Feeling Uncomfortable

I am neither Republican or Democrat, and I don't really trust any politician. I gritted my teeth through the whole eight years of the Bush administration. I felt a little hopeful when Obama was elected President, but now I am starting to feel a little uncomfortable. Obama promised change and many times change is a good thing, change is needed, but change for change's sake or change made without any forethought is dangerous. I am starting to get a bad feeling about the "cash for clunkers" crap that has been making the rounds. I gave up my Suburban last summer for a car that squishes my family of six every time we want to go somewhere. On several occasions we have been forced to drive two vehicles to accommodate our family, when before, the Suburban was sufficient. Now the health care reform mess is coming down the pike and so far, I don't like what I am hearing. My husband has a great job that has great insurance. We are very blessed, but more and more it sounds like we may have to give it up just so everyone can be insured. Don't get me wrong, I think everyone should be covered by some sort of insurance, but taking away something from people who have worked their butts off trying to earn the best they can for their families seems to be a punitive action. Why punish people who are the salt of the earth? Why rip things away from the very people who are the engines of this country? It makes no sense and frankly, the government sucks at running things, so why would we agree to that sort of thing. Sometimes I just have to sit and scratch my head because the legislators who come up with these ideas didn't just drop down into this country from outer space, so why do they come up with such ridiculous rules they want people to follow? Pushing a health care bill through as quickly as possible and "fixing" it later is the stupidest idea there is. Someone needs to stand up and stop the madness. Slow down, take the time needed to get a good solid plan in place, and then see if THE PEOPLE want it. I swear the people in Washington think American citizens are like sheep that will follow anything they say. Ugh! I don't like feeling uncomfortable!

Scattering

My oldest daughter and my husband took off for the ten hour trip to Indiana. Ever since my husband accepted his new position and we decided to move back, we have been slowly scattering our family. The situation is not ideal, and the longer it goes on, the more difficult it gets for us. My daughter wanted to start the second semester in her new school in Indiana rather than wait until the beginning of her junior year. I am now down to living with my three youngest children and our dog. We had hopes that the change of the Washington, D. C. gang would bring families our way who might be interested in purchasing a home outside of the D. C. craziness and mess. Many families who are our neighbors are folks who work in the defense industry, military, secret service, FBI, and the like. This area has better schools (#57 in the country for high schools), less traffic and a more "normal" lifestyle than that of our nation's capitol. We live close enough that we can take advantage of all the good things about Washington, D. C., but none of the crime, and overcrowding. It would be a great place for someone to move to if they desire such a lifestyle. What is so frustrating for us; and what has caused the scattering of my family is the simple fact that no one has even made a offer on our house. We are stuck and until we get an offer, (our asking price is $71,000 under what we paid) the younger girls and I are stuck here for who knows how long. Please, someone, buy our house!

All Things Inaugural

Living in the Washington, D. C. area right now is quite exciting. Everything right now is all about the inauguration of President-Elect Obama. The local news reports on every single detail. I read in our little scrap of a newspaper that the transit system from our town into D. C. is offering free rides on January 20th. That's a real deal since it normally costs $8.00 one-way to use the system. It is tempting to go when we could get a ride down there for free, but with four kids in tow and all the security concerns, I don't think I really want to go that much. The other day, I heard a report about how difficult it would be to find a would-be assassin in a crowd of 2 million. They also said that there is always the worry of biological and/or chemical attacks on such a large crowd. My Midwest, safety-conscious, sensibilities tell me that while it would be so cool to be a part of history, it is really best for me and my girls to just watch the inauguration on television in our (mostly) safe home 5o miles away from the action. What an exciting and nerve-racking time we are in right now. Homeland Security, Secret Service, FBI, CIA, and all those folks must be really ramping up right about now.

FBI Hiring Blitz, Move Here and Buy My House!

I just read that the FBI is starting a hiring blitz. This is just the news I have been waiting for! Why, you ask? Well, I happen to have a beautiful, spacious home in Loudoun County Virginia that would be perfect for an FBI worker and his or her family to move into. It is quiet and peaceful here--just what an FBI agent or worker needs after the high stress working environment in Washington, D.C. Many government workers live in this area, FBI folks included. Loudoun County is one of the wealthiest, fastest growing counties in the nation. The public high school in our town is ranked 57th in the nation. If you are an FBI employee, or soon-to-be hired employee, or anyone who is looking to move to the foot of the Blue Ridge Mountians, please consider purchasing our home. You can view our home on www.zillow.com for all the details. Come to Northern Virginia--jobs, mountains, good schools. . . what more could you want?

Holiday Celebrating Is Coming to an End

It has been a whirlwind of activities since December 20, and now it is winding down with our last guests leaving for their flight home today. All the scurrying around started on December 2oth when my husband flew "home" for two weeks to be with us during the entire Christmas Break. My parents drove 600 miles and arrived here on December 22nd; they left this morning to start out on their yearly migration South to Florida. My sister and her family flew here on Saturday for a rather abbreviated visit since their original flight was cancelled due to the bad weather in Indiana. During this holiday, we have been to Arlington Cemetery, The National Spy Museum, the Lincoln Memorial, Washington Monument, and the newly refurbished American History Museum. Our legs were pounding the pavement all over Washington, D.C. and it was fun to see all the preparations being made for President-Elect Obama's inauguration. There is much to be done before that momentous day! Some review stands along the parade route have started to take shape, and row after row of bleachers are being set up. So far, no sign of "porta-potties" but I am sure they are on order. The White House looks beautiful with it's Christmas dressings, which I suppose will be replaced soon with the buntings and flags for the welcoming of its new tenant. All in all, our visits with family were good. Our house, that continues to be on the market, also had several visits from interested buyers (much to my surprise!). In less than a week, my husband will be boarding an airplane and heading back to Indiana to get back to work. We all keep hoping that 2009 has good things in store for us--the last two years haven't been all that great, but if our house here in the Washington Metro area sells, things will really be looking up for us!

