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Jan 9, 2009

Haiku Friday: Small Victories

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Haiku Friday
Tonight, we fought the
“man”, and we won! Well, we got
a short extension.

A few weeks ago
we found the land behind ours
could possibly change

Instead of single
homes, they wanted to change the
zoning: apartments.

Two large apartment
buildings would be placed twenty-
five feet from our yard.

“Oh hell no!” we cried
and went to the meeting to
voice our discontent

We were not alone.
Others complained about the
trouble it would bring.

The committee heard
us, and tabled the vote for
further discussion.

When we found out the developer who owns the land directly behind us wanted to change the zoning from single-family homes to apartments, we were furious, but also felt helpless. How could we stop it? But anger won out, and I decided we needed to go to this zoning meeting, voice our concerns, and ask them to deny the request. I was terrified, to be honest.

Good thing we went. After hearing our complaints, plus the complaints from others bordering the property, the committee told the developer that the request needed to be tabled until our complaints could be addresses and some compromise could be reached. We spoke with the developer afterward, and despite some loud arguing from some of those involved, it was decided that we would schedule a meeting to try to discuss alternatives that would make everyone happy.

This also gives us time to mobilize other neighbors who would be affected, too. The developer had assured those surrounding the property that it would only build single-family homes when it first started. If everyone surrounding the property refuses to allow apartments, I’d imagine we can block this rezoning from happening entirely. It’s possible we’ll find a compromise, but any attempt to put large 12 unit apartment buildings directly behind my backyard will be met with fierce resistance. And after our “win” tonight, I’m feeling completely energized and ready to rally the neighborhood to make sure our properties are protected.

Lesson learned: Stand up for yourself, your family and your home, or you let someone else choose your future.

To play along for Haiku Friday, follow these steps:

1. Write your own haiku on your blog. You can do one or many, all following a theme or just random. What’s a haiku, you ask? Click here.

2. Sign the Mister Linky below with your name and the link to your haiku post (the specific post URL, not your main blog URL). DON’T sign unless you have a haiku this week. If you need help with this, please let me know.

3. Pick up a Haiku Friday button to display on the post or in your sidebar by clicking the button at the top.

REMEMBER: Do not post your link unless you have a haiku this week! I will delete any links without haiku!

Filed Under: big issues, daily life, Haiku Fridays · Tagged:


Dec 31, 2008

2008: A Year I Won’t Miss

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Goodbye 2008.

No, really. See ya later 2008. Take your musty old robes and make way for the 2009 baby. Git gone. Scram. 2008, you are persona non grata. Don’t let the door hit you on the way out.

If ever there was a year I wanted to banish into the past and forget it ever happened, 2008 would be it. It feels like a dark cloud has been hanging over our heads for the entire year. I could link up a bunch of posts pointing to a year in review, but I think it would hurt too much to re-read those words.

You probably remember the lowlights, anyway: being laid off, trying to find a job with no success, dealing with a summer of regression from Cordy, losing health insurance, a car that tried to die on us, a relapse into depression for me (can you blame me at this point?), losing my best-paid freelance job, going on assistance for a short time, suffering through serious marriage problems that nearly split us apart, and on and on and on.

As one final parting blow before 2008 was done, we lost our health insurance for the girls due to Aaron’s temporary job paying him too much in a single month, and found out a developer who owns the land behind us is now trying to change it from building very nice single family condo homes to an apartment complex. As if our property values weren’t suffering enough already.

As my friend Erin would say, 2008 can #suckit.

Some good did happen in 2008, though. I don’t think we could have survived an entire year of nothing but being beat down. I started writing a new blog that I love. Cordy has made incredible progress in the last 6 months, tackling many challenges that before were too much for her to handle. Aaron currently has a technical writing contract job that should last through January, and if we have any luck, beyond that. Family and friends continue to offer their support. Blog friends came through for me in spades, helping to fix my car, and giving us a surprise $100 gift at Christmas. I only hope I’ve helped as many people as have helped me.

Lesson: although circumstances have sucked, it’s the people, not objects, that can make things seem better.

So while it’s been a stressful year, it hasn’t been all doom and gloom. But when you combine our personal situation with the global economic, environmental, and social problems of this year, I think you’ll join us in giving 2008 the finger as we boot it out the door.

