The Final Countdown

I announced my retirement today.

OK, not really my retirement, but I did give notice in preparation of beginning a new job in an old industry.

I'm going back to hotel management, something I never thought I would do since leaving Harrah's. Sixteen hundred rooms and three-thousand surly tourists ... good fun!

I get all teary-eyed when I think about leaving the people I work with. I love each one of them. I've learned so much from them. I get so much out of spending 8 & 9 hours with them five days a week.

Then again, being a receptionist was not my life goal. Neither is being in the hotel business, but at least it's comfortable and I'm not first on the phones! There is nothing quite like making sure someone else can grab the phone if you need to take a leak. Sheesh.

Here's to leaving comfort for a challenge.

Tally ho!!

Raindrops Keep Fallin' On My Head

Oh, the humanity! Fargo has had something like 36 feet of rain in the last three days.

Alright, I'm exaggerating. The paper says it was 4.5", but I call bullsh*t. It is ridiculously soggy around here. So soggy, in fact, that OUR BASEMENT FLOODED. Something about the drain tile not being able to handle the amount of water raising the water table. Two words for those of you home owners new to the area: sump pump. If you're not familiar with it, the term sounds like something dirty. Like many, many other things from this area as well. We'll go into that another time.

Back to the 1' of water in the basement: I have to admit, I was kind of excited. We're talking a girl who grew up in the damn desert, people! Not a whole lot of basements back home, much less the opportunity for them to flood.

I got an education in water removal, let me tell you. If it weren't for the soon-to-be stench and the back-breaking work, I'd have said it was kind of fun. Sick, I know ... but it was a new adventure for me, remember? My husband, on the other hand, took it as a personal affront to his very existence. First there was the withering answer to my "what is wrong" question; " Laura - OUR BASEMENT IS FLOODED." Right. Flooded. That is precisely the first thing my feeble mind settled on when being woken up by a light being flipped on at 1:30A.M. Then came the inquisition, "Laura - what happened with the weather while I was sleeping?!?" As though whatever did have the gall to happen was clearly something I should have reported immediately. Oi vey!

I am glad to report, though, that I have wonderful friends. Stef answered the 9am wakeup call to action and came to move furniture with her beau, Rocco. Mike's friend, Matt, helped man a shop-vac. (The boys were rewarded with TCBY, Stef will receive a portion of my future lottery winnings.)

Jackson (the black kitty) lost his mind. He followed whomever was in the basement around (walking through the water, mind you!) crying at the top of his lungs. He got himself so worked up he actually barfed. (on a bed, of course) We finally had to carry him upstairs and stay with him until he fell asleep.

One dehumidifier and two fans later, the carpet is slowly drying.

Now if only the rain could let up for two or three days in a row ...

Views from the bathroom window

I look forward to Saturday mornings. My son and husband usually sleep in until close to noon and I can usually have a couple of hours to myself.

The first time I get a look at the world outside is from my bathroom window.

You're right, that is the same window I look out every single day. But this is different. On this day, I get to linger.

It may sound strange, but the first thing I look at is rarely the sky. Not this time of year, anyway.

I grew up in the desert; very few trees lush with leaves. Here, however, I have six different kinds of leaves out one window alone. I like to think they're waving at me, wishing me a good day; even beckoning me out of the house some mornings. These trees are the reason I wanted this house. They make it home.

Invariably, something will divert my attention from the foliage. Usually an over-achieving neighbor starting on yardwork. Many times, though, it's a squirrel running along the back fence. I love watching the squirrels; always so busy and animated. I suppose a part of me wants to be just like them.

The best part of the window, though, is opening it. The smell of fresh-cut grass and flowers blooming or even the crisp newness of snow; those are the things that stir me. And the sounds ... oh, the sounds ... My favorite is the little kids in the neighborhood playing with one another or just hanging out with their families. Calling to one another, taunting & teasing; but always laughing. Dogs barking and owners giving them the shoosh. And the birds; always the birds. There is one bird, I have no idea what he is, but he always sings the same refrain: a sing-song wispy and melancholy, "I don't know, I don't know."

It's funny how your whole day can start out so well, just looking out the bathroom window.

Welcome to my blog!

So ... 'come here often?

Yeah, this is my first time. No, really - never. Well, once on a chat site, but I was in college, so I figured it didn't count.

From? Oh, uh ... I live in Fargo, North Dakota. Yeah, like the movie. No, no ... only the older folks and people without satellite or cable TV really talk like that anymore. I came here in 1997; right after the gigantor flood the rest of the country watched on CNN. I had accompanied my then-boyfriend/now husband to his 10th high school reunion at Norman County West (about 25m northeast of Fargo.) While here, I fell in love with the area.

Coming here from Laughlin, NV/Bullhead City, AZ (an area my best friend and I still refer to as the "highest concentration of white trash known to man,) I was struck by how kind the people were, how green the landscape and how normal everything seemed. I was hooked. So when my husband had to move back to take care of a home and his folks, my son & I came along.

Now married, Lee & I are raising 12-year old Mike in North Fargo, awash in our very own sea of normalcy. Sure, there are the trailer courts and tenement-style apartments, drug dealers and bad buys, but they're not as prevelant or visible here. Families are very involved in each other's lives and neighbors actually know one another. It's almost eutopia. Almost.