"Looking for Empty Boxes"

This was a phrase that my co-worker from the Detroit News used to use frequently. On any given day, you could ask her how she was doing and she was likely to reply " I am looking for empty boxes." What does this mean you ask? Typically it meant that she was frustrated with work and expecting to be fired. In other words, she would be living in a cardboard box relatively soon. This same co-worker also later introduced me to her trademark "Don't screw me file" in which she would keep mementos, e-mails etc. that would highlight the great job she really did do at work. She was a mixture of funny and paranoid, but who could blame her? I've lost count of how many layoffs the Detroit News and Free Press has had at this point.

Lately, I feel as though I am going to start looking for a nice refrigerator box myself. Not because of my job mind you, but the fact that I can't seem to find a place that I would like to move into. First, there is the buy vs. rent debate. Mick is more comfortable with renting, whereas I am having a hard time accepting this as a possibility after owning our own home. I really enjoyed taking a piece of property and making it our own. There is something very satisfying about looking around your space and knowing that it is the way it is because you made it that way! It was ours from chimney top to driveway.

The prices in Detroit are phenomenal right now because of the, lets face it, terrible economy. (I will refrain from scolding those of you that drive foreign cars.) This presents an opportunity as well as a problem. There is real estate for the picking, but what if we were to find ourselves in the position of having lost income? The thing about Michigan is that whether or not you work for the auto industry... you work for the auto industry. My brother Mike was laid off as soon as I got here, serving as a bit of a warning. (Mike literally has the best work ethic of anyone I know. I am 100% convinced that the paper cannot and will not survive without him. They are fools.) I am going to be cautiously optimistic. I have had the month to observe my new workplace and I take a lot of comfort in the fact that Make A Wish seems to be managed fantastically. That is a very grateful me talking!

The worst part is that I have found a condo that I would love to buy. It is tiny, has two bedrooms and includes a basement. We don't need any more than that. It is little, affordable, and the layout would still provide us with the opportunity to separate the house in a harmonious way. Upper floor = quiet (bedroom & office- Mick's domain! ) Middle = louder (living room & kitchen) Lower floor= loudest (sewing & laundry). Plus the landscaping there is really pretty! http://web.mac.com/ksluice/iWeb/TheVillage/Welcome.html This is one of those moments where I really have to tell myself to rule with my head and not by what I want. Normally I am really good at letting logic rule, but darn it! I drove through and thought that it was too cute! Logic says "Rent!" We would want to move in 4 years anyway because our financial situation will probably be very different then, and if anything should happen, you can always get out of a rental situation. I think that's what we need to do. Yes, I have just convinced myself while typing this post.

The problem with renting in a college town is that what is available is typically not what my 30 year old self would like to live in. Parties going on in the middle of the week? I don't really miss them. Or, perhaps it is more accurate to say that I just don't want to live next to them. (I mean, I'll go! I'll just leave by 8:00 for bed.)

There are a ton of apartment complexes everywhere, but quite frankly, they depress me.
I think that complexes are void of personality (can we say white walls?), and feature such amenities as sand volleyball courts and pools. You will never catch me in anything that remotely resembles a bathing suit and despite the fact that my maiden name is Carrie Walsh, I have never played volleyball without injuring myself. (That was a reference to Kerry Walsh, the olympic beach volleyball player.)

I looked at a townhouse a couple of weeks ago that I shot down because it was ugly and had no dishwasher. Horrors! I also fear that I would be forced to keep the vertical blinds by the condo association. I don't have anything against them. They just weren't in the best of shape and IKEA has such very cute and inexpensive curtains. What the rental condo did have was a layout that was what I was looking for. Goodness gracious! It even had a basement! I may call on it again. I just have to hope that it has not been rented in the meantime.

Well, send some good wishes our way. It is fairly certain that I am going to miss my July 1st deadline and we are going to have to figure something out for all of our stuff. I cannot keep mooching off of my very generous parents. (The poor dears have put up with an array of crap from me including a generally poor, stressed out demeanor and a quite a bit of messiness on my part. Sorry Mom and Dad!) After all, if I don't get it together, I am going to have to start looking for empty boxes!