As for 2009, I can only hope that we’ve satisfied karma’s twisted sense of humor and our fortunes will improve in some way. I’m longing for the Powers That Be to tire of screwing with us. I’d like our financial situation to stabilize, and I hope we’ll all have health insurance again soon. I’ll be finished with school in June, and will then start my search for a job, either part-time or full-time. I’m planning to go to Blissdom 09 and BlogHer 09 this year (still working on the financial details), and expect them to be great events for meeting up with friends and making new contacts.

Personally, I want 2009 to be a year of better health and better parenting. I think I’m an OK parent, but there’s always room for improvement. I’d also like to start sewing again, making clothing for Cordy and Mira instead of buying as much mass-produced clothing. I want to spend more time with friends and family and less time worrying. Also, one way or another I’m going to kick depression’s ass and feel happy again.

C’mon 2009. I’ve got a lot of faith in you. Don’t let me down.

And finally, I hope 2009 is a year full of promise and good fortune for you and your family, too.

Filed Under: daily life, fate laughing at me, holidays, memories ·


Dec 29, 2008

What You Get When You Give A 4-Year Old A Camera For Christmas

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From Cordy’s new Little Tikes camera:







And when said 4-year old’s 19-month sister gets her hands on the same Little Tikes camera, you get these pictures…






…and about 130 more exactly like them.

Filed Under: Cordy, daily life, holidays, Mira ·


Dec 15, 2008

The People Who Make Post-It Notes Will Soon Love Me

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I’d guess that I’m looking forward to 2009 more than the average person. With all of the bad we’ve had this year, I’m planning to consider that big ball in Times Square on Dec. 31 my executioner’s axe, cutting off all of the frustration, the anger, the worry and the heartbreak of 2008 and leaving it behind as we embrace the new year.

Which means I’d better start working on a plan for 2009.

I’m a lousy planner, I’ll admit. Something inside of me wants desperately to be organized – always aware of everything coming up and never found scraping things together at the last minute. But no matter how much I want to be that way, I eventually go back to being the girl who flies by the seat of her (worn thrice because she forgot to do laundry) pants.

One benefit of nursing school is that it forces me to organize. We are taught to prioritize and organize our day so the insurmountable mountain of tasks is whittled down to an acceptable level without the need to stay late. Prioritizing is probably the one skill out of all of the organization skills that I’ve taken a liking to.

It’s far too easy for me to hop from one project to whatever crosses my mind next, never stopping to think about if that new task is really important enough to override other items on my to-do list. That task is soon followed by another mental burst to go do something else, often leaving task #2 unfinished. (ADD much? My doctor even agrees with me now.)

2009 will be my year of the priority list. I’ve made every attempt to not turn into my mom and aunts with their neurotic ability to make list after list for everything from groceries to gift lists to who to call. But I have to admit – lists are helpful. Less helpful, though, is a jumbled to-do list that ranks throw away the Christmas lights that don’t work higher than buy cat food so your poor pets don’t walk out on you and charge you with neglect only because I thought of it first while writing.

Hopefully keeping prioritized (maybe color coded? Hmmm…might need to consider that idea) lists will help me stay on track. And we all know I need it. Like most moms, I have a lot of different hats to wear, and each has its own set of responsibilities. I’m responsible for paying the bills, some housework, Cordy’s school notices and permission slips, my schoolwork and clinical time, doctor appts. for both kids, setting up therapy appts. for Cordy, any type of appointments for me, grocery shopping, three blogs, three cats, two kids and a partridge in a pear tree. OK, the last one isn’t true. But I do have to keep the birdfeeder filled with birdseed.

(Let’s not even begin to count things I’d like to do, such as paint some of the rooms in our house and hang shit on the walls so I won’t feel like I’m still living in my old college apartment.)

Who knows? Maybe tackling tasks in an organized manner will give me a little more time in my life? I could think of a lot of uses for a little more spare time.

I could probably make a list of all of those free time ideas, too.

This post is part of the last PBN blog blast of the year, sponsored by Big Tent. Here’s hoping we all have a more organized 2009.

Filed Under: clearly insane, daily life, me me me ·


Dec 1, 2008

This Was My Weekend

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It was a lovely holiday weekend. Thursday was filled with family and a surprising amount of fun – more fun than we’ve had at T-Day in a long, long time. We did a little shopping on Friday, Mira had her full evaluation on Saturday (more on that soon) and then the remainder of the weekend was spent attending to holiday decorations.

Cordy helped decorate the tree for the second time ever, and I think together we did a pretty good job. (Sorry for the blurry pic – turning off the flash results in blur with my camera.)

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Filed Under: daily life, family time, holidays ·