As I write, there is the constant sound of duct tape screaching off the roll from behind me, where the last of our things are being boxed up. In each room, towers of boxes wait for tomorrow and each room smells a little bit like the dry, clean smell of card board.
"What would you do without the Internet?" asked my husband earlier. He had been working on getting his laptop set up in the now empty downstairs room, knowing I would want it. It was good timing too, as the men had moved into the previous sanctuary of our bedroom, where I had been happily watching "The Barefoot Contessa" make tartare sauce.
Now I am in the dim coolness of what used to be the office, catching up on things. Obama's approval rating hovers a mere point above fifty, the GOP swept the gubernatorial races the day before yesterday. I remember seeing the lead Cristie had in NJ and being stunned. I thought for sure NJ would stay with the Democrats and we would win NY-23.
Pelosi, someone who appears not to be human (was it too much botox? one wonders) is convinced it was a victory for the Dems. Such gaps in intellect explain the monstrosity of the health care bill she is pushing at break neck speed through the House, regardless of cost and regardless of the fact that embattled Harry Reid will be unable to force his bill through the unruly Senate before Christmas.
Or at all. I expect in the next few days to see the rifts in the Democratic party to become public, I expect also to see the GOP put together solutions based on uniquely American and Constitutional principles. If I don't see these things, I will be crushed. If the GOP cannot, after NY-23 and the Tea Party grassroots movement, reinvent themselves with a basis on common sense, limited government and fiscal responsibility, then I fear for the country in a whole new way.
The Administration and leading Democrats would like to frame NY-23 as a failure for social conservatives and one can't blame them for trying. What they fail to admit to is that McDonnell, who won over independents in Virginia 2-1, is a social and fiscal conservative. He is pro-life and has a traditional view on marriage.
Hoffman lost in NY-23 because he failed to do what McDonnell did; which was to run with common sense, local solutions. All the GOP has to do is to base their ideology on fiscal and social conservatism and then run dignified, solution based, common sense campaigns.
Not that Hoffman wasn't dignified, it was just that he was running mainly on ideology alone and wasn't from the area. The fact that he was only, what? five points behind the Democrat is still stunning.
Also, I think it patently absurd that the Administration denies that the races had anything to do with Obama. It's insulting to one's intelligence. Obama had how many rallies for Corzine? Three or five? Did anyone see the campaign ads Obama put out for Corzine? I did. Obama had his own people working on Corzine's campaign.
The idea is, that Democrats can continue to push through Obama's very unpopular agenda and then in the aftermath, Obama's sparking personality and charisma can come along and sweep the embattled and now highly unpopular Democratic congressperson back into their seat.
Well, gosh, I just don't think that's going to work anymore. If Obama and his team and his voice and all that money could not save a dyed in the blue Democratic, liberal state like NJ from the onslaught of voter disgust and fear for the economy, there where will it work? The Emperor has no clothes and now neither will his lackeys.
On an entirely different note, if anyone out there is trying to manage post Halloween candy eating, don't try putting it in the freezer. That just doesn't work. It just makes the candy more accessable, and crispy to boot.
Wow. I went into the downstairs bathroom and it echoes like one in a train station at 2 in the morning. All the walls are bare. We have no silverware, this morning I drank orange juice and milk straight from the carton. I also drove to the local 7-11 for my coffee and some Monster energy drinks for all the guys, husband included.
I still have a cold and carry my handy roll of toilet paper around with me at all times. I am prone to nodding off anytime when reclined and my head feels like twenty pounds of packing peanuts.
Tonight, Keith and I will sleep on the carpet in the bedroom, beneith the towering shadows of boxes. We will be without TV, radio or video games (expect those located on this laptop.) I suspect that we will curl up and watch a movie already downloaded onto this laptop while eating fast food. Moving is definitely not good for the waist line.
Tomorrow morning, everything must and will go. Shower curtains, rugs, toilet paper, anything not nailed down and not in our messy "to stay" pile. And then we will clean. I'm kind of looking forward to it; a nice, warm sloppy pail of soapy water, a rag and all the dirty walls. Hell yeah.
On the renting front, the person our agent was working with wanted the rent dropped two hundred dollars, which would mean we would be paying in an equal amount. If it comes down to it, we'll take an offer that low, but not just yet. Since then (yesterday) no other word.
Every little while or so, Keith and I will wander around the house, looking for each other. Right now he's in the garage, overseeing all that packing. I wonder what it looks like in there now. There is scant comfort in packing, but one does become grateful for little things, like toilet paper and warm socks and the Internet and one's husband's large, warm and comforting embrace.
