So, we're moving

I have been so caught up in my day-to-day life, that I haven't had the time or energy to update this blog in FIVE MONTHS! How lame is that! (Note the lack of a queston mark.)

This winter, we decided that we would put our house on the market this spring. We love our house in Beford. However, we need to cut our expenses. We'd already made our decision, when our taxes went up again. The town's inability to decide on getting a high school cost tax payers a huge pile of money, since Manchester was able to blackmail us for $10 million over the course of three years, after we wouldn't sign a 20 year contract (and we hadn't built our own high school yet). So, the town was saddled with paying that on top of paying to build the school. Brilliant!

We ended up finding a townhouse/condo in Merrimack that we really like. It's not much smaller than our single family home in Bedford. The condo fee is high ($330/month), but there's a chance that it'll go down in a couple of years. The property was mismanaged for a few years, and the new management company had to play catch-up. In any event, the fee was exactly the same as another development we liked, where the houses weren't as big, and the amenties weren't quite as good.

In all, we'll be paying about $450/month less to live in our new house than we're currently paying for our Bedford house.

Coordinating a sale on one house with the purchase of a new one is an absolute pain in the ass. Every time we turn around one side of the transacation or the other is throwing another monkey wrench at us. I have been so stressed out I've been violently ill several times in last month.

We both hate having to give up the house that we love. However, Ben's been great at coming up with ideas of how to make the new house more appealing and more our own. In the near sixteen years of our marriage he has refused to paint a wall anything other than white. Shockingly, he actually suggested that it might be interesting to paint a wall in each room with an actual color. Also, he had an epiphany about building a window seat in a nine foot niche in the living room. The window seat will give us extra seating and inconspicous storage for our massive CD collection.

I'll try to post again closer to the move (7/27).

I guess I'll have to be a Democrat again!

Over the last decade, I have lost most of my affinity with the Democratic Party. I no longer feel that the solution to most problems is to regulate and spend. Then again, I have no love for the Republican view of the world either. The first priority of government should not be to coddle big business (at the expense of the environment, labor, or foreign sovereignty). So, by definition, I guess that makes me an Independent.

When we moved to New Hampshire four and a half years ago, I found that I could be an Independent and not feel completely powerless. In most states, if you do not have a party affiliation, you cannot vote in election primaries. In NH, Independents could declare a party affiliation on the day of the election, and change their affiliation back to Independent after they voted. Some politicians sneered at this situation "saying the current system allows people who want to disrupt party business a free hand."

Perhaps that is true. However, NH politics is pretty skewed. New Hampshirites are not party-loyal, by any stretch of the imagination. It is not atypical for voters to elect representatives from one party to go to Washington, D.C., and another party to run things locally. So, depending on which issues are the hottest during primary season, a New Hampshirite could choose to vote as a Democrat in one primary and as a Republican in the next. Another deciding factor in a New Hampshire Independent's primary day party choice is the slate of competitors being offered by each party.

For example, in the most recent primary, there was little real difference, or even competition, between the major Republican candidates for either Federal or local offices in New Hampshire. The outcome was pretty clear a long time before election day. So, many Independents voted as Democrats on primary day. And, even though Kerry, a Democrat, won New Hampshire in the general election, I would wager that a lot of people who voted for Bush had voted in the Democratic primary months before.

In addition, as a testament to how fickle New Hampshire can vote, note this. When I moved to New Hampshire in 2000, the governor was a Democrat, who was voted out for a Republican. In 2004, that Republican was voted out for a Democrat. It just so happens that in both elections, the state's choice in Presidential candidate followed suit. This is not always the case.

I suspect that all that is about to change. The New Hampshire legislature just passed a bill which would make if more difficult for Independents who declared a party for a primary to switch back to their Independent status. (see: http://www.theunionleader.com/articles_showa.html?article=50672 ) While this may not seem like a big deal, and may not seem to matter to most people since folks have at least a year before the next party-based primary-style elections are held. Recall what I said earlier. New Hampshirites are not loyalists. Most are from the "what have you done for me lately" school. And most will not like being pigeon holed as a member of one party or another.

While the state legislature will make it more inconvenient for most of us to change our party affiliations, New Hampshirites are a stubborn group. While I will probably be registered as a Democrat more often than not, I still plan to change my party affiliation back to Independent at the first opportunity. I doubt I'll be alone. After all, our state motto is "Live Free or Die!"

If I were Queen

While I was technically born and raised south of the Mason Dixon Line, I have never considered myself a southerner. For one thing, Maryland did not secede from the Union (some would argue that it was not allowed to, not that it didn't want to). In addition, I somehow managed to pick up all sorts of anti-Southern biases during my youth. This is somewhat amazing, considering that my own mother, much of her kin, and many of her good friends, all considered themselves either 'country people' or 'hillbillies'. But, not me. I always thought myself 'better' than all that.

