Chirky

I’ve lost my underwear.

Now, don’t you worry yourself, because there is good news: I do have the seven pairs I packed in my suitcase when we moved more than two weeks ago. The washing machine and dryer are hooked up (thanks, Dad!), so I’ve been able to wash our clothes over the past couple of weeks. Still, there are dozens of pairs that should be somewhere in our house, and it kills me that I don’t know where they are.

I’ve searched for them, and I know exactly how they are packed: in a white trash bag, which I then stuffed into a black trash bag. In an awkward moment of modesty, I was desperately afraid that, while carrying dresser drawers, the guys helping us move were going to see my unmentionables. So I hurriedly stuffed them into the bags, and threw them onto the moving truck. We had already packed over 100 boxes, and still, we ran out. Trash bags provided the perfect improvisation. Incidentally, we also packed our couch cushions and decorative pillows in this way, and they’re all accounted for. Which brings me to the conclusion that somewhere, somehow, those trash bags may have been thrown away in a cleaning frenzy. And I’m not sure how I feel about that.

On one hand, some of my favorite things to wear were in that drawer. When I got married, I was given a piece of advice by a friend who had married the year before. The advice was on a simple piece of paper, and if you don’t already know, let me share it with you: “Always wear pretty panties.” Even if no one else sees them, they make you feel pretty. It’s true - you should try it!

On the other hand, if everything from that drawer has been relegated to the dump, at least I have the consolation that I get to shop for NEW pairs. If there’s anything I like to shop for, it’s under-things. (And shoes, for that matter.) Tables piled high with silk and cotton are like a tractor beam, pulling me forward, and even if I don’t buy anything, I still have to look. (Just in case, you see.)

Unless I uncover them soon, I think I may be doing more than just looking at those tables. I foresee an entirely new, ahem, "wardrobe" in my future.

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Instead of saying, "I'll keep my ears peeled," shouldn't it be, "I'll keep my ears shucked?"

I mean, right?

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Being an ethical person is sometimes bittersweet. Take today, for example. I randomly checked my bank account from work, something I rarely do. More money was in the account than I expected, so I took a closer look.

I realized what had happened: my employer double-paid me. Initially I thought, “Score! We could totally use that extra cash!” Before my mind completed the thought, I felt my stomach drop as I realized the extra deposit probably wasn’t intentional.

I scoured the past few months to check whether it was a make-up payment. My spirits lifted a little when it occurred to me that perhaps my company hadn’t paid me the last pay cycle, which would make the deposit rightfully mine.

Nothing was amiss.

I carefully crafted a letter to the HR department, informing them of the double-payment and asking whether it was intentional. I mean, hey, there’s still a chance it was! Maybe it’s a six-month bonus they didn’t tell me about! Maybe they decided I deserve that raise I requested after all! Maybe it’s a make-up payment from a long, long time ago! Maybe pigs will fly! (I’m nothing, if not grotesquely optimistic.)

If I kept the money, I’d have a slightly fattened wallet and a seriously guilty spirit. I wouldn’t be the woman I claim to be, and I couldn’t stand for the things I say I stand for. I know I wouldn’t be able to keep the money without clarifying why it was given to me. It wasn’t necessarily difficult to give the money back, since I wasn’t counting on the extra amount and it wasn’t mine to begin with. As a bonus, being honest makes my heart feel a little lighter.

The entire situation made me curious: what would you have done? Would you keep it? Would you give it back? Would you tell anyone? Would you just wait and see whether your employer issued a withdrawal from your account? An inquiring mind wants to know.

(Anonymous comments welcome.)

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Since buying our first home, I’ve become more and more conscientious about changes Roger and I can make to be less wasteful and more eco-friendly. I’ve outlined some modifications we’ve made already (or have plans to make), and thought that I’d share them with you in honor of Earth Day.

What’s more, I would love to hear what green things YOU are doing. I mean, I figure you’re pretty (or handsome, as the case may be), you’re intelligent, you’re bound to be doing things that haven’t even crossed my radar yet. Tell me about what you’re doing! Here’s my list:

1. Our electricity plan is generated by 100% wind power (saving enough carbon emissions to be the equivalent of not driving for two years)
2. We have plans to remodel all three bathrooms, installing low-flow faucets and toilets
3. Our city has a really awesome recycling program to help reduce waste. In fact, if you’re able to increase your recyclables and decrease your refuse, they’ll give you extra recycling trash carts for free and a smaller refuse cart to use, PLUS a discount on your water/sewage/trash bill. Now THAT is motivating!
4. We have canvas grocery bags. Though, admittedly, I’ve yet to use them – I do reuse my plastic grocery bags, so I think that counts a little!
5. Just this week, Roger and I started carpooling (instead of driving separately). We have plans to do this most days of the week (if not all).

Also, here are a few links you may find helpful for living green:

- Green Living - Goods that go easy on the planet
- 10 Green Tips from True Green: 100 Everyday Ways You Can Contribute to a Healthier Planet by Kim McKay and Jenny Bonnin
- MSNBC’s Going Green
- Greenona - Search Green. Go Green.
- TerraPass - Flights dump tons of emissions into the atmosphere - undoing your contribution to global warming is easier than you think.
- Low Impact Living - you can take action
- Buy local produce at a farmer’s market. Find a farmers’ market near you.

