton, Virginia we gave up on the notion of someone actually caring about how we, as the customers, were doing. And Virginia is still supposed to be in the south. They had forgotten about southern hospitality a long time ago. This is why I’m in love with Chick Fil A by the way. In the restaurants I’ve been in it didn’t matter if your server was 16 or 86, they served you with a smile and made sure you were taken care of. Amazing in this day and age. And they have some kickin’ sweet tea.

We moved out west to Missouri and were surprised at the courtesy we received almost everywhere. Going above and beyond for the customer is still alive and well in at least one small town out there. Montgomery, Alabama was a mixed bag. Some places cared about you. Some places couldn’t care less.

I was coming to the conclusion that population size of the greater metropolitan area is inversely proportional to the quality of customer service you receive. However, I haven’t been able to apply that assumption to the customer service I’ve received so far in the greater DC area. We’ve already eaten out at more restaurants here than we did in both AL and MO combined (give or take one or two…or ten) and everyone has been nice. It might have something to do with the fact that they are fleecing you with the food prices and they know it. Even the museum volunteers were happy to help us out. Well, except for that one man who made me stand forward one extra foot so the humongous amount of foot traffic (read: absolutely none) could pass through the smallish corridor I was supposedly hogging up. But other than his little gesture, everyone has been great.

What I have noticed though is that the common courtesy of acknowledging the other human beings in your immediate area with maybe a smile or a head nod is completely lacking up here. Du recounted to me his bus/metro ride into work the other day and it included mad, unhappy people hating their day as they trudged through it. Not one person smiled at him. We went to the grocery store the other day and the only way I was going to get people to look at me was if I were to don a clown suit and start juggling. And only then would they gesture knowingly at the poor woman who’s lost her mind. It’s as if people go out of their way to not be friendly.

I’m gathering my own opinions based on my flawed psychological understanding and have an idea as to why this seems to be prevalent in larger metropolitan areas. But dang it, we’re still in the south y’all (we’re in Virginia, so technically, yes we are), and I’m going to keep smiling at people. In fact, it’s my goal to get at least one scowling person to turn her frown upside down when she sees my genteel smile and nod. It has become my mission.

So, if you’re traveling through the DC area and you’re on the metro and there’s some goofy lady (probably with two little girls talking non stop) with a permanent goofy grin on her face it’s probably me. And smile at me back please.

Taking applications

I’ve always admitted that I can’t wait for the empty nest phase of life. As much as I love my girls and protect them with every motherly fiber of my being, there is a part of me that is ready for them to be grown, successful, married, and out of the house.

Kids are noisy. I like noise. At a concert. Not so much in my house…all the time. And we have two girls so try to imagine that. Talking and talking and talking and talking and talking and talking and a breath, and talking and talking and talking and a question and talking and talking and. It’s no wonder I don’t care to gab on the phone or in person even. I’ve heard enough before breakfast than most people do all day.

This month, because of the move, our girls have been staying with their grandparents. First they were with Grandma Dee for a week while the packers and movers were at our house. Then they were at Nonna & Bops for a week while we drove up to DC and did some house hunting. Today we picked them up from the airport and I couldn’t have been happier. I cried when I saw them. And it was a happy cry.

Now I think I’m crying out of pain. My ears hurt. I’ve had two of the most peaceful weeks in recent history and it kind of came to a screeching halt this afternoon. And to compound the noise issue I seem to have, we’re staying in a hotel room that’s about as big as your walk-in closet. Go look in your closet. See, not much room when you think about two adults, two girls and two cats living there for up to five weeks. Did you get that? FIVE weeks. Pity party will commence in twelve minutes, but not in this hotel room ’cause there wouldn’t be enough room. Ear plugs will be handed out as the party favor (you who know me know I love my ear plugs. Let’s hope they work in this situation as well).

Now Grandpa and Grandma S had them last year when we were moving down to Alabama, and they live all the way in Arkansas so I can’t just ask them to pony up and sign up for another week of grandparent camp (love that term; I’m stealing from an FB friend). Therefore I am taking applications for grandparents by proxy. I won’t even require you to be of normal grandparent age. Leave me a message and I’ll get you the application. You’ll probably pass. Here are some sample questions:

Do you love kids?
Will you love my kids more than life itself?
Do you promise to make my kids use their manners?
Do you have pets my kids can (and will) man handle?
Teaching them a sport, hobby or second or third language would be a plus.
Pampering them a little, and reminding them this ain’t happening at home, would be another plus.
Can you keep them until, oh, about 01 August?

