10, rue de la charme

27 July 2007

down

Well folks it is possible to read the new Harry Potter in a mere two days with three monkeys in tow, and without neglecting them to the point that the neighbors call Social Services. This has got to be my greatest moment to date. I’m so proud of me.

Yesterday I turned 29 again. Marc, who is probably not telling me he is dying of some untreatable condition, has showered me with gifts. I racked up all four Harry Potter DVDs, a brand spanking new spiffy digital camera, and, as if getting actual gifts wasn’t enough, he took me out to dinner in a nice restaurant.

I’ll admit, I would have been happy with a sandwich on a park bench somewhere, so long as we were alone. But he took me to a nice restaurant where, oddly, we both seemed to feel rather out of place. And the food! Was! HORRIBLE! OMG! I had a tartine campagnarde as an entrée. It’s a slice of bread topped with jambon cru, sliced potatoes, and raclette cheese. Sounds good, right? Except they microwaved it before sticking it under the grill. French bread is impossible to cut with a chainsaw once it gets nuked and the potatoes were still cold. It did get better after that, but I was so let down by the entrée that the rest was just lost on me. The service was good, though.

And afterwards we went to a real café and had coffee. It was much cheaper than at the restaurant and we were able to sit outside and enjoy the night air. And talk. It was a nice end to the evening.

But sadly it wasn’t enough to pull me out of my new funk. We went up to the house the other day to check on a few things and five minutes after walking in the door I was in tears. I simply cannot go up there any more. It sucks all my happy feelings away. When I see how light and airy and SPACIOUS that place is compared to the cave we live in here, how much space there is for the kids, how much easier it will be to exist in that space than here, and realize that we are no where near being able to live there, that once we fix the place we’ll probably have to sell it because there’s absolutely no way we can afford it anymore, I just get too sad. That was our dream, and now…

posted by Doc at 11:30

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7 Comments:

At 13:02, Anonymous

Wow - you hit the jackpot (except for dinner but nice to be alone with the hubby!)!! HAPPY BIRTHDAY!
At 15:03, The Late Bloomer

Happy belated b-day! It sounds like your sweetie did take good care of you, and I'm glad he did -- you deserve some good treatment!

I'm sorry to hear about the delays with the house, but maybe there's still the possibility of a solution? I'm STILL living in the apartment with the humidity problems, but we decided that we would stay a bit, given that it's actually not bad when the weather is warmer and nice -- it just gets awful in the wintertime. Which means we probably should move before October or November, but we'll see whether that ever happens!

I wish we could afford to buy anything, but the market is so awful and everything is SO expensive, it's just not an option for us at this point. Who knows what the future holds...

Hang in there, Doc! And take good care of yourself.
At 15:35, materfamilias

Happy Birthday! Glad you had all that good stuff going on to distract you from the house stuff. I've followed this story through your blog for so long -- can't believe you are living it. We thought we had a building story from hell -- our taking-apart-lifting-and-adding-to-our-house took just over a year, nine months more than the builder promised. He had a nervous breakdown at the seven month mark, which seemed to pre-empt my options (shouldn't laugh, I guess, 'cause he went down to about 100 pounds) and our other builder developed gout (and you'd think I might have picked that up as well, given the necessary drinking!) Still, our story pales in comparison to yours, and we didn't have three small children and we didn't live in close proximity to my in-laws. And you manage to keep us entertained and laughing while you've got this on the side -- I think Ms. Rowling should write you a whole separate volume -- you deserve it!
At 16:25, Antipodeesse

Oh Lovey... I would bake you a whole truckload of Chocolate Malted burpday cakes if I thought it would help!
At 16:30, Anonymous

Belated happy birthday Doc! It sounds like your husband kinda sorta likes you.
I bet that things will change and your dream of living in the house in a fixed up/perfect state and being able to afford it WILL come true.
At 16:42, JChevais

Hon, we should sew up a voodoo dollhouse and then stick that fucker up all to hell with LONG, HORRIBLY SHARP, pins (or nails or stakes if that would make you feel better). I'm so sorry to hear that your house dreams are folding.

On the other hand, I am pleased that your second (at least) 29th birthday was a successful affair.
At 18:00, Linda

Happy Birthday. I am hoping that next year at this time you will be in your house and that it will be all fixed.