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Jan. 22nd, 2012 06:08 pm
State of the Texty: Thawing Out Edition
Finally left the house yesterday after being snowed/iced in since Tuesday. Oddly, I don't feel like going out today, though. Too busy enjoying being a complete slug after the monstrous household Tetrising I've done over the past few weeks: De-decking the halls post holiday, and getting ready to launch the kid-buying process in earnest.
---
As we're coming up on starting the home study (the initial agency seminar is next week, so we'll be doing the HS stuff shortly thereafter), I figured it's time to start getting the house in a kid-ready state. In order to pass the home study, you have to qualify as a state-certified foster home, and there's a pretty giant checklist of safety and other measures that need to be in place before the social worker will sign off on that. So, we put away all the booze (not that we use it for anything but parties anyway), reorged the parlor (putting breakables into closed cabinets) and, the biggest bit, we moved my office into what was previously the guest room. Technically, it still is, since the bed's still in here, but we now have one room completely free which will be the nursery.
This was actually a far more complicated proposition than it might seem. I'm a huge packrat, and I'd managed to get pretty entrenched in my old space in just the two years I was in it. Plus, I also wanted to get my stuff better organized and laid out, since how it was before was basically a slapdash job just to get me up and running when we moved in. There's still a little bit of finish work left (adding a second tier to a bookshelf and sorting through some paperwork to file) but basically, it's done. And I LOVE it. Even though there's less floor space because of the bed and extra desk, it really, really feels better to me. It's a very personalized space now, and I can see myself happily writing in here for years to come. Pics of it are up on Flickr.
Next project is tricking out the nursery, though we'll be waiting to get started on that for a couple more weeks. Don't want to get ahead of ourselves. We'll be buying the basic items necessary to pass the home study (car seat, bassinet, etc.) but the hardcore furniture will wait until we're reasonably sure we'll have a kid to use it all.
Speaking of the kid thing ...
---
As I was drawing up the budget for the next year-ish, I did up a baby-stuff list. And ZOMG, formula is ridic expensive. Holy carp. The sticker shock drove me to looking up whether it'd be possible for me to make my own somehow. And, theoretically, it is. There's a lot of prep work and possibly some herbs or meds, but it's supposedly possible to do it. So I may give that a go, just to see if I can. I won't make as much as a birth mom would, but I might be able to make enough to get the kid the antibodies and such, plus supplement the formula a little bit to make a dent in the cash outlay. Not fussed about the rest of it--have never had the emotional desire or instinct to do it for that reason, and the kid's going to get plenty of attention anyway--but since these damn things are otherwise going to be useless, I may as well see if I can put them into service for a while. They've been giving me back pain for the last 30 years. They may as well earn their keep.
---
Speaking of cash outlays, I need to decide, and soon, what sort of spring vacay we might be taking. We have the budget for a small trip, and we'll have at least a little bit of wait time before we get picked by a birthmom, but we need to choose wisely. It'll likely be our last out-of-town for the forseeable future, so it needs to be bang-up. Am trying very hard to resist the urge to drop it all on another short UK trip, since two of my three Primeval lovelies are in a West End show starting in March. And since it's looking like we're not getting any more of the original series, this'd be my last chance to see any of them together in something for who knows how long. The sensible thing to do is spend that money going somewhere we've never been, doing a short cruise or something. And also, being a grown-up and backing off of my fandom bandwidth outlay. Sigh ... But the urge is still there.
---
Decisions about cash would be somewhat easier if I had an idea of when/whether I'll be working anytime soon. I'm actually quite irritated that I never heard back from my agency about the supposed sure-thing gig with my old team, and I didn't get any bites for the other two gigs I was submitted for, either. Granted that I'm not sure I want to work right now, and I'd be taking off for parental leave in the middle of any long contract, but it would still be nice to work at least a couple of months, for the money and to fill in an otherwise-glaring resume gap.
---
Really, though, a lot of stuff is kind of on hold until we're through the initial starting gate of the home study. Once we get an idea of how long our time in the waiting pool might be, I can start making more decisions about how hard to push on finding work, and whether to stay with chorus, and where/when to go on vacation, etc. I'm also planning to get both novels in agent-ready form during that wait time, too, but I'll want to do something else, at least. Being in limbo with those decisions is kind of sucky, so I'm glad we're coming close to the end of that. I do feel like I've accomplished quite a lot even in the limbo state, though. Just a bit more kid-proofing of the house, and we should be good to go on that. Crossing fingers the social worker signs off on us pretty quickly.
---
Life continues apace, however. M and I celebrated our 15th anniversary on Tuesday in part by going ring shopping. We've been wearing different wedding bands for years, since the original ones are kind of ridged on the inside and therefore uncomfortable. But we found a really cool one we like to order, and will be picking those up next week. Also got the first part of my major dental surgery done, which was annoying (and still hasn't fully healed.) Just waiting for a few months for them to look at it post-healage and decide which step is next.