P.S. I am in no way serious, so back off.

Gettin’ some culture

We took a break from house hunting today and went into the city. A friend recommended the Newseum so we drove in to check that out. Traffic wasn’t bad and we actually found a street with plenty of parking just one street over from the museum.

We ended up across the street at the National Gallery of Art though because $36 for two adults + just a little over an hour to see it all ≠ a good time. Du is a “reader”. By that I mean he will read every plaque and piece of paraphernalia that is put out to read. That’s normally great because I can zoom through a museum, gather the gist of everything, and then sit on a bench to rest and relax. Later Du can fill me in on all the juicy little details. That’s just how we roll people.

So, not wanting to waste $36 we headed across the street for the free culture. And I am so glad we did. I was thoroughly amazed at the paintings we were able to see, and I can’t wait to take the girls back here for “Art Appreciation” or “Drawing” or any other number of homeschooling classes we could do.

In just one small wing of the gallery we saw paintings by:

Manet
Monet
Renoir
Cassat
Degas
Toulouse-Lautrec
Gauguin
Van Gogh
Cezanne

I think I was more in awe here than in The Louvre. Well, probably not, because how can you be more in awe than being in an art gallery in Paris? But, that’s been over ten years! Can you guess the painters who painted the following?:

Uh, I might have to go back to look at the artist of #3…I didn’t take a picture of the plaque…uh oh. Anyone?

I wish I would have taken more pictures now. I’m no art critic but it was fascinating to “study” the different painting techniques, different subjects, different use of materials (Toulouse-Lautrec seemed to like to paint on cardboard. And judging from his subjects I’m guessing his lifestyle didn’t lend itself to having a lot of money for canvases).

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Later in the day we ate lunch at an Italian café where a parrot was sitting on a chair as free as, well, a regular bird.

Was it an escapee from the zoo, which was just down the road? No. Her owner was dining and apparently the two go everywhere together.

Not a great picture, but she is nibbling her owner’s ear. Later one of the waitresses got her to climb on her arm. The bird immediately started picking at one of the buttons on her sleeve or collar. She thought they were nuts and pulled one off!

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We then headed to Rosslyn to one of the many Starbucks featured in the Arlington Rap video I posted earlier this week. Later we went out to dinner with friends and then took a tour through north Arlington and got to see where most of the video was shot. Cool area with great shops and I can’t wait to go back, especially to The Container Store to figure out how to stylishly store all of the crap toys and other stuff we’ll have to hide once we have a house.

All in all it was a great day with many different cultural attractions…

When one door opens…it may be the wrong door

We knocked on the wrong door today. Our realtor had called before hand to make sure we could stop by. We met in the parking lot, spec sheet in hand…including the address of the house for rent. We gathered in front of the door and our realtor knocked on the door. A puzzled looking man answered the door, probably gathering up his defense to either reject a vacuum or reject front-door religion. We quickly learn that no, this house isn’t for rent, the tenants just rented it several months ago. And no, the listing agent isn’t the sharpest tool in the shed. Maybe just a tool. Kidding.

We found the correct house and walked through two others today. Dilemma ensued as we had to start confirming our priorities. I mean, how do you decide:

Smaller house with charm (1500 sqft)? or larger house with less charm (app. 2000 sqft)?
Wood floors covering most of house? or carpet covering 2/3 of the house?
Small patio? or nice sized patio and porch?
Decent yard very close to playground? or decent side yard with no playground?
No bathroom on main level (one on upper and one on lower)? or plenty of toilets?

I have to say I can sympathize now with those couples on House Hunters who have to agonizingly pick between three different houses. Sometimes the choice is obvious. Other times the choice is only obvious to me and they go and pick the very wrong one. There are benefits and drawbacks to each house, and there are little nuances that may make or break a decision.

