Taking care of business

Here is a short list of the shit (for lack of a better term) I've gotten done the last week or so, mostly the last two days: Finalized renter's insurance, negotiated a payment plan with the IRS, gotten my annual skin check, two fillings refilled, checked in with my OB/gyn to schedule a minor but uncomfortable procedure for June, filed for power of attorney to take care of my dad's business when we move him to the Bay Area, dealt with the painter who installed a new bathroom cabinet and got an estimate for painting the dining room, met the housecleaners (luxury problem, I know--but it's a once every few months kind of thing), found an assisted living place for my father, ordered groceries online from Safeway, waited for delivery guy, booked flights for four to and from Vegas, booked a hotel, arranged house and petsitting, and on and on and on. All of this while working full time, commuting more than 2 hours a day, and spending as much time with my daughter and husband as possible. I feel like I've leapt out of an issue of Oprah magazine--a feature called "How Real Women Deal with Everyday Stress." Or something like that. The scary thing: I'm okay. I think.

I know it's insane, and honestly, it's not something I'd seriously consider, but let's just say that for the last couple of weeks, I've become mildly fixated on the idea of relocating back to the part of the country I grew up in. I'll blame it partly on "Treme," the new series from HBO that my husband and I have gotten completely sucked into, and lest one think I'm so impressionable that a TV show would convince me to move somewhere, let it be known that "The Wire," an equally adored show produced by the same team, emphatically did not make me want to move to Baltimore.

Okay, so, a month or so into this blog thing and I still haven't committed. I've only shown it to one person (my sister is waiting to be the second) and not even my husband knew i was "blogging." Because I'm not. It feels more like a journal I keep for myself, on the computer. I am searching for a name and a "theme" or at least some context. I am jealous that my sister (the one who is lucky enough to be living in Paris at the moment) found such a cool arc for her own blog Blue Paris--but maybe it's easier when you're an expatriate--the themes reveal themselves a bit more. For me, I am torn between writing about motherhood, my weird job in Silicon Valley, my desire to expose my child to nature--which would fall under motherhood I guess, the complex journey of moving my father into assisted living, or just other random things that come into my brain. I am equally envious of Rachel (New York Lost and Found) and her gorgeously textured images and always fascinating themes (to me at least, but I've known her for 15 years). Still, she's found a home for herself, or at least a voice. I'll get there.