Other than that ... the usual. Cats being both annoying and annoyingly cute. D being amazing and the best roomie ever. Birdies hanging out in the back yard getting wasted on seed. Politics making me roll my eyes and laugh so I don't cry. That sort of thing. ;)
But damn, I wish spring would hurry up and get here.
---
As we're coming up on starting the home study (the initial agency seminar is next week, so we'll be doing the HS stuff shortly thereafter), I figured it's time to start getting the house in a kid-ready state. In order to pass the home study, you have to qualify as a state-certified foster home, and there's a pretty giant checklist of safety and other measures that need to be in place before the social worker will sign off on that. So, we put away all the booze (not that we use it for anything but parties anyway), reorged the parlor (putting breakables into closed cabinets) and, the biggest bit, we moved my office into what was previously the guest room. Technically, it still is, since the bed's still in here, but we now have one room completely free which will be the nursery.
This was actually a far more complicated proposition than it might seem. I'm a huge packrat, and I'd managed to get pretty entrenched in my old space in just the two years I was in it. Plus, I also wanted to get my stuff better organized and laid out, since how it was before was basically a slapdash job just to get me up and running when we moved in. There's still a little bit of finish work left (adding a second tier to a bookshelf and sorting through some paperwork to file) but basically, it's done. And I LOVE it. Even though there's less floor space because of the bed and extra desk, it really, really feels better to me. It's a very personalized space now, and I can see myself happily writing in here for years to come. Pics of it are up on Flickr.
Next project is tricking out the nursery, though we'll be waiting to get started on that for a couple more weeks. Don't want to get ahead of ourselves. We'll be buying the basic items necessary to pass the home study (car seat, bassinet, etc.) but the hardcore furniture will wait until we're reasonably sure we'll have a kid to use it all.
Speaking of the kid thing ...
---
As I was drawing up the budget for the next year-ish, I did up a baby-stuff list. And ZOMG, formula is ridic expensive. Holy carp. The sticker shock drove me to looking up whether it'd be possible for me to make my own somehow. And, theoretically, it is. There's a lot of prep work and possibly some herbs or meds, but it's supposedly possible to do it. So I may give that a go, just to see if I can. I won't make as much as a birth mom would, but I might be able to make enough to get the kid the antibodies and such, plus supplement the formula a little bit to make a dent in the cash outlay. Not fussed about the rest of it--have never had the emotional desire or instinct to do it for that reason, and the kid's going to get plenty of attention anyway--but since these damn things are otherwise going to be useless, I may as well see if I can put them into service for a while. They've been giving me back pain for the last 30 years. They may as well earn their keep.
---
Speaking of cash outlays, I need to decide, and soon, what sort of spring vacay we might be taking. We have the budget for a small trip, and we'll have at least a little bit of wait time before we get picked by a birthmom, but we need to choose wisely. It'll likely be our last out-of-town for the forseeable future, so it needs to be bang-up. Am trying very hard to resist the urge to drop it all on another short UK trip, since two of my three Primeval lovelies are in a West End show starting in March. And since it's looking like we're not getting any more of the original series, this'd be my last chance to see any of them together in something for who knows how long. The sensible thing to do is spend that money going somewhere we've never been, doing a short cruise or something. And also, being a grown-up and backing off of my fandom bandwidth outlay. Sigh ... But the urge is still there.
---
Decisions about cash would be somewhat easier if I had an idea of when/whether I'll be working anytime soon. I'm actually quite irritated that I never heard back from my agency about the supposed sure-thing gig with my old team, and I didn't get any bites for the other two gigs I was submitted for, either. Granted that I'm not sure I want to work right now, and I'd be taking off for parental leave in the middle of any long contract, but it would still be nice to work at least a couple of months, for the money and to fill in an otherwise-glaring resume gap.
---
Really, though, a lot of stuff is kind of on hold until we're through the initial starting gate of the home study. Once we get an idea of how long our time in the waiting pool might be, I can start making more decisions about how hard to push on finding work, and whether to stay with chorus, and where/when to go on vacation, etc. I'm also planning to get both novels in agent-ready form during that wait time, too, but I'll want to do something else, at least. Being in limbo with those decisions is kind of sucky, so I'm glad we're coming close to the end of that. I do feel like I've accomplished quite a lot even in the limbo state, though. Just a bit more kid-proofing of the house, and we should be good to go on that. Crossing fingers the social worker signs off on us pretty quickly.
---
Life continues apace, however. M and I celebrated our 15th anniversary on Tuesday in part by going ring shopping. We've been wearing different wedding bands for years, since the original ones are kind of ridged on the inside and therefore uncomfortable. But we found a really cool one we like to order, and will be picking those up next week. Also got the first part of my major dental surgery done, which was annoying (and still hasn't fully healed.) Just waiting for a few months for them to look at it post-healage and decide which step is next.
Other than that ... the usual. Cats being both annoying and annoyingly cute. D being amazing and the best roomie ever. Birdies hanging out in the back yard getting wasted on seed. Politics making me roll my eyes and laugh so I don't cry. That sort of thing. ;)
But damn, I wish spring would hurry up and get here.
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