Project Update:  The new house

Well, I was afraid of this.  After a considerable amount of heated discussion, the builder with which we've been working and the so-called spec plan is toast.  Stick a fork in them, they’re done.

I have to call the realtor first thing tomorrow morning and tell her to set up a closing on the lot.  Then I have to start shopping for another builder.

That’s provided I can get my passive-aggressive data-needy husband to give me a list of builders he will consider.  Grrr.

I feel really bad; the realtor tried very hard to sell us a house and deserves a commission on a house sale, not on the lot alone.

But there’s little I can do without actually cutting into the flesh of this marriage; if I demand that we stay with this builder, it’s baggage we won’t get out from under.  Hubby will simply be uncomfortable for the duration of the time we worked on and spent in that builder’s house.

I’m more than a little pissed off right now; I compromised entirely too much all along during the entire negotiation.  I wasn’t getting what I wanted or needed, and I don’t believe that I won’t have to make the same compromises all over again.  And now all I have is another lot, another empty piece of real estate to show for all the effort I’ve put into this.  My kids won’t be safer because I have another empty lot. <sigh>

I may hold back for a while on the next house update; this is the stuff that really tests a marriage and I don't know if I want to air it in my blog.  How flexible do partners have to be to achieve common goals?

Good question.  I guess I'm going to be testing the boundaries again.

6:02:05 PM    comment []

Another hero on hiatus

As I said in comments at his site, The Barbaric Yawp made me cry again.  It’s not the first time; several pieces of his blog work have brought tears to my eyes since he first posted.  In particular, his Meme Manifesto made me bawl.

Now he’s going on hiatus – no, I refuse to allow that it might be something more.  He will come back to the Salon blogosphere some day soon; he has to, or I’ll have lost another one of my Salon blogheroes.

After taking a recent survey regarding blogs, I realized what it is that makes the Salon blogosphere so different from other web blog rings.  There are people here who take their contributions seriously, whose writing is not just a synopsis of the day or documentation of lint balls under the bed.  A considerable number of the Salon bloggers are explorative, challenging, collaborative and highly talented individuals; in the “real world”, away from the keyboard, these same individuals are all too few and far apart.  When one of these folks leaves our space, we feel keenly the void they leave behind – here in the Slogosphere or in our day-to-day “real world” lives.

So, here it is again, another empty spot on the bench, a vacancy in the pew.  Another mound of damp facial tissues, another little sadness.  Last time I felt this blog-loss, I was fairly certain there was something much bigger on “the other side” for my fellow blogger.  This time I know there has been, all along.  Maybe that’s why I feel differently about this departure – although I do hope it’s only a lull between creative events.

Stay in touch and come back soon, Christopher.  Certainly, when the constriction of the right gets to be too much, come back and express yourself freely.  Don’t forget: we’ll be needing you for the coming battle ahead, armed with anthem and manifesto.  Come back, ready to fight!

11:24:43 AM    comment []