Monday, June 28, 2010

things i'll miss about san diego #4

Today was one of those days that started out difficult and 12 hours later, hadn't improved much.

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Today, one of our children was just as sick as she had been yesterday. But today, the novelty of having one child laying on the couch all day, not causing a disruption, was replaced by concern that she might have strep throat or something highly contagious that would sweep through the entire family. She couldn't eat, she couldn't drink, she couldn't do anything more than cry that her throat hurt so badly she couldn't even swallow. I typically hold off until the absolute last possible moment taking our children to the doctor, because I've learned, most things resolve themselves. But today, when she wasn't any better and seemed to be getting worse, I called the doctor only to find out that they had absolutely zero availability today. The only option was to take her to urgent care.

Today, Charlie took her to urgent care and shelled out the $100.00 co-pay only to have our daughter skip joyfully in to the exam room and chatter with everyone she saw. Her temperature, which had been over 100 this morning, miraculously disappeared the moment she stepped in to the doctor's office and she became the undeniable picture of excellent health. That lasted until the appointment was over and she was buckled in to her car seat. She then promptly resumed her sickness and cried the whole way home.

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Today, I learned that the cost of a furnished studio apartment in Fairfax, where we will temporarily reside until we find a new home, will be approximately twice the cost of our current mortgage.

Today, I looked in to campsites in the Fairfax area because: a) we'll be there in the summer, b) there are showers at the office and although my company will be providing us with a lump sum for our relocation costs, c) I cannot pay twice our current mortgage for a two bedroom apartment. There is an invisible force stopping me.

Today, the magnitude of what we need to accomplish in the next eight days hit us square in the eyes and we just about lost our marbles. Especially when our children began to UNPACK the boxes that we painstakingly organized this past weekend.

Today, without our knowledge, our toddler went poop and then he went commando. And then he climbed all over our beige couch and his sisters' white bed spread.

Today, I gave thanks to the makers of RESOLVE and Oxy Clean.

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Today, one of our children locked themselves in the bathroom because they wanted to give their stuffed kitten a bath. And while they were in there, their sibling couldn't get on the potty fast enough and went poop in their pants.

Today, our children forgot that we have TWO bathrooms.

Today, our toddler skipped his nap.

Today, I realized that it would be less painful to put my hand in to a paper shredder than spend an entire afternoon with my toddler when he's skipped a nap.

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Today, my husband went to the store and bought all of the ingredients necessary for a nice dinner. A dinner, which once prepared, my children stared at as if it was the smear across a beige couch or white bedspread.

Today, after realizing that the children weren't going to touch a bite of their dinner, I speed read "Green Eggs and Ham." Then, I brushed their teeth and got them in to their pajamas. Our toddler was so over tired and confused by the fact that one minute he was at the dinner table and five minutes later he, and all of his siblings were in bed, that he fell asleep crying, "I NOT WANT BWUSH MY TEEF!"

Today, our children were put in to bed at 6:18 PM. The Good Fairy smiled upon us and they were all asleep less than 10 minutes later (with sparkly clean teef).

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Today, once everyone was settled down and Daddy was sipping a beer and thanking GOD that his children were FINALLY in bed (and Honey Sugar Iced Tea, how did we SURVIVE today?!) I went for a walk around our neighborhood and I visually soaked up the magnificent Jacaranda trees. They are in full bloom right now and while I love all flowered trees: Magnolias and Dogwoods and Cherry ... I don't believe I've ever seen anything more breathtaking than a drooping Jacaranda tree covered in bright purple blossoms.

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Alice Walker wrote, "If you pass by the color purple in a field and don't notice it, God gets real pissed off."

I don't know about the getting pissed off part, but I do know that tonight when I was out walking beneath canopies of purple flowers, I stared in wonder at the majesty around me. And without even trying (or having a tranquilizer administered directly in to my carotid artery), all of my worries disappeared, everything was right in the world, and my confidence about what we'll be able to accomplish over the next eight days was totally restored.

I'll really miss Jacaranda trees and must look in to getting myself a bonsai version.

It'll be like my floral version of Xanax.

