Sunday, October 18, 2009

Packing Brief

I have met my nemisis and thy name is packing tape.

Tuesday, October 13, 2009

Eat, Drink, Tango and Clean up Cat Puke

The wonderful thing about a blog is you are anonymous. No one I know has the knowledge to access it. I know I'm a little whiney but it's my blog and I'll whine if I want to...

A hard day. I became very overwhelmed by the task of packing for next Wednesday's move. I can't believe all this stuff will be gone and I won't be able to make my cafe au lait, sit in my favorite chair and read first thing in the morning. I won't be able to watch the birds at my feeder. I won't be able to sit in front of the fire with the cat.

A friend came over to help and I literally cried on her shoulder.

I took an afternoon break to go to a tai chi class, which I usually find very calming. It also helps my focus, which at this point is as acattered as the leaves on my front lawn.

Spent an hour cancelling utilities and realized my ex husband's name was still on my energy bill.

"Mam, we've taken his name off the account ... is there anything else I can do for you today?"

"Yea, can you also take him out of my life?"

I really did say that.

When I called the telephone company representative she was eager to set me up with service in my new residence.

"Ummm, I'm moving out of the country."

"Oh, where to?"

"Argentina."

"Wow, did you ever read that book, 'Eat, Love, Pray;"

"Yes, but I intend to Eat, Drink and Tango."

The day had a smashing ending with the cat puking all over my computer monitor, which I'm afraid fried it. This is not the first time. Best Buy thought it was hilarious the last time it happened and I went in to buy a new one. Hopefully it might dry out overnight and work in the morning? Wishful thinking. Luckily I'm able to commandeer my son's computer since he's off at college.

Monday, October 12, 2009

Momento Mori

It snowed today in the Twin Cities. In the morning I went outside to take a photo of my home. Perhaps I'll post it if I have time. It's sort of a momento mori for my beloved house. My house is nothing fancy ... it has a big front yard and mature trees and it looks quite lovely in the snow.

I'm in heavy duty move mode--I've been packing up boxes and soon I'll be starting on the essentials. I'm a little freaked out and a little excited and a lot sad.

My son and his best friend are going to come down to Buenos Aires for Christmas to stay with me for two weeks. I'm buying their quite expensive tickets. Imagine two 18 year olds on the loose in a big world class city.

Miz Boom Boom

Saturday, October 10, 2009

Sex, Sim Cards and a Bit of Escrow

Dear Reader,

My giggle for the week was some parting advice from an elderly girlfriend who had me over for a vodka tonic.

"Remember, if you meet some guy down there, and he wants to get married, he's only after your money."

"Mickey, I'm never getting married again."

"And if he wants to have sex,don't forget to use protection."

"Mickey, what's sex?"

I've spent the week trying to decipher whether the $500 on my mortgage escrow account was something I owed, or something I got back, and how the hell does escrow work, anyway? I decided if it's something I got back, the money was mine and if it's something I owe, the ex can go half-sies with me.

And the mysteries of how cell phone companies operate internationally. You have to buy a cell phone and then get it "unlocked" by the phone company that has you indentured ... then, upon reaching Buenos Aires, you remove the "sim" card and buy a "go" card at the local bodega and then you punch in the card's numbers to obtain your minutes.

And apparently I have to learn the joys of texting because that's cheaper than calling. Arggg,gimme my land line.

Miz Boom Boom

Tuesday, October 6, 2009

Dreams and Views

Fourth day of rain here. I need to make room in my garage to get the car in so I can load boxes in comfort.

Last night, trying to get to sleep, my mind kept repeating,"I'm going to a new country! They all speak Spanish!" ... which didn't help much to quiet my mind. After all, I've been in a new country the last two years--the land of the single. The divorce, after 20 years of marriage, was not my idea. Leaving my beloved home of 20 years, well, that wasn't my idea either. This new country has not been a kind one.

The idea of home has always been so important to me. When I doodle I draw houses. I've had a reocurring bad dream, one I've had for 15 years, in which I decide to move from my home to another house I think will be better. It's in a whole new neighborhood and when I move in I realize that I want my old home back desperately. But I can't. New people have moved in. Now the dream is coming true. My relator says she's going to hire some mystic sort to come over and do some juju to break my connection with my home.

I've been feeding the birds again now that it's fall. It's one of the things I love most about looking out my kitchen window. They flit in, crossing ariel paths, knocking out seed that falls to a furry frenzy of chipmunks and squirrels. In the next few weeks it's going to an Old Country Buffet of seed in my backyard. The view out my kitchen window is the one that appears in my dreams.

Miz Boom Boom

Monday, October 5, 2009

Like a (Blog) Virgin, Typed for the Very First Time

My very first post, ever!

Dear Reader,

Come journey with me as I--a divorced, laid off, empty nesting, middle-aged broad prepares to depart for Buenos Aires.

Share with me the anxieties of packing, handing off my car to my 18-year-old son, selling my house and reinventing myself for a life in Argentina. It's going to be "Eat, Drink and Tango" for this old girl.

I mean, what's there to lose? No job, no husband, no house, no son at home (and soon no home, come to think about it).

Dear reader, will I survive the sorting and organizing , the schleping of boxes ... the tears?

Love,

Miz Boom Boom (a note about the moniker: I'm a baby boomer)