So...what ideas do you have?

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We have a tiny aisle from our front door, through our living room and into our bedroom. We also have access to the kitchen, though there's little food to speak of.

The move (well, the packing) is in progress, and I never knew our tiny apartment would hold more than 100 boxes worth of stuff (which is all well-documented on my Very Important Master List).

AND WE'RE NOT EVEN FINISHED PACKING YET. (Perspective: the official move begins at 8:30 a.m. tomorrow.)

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The Great Scrape of 2008 came and went without much fanfare. Our muscles are still sore, we’re still in desperate need of massages, and yet we’ve spent every night this week at the house peeling wallpaper, removing wood paneling, and dragging old, cat-pee-stained carpet out to the driveway for bulk waste collection.

Whoever the previous owners were, their passive-aggressive cat proved its dismay by relieving itself in every corner of the house. I’m not sure which I think is more of an accomplishment: completely ridding our entire home of the distinct scent of animal urine, or eradicating asbestos popcorn from all the ceilings.

We did have help with the popcorn, so we can’t take all the credit – Eddie came over on Saturday, and my dad came over on Sunday – for removing the ceiling.

The living room and dining room each have 12-foot-ceilings, and I sincerely regret not getting a picture of Roger, my dad and me all standing on ladders of varying heights, tackling the dining room. It was the last room we finished. The pride - and relief: it was finally over! - we felt when climbing down the ladder for the last time was unparalleled.

(Unparalleled, that is, until we start our next project. By then, The Great Popcorn Scrape of 2008 will just be a distant memory. We’ll think, “Awwwww, that wasn’t so bad.” But believe me: in the midst of the scraping? The dust? The hot, un-breathable Tyvek suits? The sore muscles? The having to hold my arms over my head for hours at a time? It was brutal.)

To view larger photos and more commentary, visit the Flickr photo set here: The Great Scrape of 2008

[For those interested in technical matters, it took three people to scrape 2100+ square feet of ceiling in two days (6 hours the first day, seven hours the second day). This is mostly because my dad is a machine, and no, you can’t borrow him. We spent three days simply prepping the house – by far and large, that was the more time-consuming project, and considerably easier on our bodies.

We rented an air scrubber to filter the asbestos dust out of the air. The machine did an excellent job, turning the air in each room four times per hour. Considering we let it run for more than 100 hours straight, I’d say the air is pretty dang clean. After we finished the entire house, we simply rolled up the paper/plastic and disposed of it. It was a simple cleanup, followed by vacuuming with a shop vac fitted with a HEPA filter, and after that we mopped both the floors and the walls.]

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Right now, a Super 8 Motel has better amenities than my own bathroom. Well, maybe not better, since I doubt they have Tea Tree Oil-infused organic shampoo or Purity face wash or framed Picasso ink sketches lining the wall. But what Super 8 does have, I’m coveting. And that’s a working hair dryer. Mine broke last week, which means that in one day I went from perfect curls to frizzy strands of, well, frizz. And frizzy ones, at that, in case I wasn’t clear.

Over the past week my hair styles have ranged from a low pony tail to a messy bun. And one day, just to switch it up a bit, I wore a high ponytail (with ribbon!), since pulling all my hair back is the only way to hide my airrant locks. (Har, har!)

I haven’t purchased a new hair dryer in a long time – maybe 10 years? And I’m assuming that in the last 10 years manufacturers have come out with all kinds of new-fangled designs and features. Which is where you come in! This is what I need:

- Must fit a standard diffuser attachment (or come with one)
- Must have a high and low heat setting

I’m pretty low-maintenance. Do you have any suggestions? Do you like a particular brand? Have a hair dryer you swear by? Are there certain functions or features I should be on the lookout for? Or is there just one that you think is really pretty? (All I'm saying is, I won't complain if it’s hot pink, that's all.)

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Four years ago, when Roger and I married, we decided that I would leave my job before the wedding. We thought it would give me time to relax, time away from work, time to rejoice that I wouldn’t be heading back to 50- and 60-hour workweeks. And then three days after we returned from our honeymoon, Roger was laid off. Our eyes wide with concern, we stared at each other that first day he was home. We weren’t quite sure what to make of it, we didn’t know at that point how long it would be before we found new positions.

It was six weeks before Roger’s career took off again, and an additional three months before I was gainfully employed. As newlyweds, we had a tiny amount of savings and wedding money, and Roger was given a small severance when he was laid off. Over two months, we spent every bit of that money just living – every bit down to the last dollar went to rent, utilities, groceries, car payments and gasoline. Roger found his job in just the nick of time – just after we paid the last bill and looked at each other like: “What now?”

It was a stressful time, both for us individually and for us beginning our marriage. It also made us Nazis about paying off our massive amount of debt. (We’ve been credit card debt free for over a year now, hooray!)