16 comments:

  1. Maybe you could find something to rent on this site: www.sabbaticalhomes.com

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  2. When we moved to Arlington, VA. We rented an apartment in Lincoln Towers right across the street from the Ballston Metro. We did sign a lease for longer than 6 months but there are a ton of temporary apts. people rent month to month all the time....Lincoln towers also had furnished apts in there that I inquired about that were twice what the rent was (and as you've discovered...definitely astronomically priced) but what we ended up doing was "camp" in the unfurnished apartment for the couple of weeks that we were there before the movers came. We rented a small U-haul to tow on the back of my husbands jeep,put sleeping bags, air mattresses, a tv, few pots and pans, etc...everything you'd need to camp in an empty apt. We were happy when our stuff came, but it wasn't bad. We could have stayed like that for a couple of months.(Although we realized after the first 10 days we could stand a better air mattress) The apartment had a ton of amenities. The kids had a ball!
    It does require the ability to drive your own stuff cross country though...
    Good Luck!
    p.s. sorry your daughter is sick :( Sounds like the exact same thing that Shepard had last week - even the timeline. I couldn't get a dr. appt that day so I scheduled it for the following day. His fever broke that same night and the next day I ended up cancelling the appt. He still does have a cough at night that sounds crappy. But I've been trying really hard to give him adequate down time to recover.

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  3. p.s.p.s....and while yes these purple tree/flowers are pretty..you haven't experienced the mass amount of blooming cherry trees during the spring nor the beautiful tulips and flowers that bloom in the spring. It is absolutely spectacular. Don't worry you'll have pretty stuff to look at there too!

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  4. Wow, they are stunning! Jacarandas are my favourite tree - I fell in love with them when I stayed in Sydney (Australia) for a while. I wouldn't have a hope seeing them flower here in the UK!

    All the best with your epic move, may God grant you an infinite amount of patience for the forseeable ;)

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  5. You have perfect timing! Just today my mind went totally blank and I could not remember for the life of me the name of the purple flowering trees that I adore when I go to San Diego. Then there is your post - jacarandas!

    Each year around this time I return to my beloved San Diego and I just LOVE how when you fly over the city you see splashes of purple all over the city. Your posts are making me miss San Diego a lot! But soon you'll be posting pics of your kids playing in the snow, beautiful fall foliage, and I will be envious then, too. I'm very fickle. Ha.

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  6. Yes, it is EXPENSIVE here (Fairfax) - look into home rentals. A lot of people are in danger of losing their home, so they rent it to have someone ELSE pay the mortgage and they rent something smaller and further out to try and hold on to the home until the market bounces back. Executives moving into our area often do this, as they usually have larger families and/or pets that make renting condos harder. Also - look RIGHT OUTSIDE fairfax, in the edges of Loudoun. You aren't any further time-wise, but the price drop is considerable.

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  7. just curious -- does your company have any corporate lodging you could stay at / special rates with local hotels?
    besides the lump sum relo money, sounds like they should really be helping you out a bit more than they are in terms of temporary housing.

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  8. Your floral photos are beautiful. Also enjoy the pics of your family. You must have the camera always handy to get all the good shots. Your move seems pretty daunting now, but give yourself time to get used to your new surroundings and I am sure that you will soon fall in love with the Eastern Coast too. Just think how much closer your family will be to you too. Good luck and keep writing!!!

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  9. Both my girls have sore throats and fevers. Amanda hasn't eaten for 3 days. Amanda got it first and Sarah got it a day later. We are on our 2000 mile trek across country and I actually though it might be strep throat. But, amazingly, they are both in the upswing today. It's about a four day virus if we have the same one going. Pack Motrin and Benadryl for your new home in the campground. Baahahhahahaha.

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  10. Today, you made me laugh about the paper shredder thing and the looks on the kids faces upon seeing the nice dinner Charlie had made, and the bit about the tranquilizer being administered directly into your carotid artery.

    I feel your pain..sorry it's so hard right now-we're moving too though so I totally get it. Just hope knowing you make people laugh helps, somehow, in some small way.
    -Karen

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  11. Hey, should we come on Friday instead of Thursday? call me

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  12. Don't look for actual temporary housing. Call apartment complexes (large ones worked best for us) and ask for a month to month lease. You'll have to put 3/4 of your stuff in storage and 1/4 in the apartment, but for us, the rent was half was the furnished corporate extended stay stuff was.

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  13. It has been a long time that I do not post to you , my father passed away last April 27th and I was away to get over it , so today I came to say hello to you.

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  14. Have you looked in the areas surrounding Fairfax? (Loudoun County, Prince William County) There are a lot of people doing short sales to avoid foreclosure and I've seen a lot of rentals taking short-term leases.

    If all else fails, I'll see you at the campsite! :) We're going home to visit family before I drive out to WA so the kids and I will be camping in VA for a few weeks.

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  15. What a day this has been, what a rare mood I'm in ...

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  16. Jacaranda trees are my favorite.

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