Then, somewhere in my adulthood, I realized that I really liked fried green tomatoes, fried chicken, and grits (albeit, not with a fried egg in them). And, that not all country music was depressing tripe. And, then, the real homecoming happened. I started reading Jill Conner Browne's Sweet Potato Queens' books.:

• The Sweet Potato Queens' Book of Love
• God Save the Sweet Potato Queens
• The Sweet Potato Queens' Big-Ass Cookbook (and Financial Planner)
• The Sweet Potato Queens' Field Guide to Men : Every Man I Love Is Either Married, Gay, or Dead

These are inarguably the funniest books I have ever read. Jill Conner Browne makes being Southern sound so much fun, for women with the right wherewithal. While I could never see myself wearing a Sweet Potato Queens' Saint Patrick's Day Parade costume ( green sequined mini dress, high heeled boots, big red wig, and tiara), I enjoy and concur with many of the author's opinions. Besides which, I would love to spend more time participating in one of their favorite activities: "Lolling about and doing Jack Shit". I don't know that I'd have the balls to do some of the other things that Jill and the Tammys have done, but I'm thrilled to know there are women out there doing those things.

If you haven't read the books, (first off, stop reading this right now and go get one of them) the Tammys are the other official Sweet Potato Queens. In the first couple of books, she wanted to protect the identities of her friends when relating some of their stories. She asked them what name she should call each of them. They all agreed that they wanted to be called 'Tammy'. So, many of the stories begin with, "One of the Queens, I think it was Tammy, ..."

The books are also strategically peppered with narrative recipes for concoctions that will make your mouth water and your hips widen, just by reading the recipe! The recipe titles are a hoot by themselves, such as "Chocolate Stuff", "Death Chicken", "Armadillo Dip", "Gorilla Casserole", "Bitch Meatballs with Sexy Red Sauce", and "Motor Home Marvel". And, who wouldn't love to try the much mentioned Sweet Potato Queens' beverage of choice, "Fat Mamma's Knock You Naked Margaritas".

Since publication of the first book, hundreds of local chapters of Sweet Potato Queens have sprung up all over the country. Frequently, these far flung Queens, dub their chapters as being the Queens of some other fruit, vegetable, or other consumeable. Sometimes they call themselves something pithy and amusing like Bodacious Babes, or outrageous like The Secret Society of Butt Dimple Queens [ yes, this is a real chapter ]. I'm not quite sure what I'd be Queen of, if I were to become the Boss Queen of a chapter. Perhaps those who know me could make suggestions?

If I've piqued your interest, even just a tad, you should check out the author's web site at http://www.sweetpotatoqueens.com/ If I haven't done my job in this regard, slap me upside the head with a wet squirrel. If I have, you should be all over these books "like a duck on a june bug".

Having the flu SUCKS!

I've had colds before. I've had stomach bugs before. But, I've never had a two for one punch like this.

It started with a cough. Moved on to headache and body aches. Then it got UGLY. Nausea and dizziness. During the meanwhile, all the other symptoms just kept getting worse. Thank goodness the nausea started to wear away, just in time for the runny nose, inner ear congestion, and lower abdominal involvement.

The doctor's office said that I can expect to be really ill for about a week. With the way I have been feeling, I'm beginning to suspect that the high death rate associated with Influenza in the past was partially attributeable to suicide.

Religious holiday cards

I have never been a very religious person. For most of my adult life, I have been an unchurched-Agnostic. That being said, I have never skipped celebrating "Christmas". But, for me, the holiday has never been about celebrating the birth of anyone. I won't lie about it. Until very recently, the holiday has been, mostly, a celebration of capitalistic materialism. In recent years, however, it has become more about celebrating the year that has gone before, and showing those I care about that they are ever in my heart and mind.

I do not begrudge anyone the way they celebrate the end of year holidays, whatever version of them is part of their own personal traditions. When sending out holiday cards, I look for as generic a card as possible usually along the lines of "Seasons Greetings", "Happy Holidays", or my favorite, but hard find, "Happy New Year". I like cards that represent my own areligious feelings about the holiday season, but will also not directly offend the recipient(s) of the card.

I wish that everyone behaved with this in mind. If you are a religious person, and you have friends who are not religious, you probably wouldn't send them a religious holiday card. If you did send your non-religious friends cards that made them uncomfortable, over time, the friendship would suffer from such acts.

The most awkward situation arises in business-to-business card giving. Most businesses send the generic holiday cards that I've always leaned towards. Good businessmen (and women), do not want to alienate clients, partners, or vendors. However, if your business is closely aligned with religion, you may be inclined to send a religious holiday card. To send a generic card may seem an affront to the very ideals your mission statement represents.

My company does business with a Christian organization. That organization values my contribution to their business. So, each year they send me a VERY religious holiday card. I shouldn't let it get to me. But, it does. I feel like either they are assuming that the world is Christian, or it should be. Both ideas inspire some very un-Christian emotional responses from me. I eventually calm down and remind myself to "forgive them, for they know not what they do".

How do others feel about this topic?