For us, we chose the smaller house with charm, wood floors, small patio, playground nearby and not the greatest bathroom situation. I think what actually tipped us this way was the fact that the playground is within walking distance. That nuance made up our minds.

We’ll see if we’re meant for the house though. The basement is on the darker side and Du’s pretty adamant about getting more lighting down there. We submitted the application today with a request to add more lighting down there. We’ll see…

The one with the persistent B.O.

We saw the insides of six houses today. And of the ones that were not already vacant exactly one of those were show worthy. Three of them were dirty and one was foul beyond measure.

Tenants, do you really live in that filth? Are you that inconsiderate of your landlords? We couldn’t believe how dirty and messy these people left their houses when they KNEW that people would be dropping by to tour. We didn’t really care to see his and her underwear all over the master bedroom floor, but that’s what we saw. We didn’t care to see mold growing in the bathroom tub, but that’s what we saw. Trash piled high next to the already full trash can (this neighborhood has trash service everyday just so you know). Dirty dishes filling the dirty sink. Laundry piled into the basement shower.

The worst house, the one foul beyond measure, reminded us of that Seinfeld episode where Jerry lets a valet park his car and ends up with a B.O. stench that would not leave the car. And it would not leave his jacket or Elaine’s hair. This house had dog stench. As soon as we opened the door I wretched a little and tried covering my nose with my sweater. Unmistakable–hot, wet dog smell. We couldn’t figure out how the stench got so bad. The house had hardwood floors on two levels and carpet in the basement. Did he bake the dog in the oven? The dog was nowhere to be seen so we were left to wander quickly through the house wondering what happened to make the place so foul.

I gathered a couple of clues as I was darting through trying to hold my breath and hold back the vomit at the same time. I surmised that a single guy lived there until he recently got married. My guess is that they were moving to a bigger, better place to start a family. God help that woman to know what she’s getting herself into. Dude does not know how to keep a clean house. Dude must not have a working olfactory system either, because, yes, people tend to get used to their house’s “odor” and not smell it like other people do, but this odor?!?!, that guy must not be able to smell anything at all. We felt a little bad for him, because he has got to go to work stinking, like Jerry and Elaine did, not able to escape the stench…and nobody was telling him that he reeked of old, hot, wet dog. Why we even set foot in there after the first stink wafted out the front door, I’ll never know. No amount of airing that house out is going to get rid of that hot, wet dog smell.

What today gave me was more than just pity for these people that they spend their home lives in filth. It let me know that my house, as messy and dusty as it can get sometimes, is never as bad as what we saw today. It gave me hope that I am cleaner and neater than half the population. Not that that’s something I aspire to or anything.

Your forever slightly OCD, semi-neat freak,

Lay of the land

The lay of the land, I’m finding, can be very different in your head than what it is in actuality.

We were able to drive around a bit today, and I’m happy to report that all my obsessing for the past month or so helped. A little. I was familiar with street names and directions in the Arlington area, and somewhat in the greater Alexandria area. It’s nice to actually be here now to see everything in person. However, I did not envision hills anywhere and there tend to be a lot of hills in Arlington. Good to know, for instance, if we’re looking at a house and the nearest bus stop is .25 miles up a hill. That might be a determining factor.

We drove through our top neighborhoods and were pleased with most of them. We’ll be going around tomorrow to look in some houses! Finally! Hopefully we’ll have some good news to report in the next couple of days.

One addendum: the cats. The very night that I wrote that they had given us no issues they managed to give us issues. That night they exercised their nocturnal nature to its fullest extent in our hotel room. Although the room was quite big enough for the two humans, when you add in two worried cats who were pacing over the bed, in the window, in the bathroom, on top of the entertainment center, and meowing to voice their inquietude…the room became very small. Fortunately, my husband is somewhat of a genius and carries around not just one pair of earplugs, but two pairs. Before getting back to sleep though Du tried to rationalize with Buzz.

Buzz: Meow
Du: Shhhh, Buzz
Buzz: Meowwwww
Du: Buzz, Shhhh, it’s ok
Buzz: Meow
Me: He doesn’t understand English Du, especially at 5 in the morning.

Last night we were smart enough to wear the earplugs to bed so we weren’t woken up by anything. I have no idea if they were up last night or not.

Here’s to a great couple of days of house hunting!