I Have Room For Obama Family

I kind of feel the Obama's family's anxiety about trying to move to Washington, D.C. before January 20. I know the feeling of trying to speed things up so your kids can start school at a certain time. It only makes sense for the girls to start at their new school on January 5, when all the other students return from their Winter Break. We are trying to do the same thing with our move back to Indiana, so I sort of get what the hubbub is about. It is too bad that the house we are currently living in isn't a little bit closer to Washington, D.C. because the Obamas (at least the girls and their mom) could stay at our house until the White House is cleared out. I checked on MapQuest and our house is approximately 5o miles from Sidwell Friends School in Washington. That means over an hour drive to school from here; however, people make that commute everyday to go to work. My husband did it for over a year. Perhaps the Obama girls could do it for a few weeks in January. I also have a couple of girls here who are close in age to the Obama girls. Wouldn't that be fun? It could be a month-long sleepover--sort of. The area we live in is crawling with security and secret service workers and the like, just because a lot of government employees choose to live here, away from the D.C. craziness. I had considered renting out our extra rooms to people who want to go to the inauguration, but I didn't want to have just anyone staying here. Our house is currently up for sale and my husband has moved to Indiana in order to start his new job, and we have extra room in this big house. I just want to send out this open invitation to President-Elect Obama and Mrs. Obama that if things get desperate, I have room for them just outside of Washington!

Real Estate Not So Bad in D.C. Area

I read today that even though the housing market is pretty stinky nationwide, there are a few places throughout the country where it is easier to sell a house. That is good news for me. One of the easier places to sell a house is in the Washington, D.C. area, which is where we are currently living. We just got word today, that my husband will be transferred from here, back to Indiana. It took us six months to sell our house back in Indiana last year. I am hoping that the powers-that-be will be looking down on us in the next several months while we try to sell our house here, in the greater D. C. area. We are currently living in one of the most affluent and fastest growing areas in Virginia, so hopefully that will be in our favor. With all the bad news spewing out of every news outlet, it is about time people hear news that has even a tiny grain of hope in it. Northern Virginia has jobs and houses that are selling and that is a good thing. Also working in our favor is the fact that the schools here are quite good. The high school in the community where we live is ranked 159th in the nation, so that's not too shabby either. At any rate, I have hope that our home will be one that gets sold quickly at a reasonable price. That's all we can hope for and really all that we need.

National Cherry Blossom Festival 2008

I complain a lot about where we live and how there is "nothing" to do, and that is true of the little town we live in, however, since we live about an hour away from our nation's capitol, it makes things accessible to us that never would have been had we stayed in Indiana. Yesterday, after church we decided to drive into the Dunn Loring Metro station and take it into Washington to see the cherry blossoms. The weather was not all that great. The temperature was hovering around 45 degrees or so, and the sky was mostly gray. That did not seem to detract from the festival though. There were thousands of people out and about! The cherry blossoms looked to be at their peak and were astoundingly beautiful. We all gave the blossoms a "10" rating. The food, gifts and activties were another story. There was nothing really special being offered. We were chilly, and wanted a snack and ended up with french fries and water--not really anything to write home about. As far as activities, not much going on. There were some musical groups on a stage at the front of the Jefferson Memorial, but there was nothing playing that captured our attention for very long. There were some people flying kites, which would have been a fun thing to do, and it would have been really cool if you could purchase commemorative Cherry Blossom Fesitval kites to fly, but nothing other than the usual t-shirts, pens and key rings were available. So, all in all, if you get the chance to see the spectacle of the cherry blossoms around the Tidal Basin, by all means, go. . . you will not be disappointed, but don't go there thinking you will be getting a lot of good entertainment or good food, it just isn't there.

Smithsonian Institution--Great Day Trip

Since we now live an hour away from Washington, D.C., we have been making rather regular trips into the Capitol city to spend a few hours or so. Today, we met a friend at the Air and Space Museum. I am not a real airplane afficiando, nor am I able to comprehend the vastness of space or anything to do with space travel, but the museum is well worth the trip. The best part about it is that it is free. There was something for everyone there. My youngest is 6 and the oldest in our group was 74. There was quite a bit of walking that was tough for the oldest person, but I think we hit all the exhibits. It is cool to look at how far air travel has come. From the Wright brothers to military jets, to commercial airlines; so much in only a few decades. While admission to the Air and Space Museum is free, you do have the option of attending a couple of shows in the planetarium. We chose to see a show there, which was interesting for the 20 minutes that it lasted. I'm not sure if it was worth the $8.50 admission though. There is also a very easy in, easy out food court that features Boston Market and McDonalds foods. There are also a few gift shops too, if you like that sort of thing. What I love about all the Smithsonian museums is that since admission is free, everyone can have access to these great American Treasures. If you are planning to be in Washington, D.C. for Spring Break or later this year, make an effort to go to any of the museums. You will definitiely get you money's worth and then some!