Please Please Please Buy Our House!

Every house where love abides
And friendship is a guest,
Is surely home, and home sweet home
For there the heart can rest.
~Henry Van Dyke


So, the house has been on the market for about two months yet, and no offers yet. Heck, we've barely had any lookers! Dang stupid housing market! The house itself is wonderful, and if I could just dig up the entire neighborhood and plant it in Auburn, I would totally do it! While I'm dreaming, I wish I could pick up my new job and plant it here in Birmingham. We truly hate to leave.

But- we do have a showing in an hour... we've spent some time today cleaning and polishing. Yeah, kinda desperate, I know... I don't need to get my hopes up, but of course they're up there, only to be crushed again when these people "want a bigger yard" or "don't like the cabinets" etc, etc, etc. Please please please buy our house people that are coming at 4:00!! It's so hard being patient when everything hangs in the balance. I finish work in 4 weeks, and unless this house sells in the next week or two, we're gonna have to rent and house or apartment for a while... and it's hard to get excited about that. Please please please buy our house!!

Where we love is home - home that our feet may leave, but not our hearts. ~Oliver Wendell Holmes, Sr.

Insomnia

A ruffled mind makes a restless pillow. ~Charlotte Brontë

So I have really enjoyed my long weekend off of work... Three days in a row! I have finally recovered from the "Accidental 5K" soreness- see the last post- and have finally gotten my sleep schedule back on track. Too bad I have to work today until 1AM...my sleep will be off again. Ugh!

As sleep-deprived as residency makes you, you'd think I'd be able to sleep whenever, wherever... some people can, but I'm not one of the lucky ones. I always have some steady stream of to-do's, ideas, and worries keeping me awake. With the erratic schedule that goes along with the ER, I've been worse than usual this month. Both nights this weekend I woke up at about 1AM and just couldn't go back to sleep... Saturday night I just turned on the TV (that usually works fast!), but two hours later, I had learned all about San Quentin maximum security prison and watched some old 20/20 episode about this idiot teacher who gave away his life savings to a con man treasure hunter. Ron was back home on Sunday night, so I couldn't turn on the TV to put me back to sleep... I got out of bed and sat in the living room floor making greeting cards! Yeah, it's my stupid new addiction, but it's so fun! I have made a total of 15 cards, using paper, stamps, ribbon, and my new Cricut machine, which cuts out letters and little shapes.... I'll never buy Hallmark again! That'll save me some money anyway, or at least make me a better friend/daughter/wife, cause I always end of procrastinating going to Walgreen's for the card or to the post office for stamps and never end up getting the card out on time. Now folks will be getting some really cute (and original) handmade pretties from your's truly! I'll have to post some pictures of my handiwork. Insomnia stinks, but at least I got to do some fun stuff while you were sleeping!

A flock of sheep that leisurely pass by
One after one; the sound of rain, and bees
Murmuring; the fall of rivers, winds and seas,
Smooth fields, white sheets of water, and pure sky -
I've thought of all by turns, and still I lie
Sleepless...
~William Wordsworth, "To Sleep"

The Accidental 5K- by Brooke

I have to exercise in the morning before my brain figures out what I'm doing. ~Marsha Doble

I am NOT a runner. Anyone who knows me, knows that. I am a team-player though, so I decided to show up at our second-annual Spring Scramble, a 5K walk/run hosted by the Pediatrics residency program to benefit our Primary Care Clinic's "Reach Out and Read" program. I had worked late in the ER (until 1AM), but since my friend Amanda had been in charge of the race and had been majorly stressing out about no one coming, I figured I'd go and get a good little walk in and do a good deed for the day at the same time. So I pay my entrance fee, expertly pin my little number (159) to my t-shirt (a skill that I've perfected by pinning many a bike race number on Ron's jerseys), and get in the back of the pack at the starting line. My friend Mary Halsey had told me that she'd walk with me, but at the last minute got recruited to sit at the start-finish to help record finishing numbers or something, so I was on my own. I deliberately get in the back of the pack so as not to get flattened by all the crazy real runners wearing their sports bras and short shorts- the kind with the built in underwear- I lined up with the mommies with strollers, and even one guy with his two kindergarteners in a mega-double stroller... Amanda shot off the little start gun, and all of a sudden, I'm in the middle of pandemonium... everybody is running...stroller people and all! So I had no choice... it was run, or be run over! The course started by running around this shopping center before going on an actual jogging trail; I made it all the way around the mall and then passed my girlfriends at the start line...they about fell over when they saw me running (truly a hysterical sight!), and were yelling, "Look, Brooke's running!!". What?!? I wasn't running like Phoebe or anything! Though winded, I thought I looked about like all the other runners... Guess I need some panty-shorts.
Anyway, of course I didn't get very far before having to slow it down to a brisk walk. It was less embarrassing than puking would have been. I walked a bit, I ran a bit, then walked some more. There was a little feed zone (see, I even know the terminology!) at the turn around, but what I didn't know was that what you should really do with that little Dixie cup of water is to dump it on your head or at very most, swish around your dry mouth with it, not- gasp- actually drink the two whole swallows- because, as I found, after imbibing in just that teensy bit of wet stuff, you REALLY feel like you are gonna puke! I somehow managed not to though, and finally crossed the finish line (far from last might I add) with a time of 45 minutes and some-odd seconds. As silly as it was, I was proud of myself. Can't say that I really enjoyed myself, but I may make a goal to do another one, and run more of it this time. Maybe. I do appreciate the humor in the situation though, and so does Ron; he almost fell off his bike when I called and told him, and has laughed at me all weekend.

And yes, I am exceedingly sore.