Our lives -- just as I’m sure many of yours – are a series of ups and downs, trials and errors, surging amounts of joys and disappointments.

As I’ve shared bits and pieces of my life with you, be it on Chirky.com, in the comments sections of your own blog, or over sporadic email conversations, I’ve been amazed by the way we’ve been able to rally around each other, learn from and encourage one another. Blogging can be every bit of a community as the “real” friends we interact with on a daily basis.

Last week, I caught wind from Emily (of Not That You Asked) about a family that put my own problems into sharp perspective. To put it simply: this couple, who are close friends of Emily’s, were on vacation when their 16-month-old daughter became violently ill.

They took her for medical attention on the Friday of Easter weekend, and learned in that small space of time that she had an aggressive form of cancer -– a tumor the size of a baseball -– lodged in her brain. It had metastasized into her spinal cord.

By Monday, a 12-hour surgery was scheduled to remove a portion of the tumor, and afterward their little girl would need chemotherapy. At a time when most families were hiding Easter eggs and sharing meals together and attending churches, their doctors were suggesting that extended family make the trip to say goodbye. The doctors weren’t sure the toddler could make it through the long surgical procedure.

Miraculously, she did.

But there is more. The mother is a stay-at-home mom, the father is a teacher. He’s had to take an unpaid leave of absence to be with his daughter and wife in Savannah, where they were on vacation. They have a mortgage in Virginia, but have rented an apartment in Savannah so they can stay together as a family. They want to be able to continue to provide their daughter with excellent and consistent medical attention. With no reliable income, it’s hard to foresee the incredible amounts of debt they will incur.

Emily has written about their story in more detail, if you would like more information about this family.

Thinking back to our meager beginnings, I cannot begin to scratch the surface of the level of uncertainty this family is facing, the fears they must feel, the stress this new trial will bring to their marriage and their family, the bewildered prayers that can’t go past: “God, I don’t know why this has happened. What do we do now? Please help!”

I’ve signed on with Emily to spread the word about their story because I strongly believe in the power of community and the power of us reaching past ourselves to help others.

If you want to help in some way, but don't know how, let me suggest a few options:
1. If you want to help meet their needs financially, you can click the Donate button below (a fund that Emily set up through PayPal). Whether we raise $5 or $5,000, every bit helps.

2. If your heart is aching to help spread the word, perhaps consider posting a similar entry on your own site, or send an email to friends and family pointing them to this entry or Emily's entry.

3. If you want to leave a comment, a special thought, a prayer, or any other word of encouragement, you can do so in the comments section here or in the comments section of Emily’s more detailed post. Brian, Katie, and their daughter Emily covet your prayers and comments.

Editor's Note:
At last count, you guys helped raise nearly $25,000 in under a week. I am not surprised, though perhaps a little dumbstruck, by the generosity shown by our collective readers. THANK YOU. If you would like the latest update on Emily, you can find it here. A thank you from the Mandell family is here. If you still want to help, purchase a bracelet here or donate using the link above. If you cannot use (or are uncomfortable using) Paypal, a donation account has been set up at Bank of America for Emily Mandell. And, obviously, please continue to pray for this family, and to send your sweetest thoughts and best wishes their way.

It warms my heart to see a community of people coming together to help one family. I wish it could be thousands of families, or millions of people across our globe. It starts with one. Just one.

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You may know by now that I work as a writer for hotels.com. One of my favorite parts of my job is researching what to do once you get to a city. It may be the obsessive planner in me, since I take great pleasure in researching everything about a city that I'm personally planning to visit. I want to make sure I experience everything, from touristy attractions to destinations only locals know about, and the fact that I get to do this for a job is kind of mind-blowing to me.

When researching local city charms, I sometimes come across very, um, interesting attractions. Most destinations are normal -- expected, even -- such as Washington D.C.'s International Spy Museum (which I plan to visit in May) or New York City's Times Square, which I trekked to for the first time just last month.

But in Dublin, Ohio, they do things differently. Sure, the city hosts a wildly popular Irish Festival each August (the first weekend of the month, in case you'd like to plan on attending). And yes, it's only 10 miles from the Buckeyes' stomping grounds. But I'm positive unsuspecting tourists are surprised to drive past a field of concrete corn. No, really.

Click HERE for larger image

Created from three different molds, each is six feet tall and designed using concrete. After staring at the picture for a while, thinking about what it must be like to wander amongst these larger-than-life vegetables (or are they fruits? Debate ensues.), I have to wonder who shucked them?

And if these were real, would one kernel be enough to fill a grown man's stomach? (If so, I think I might have just cured the world population's hunger problem. At 800 kernels per ear, we could feed an entire village for days on just one ear of corn. Genius!)

(Though don't misunderstand me - if I ever make it to Dublin, Ohio, you can bet you'll find me here. I imagine I'll lay out a blanket, enjoy a picnic among the sculptures and nosh on - you guessed it - a buttery yellow cob.)

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Since closing on our first home this week, my emotions have run a broad spectrum:

PEACEFUL (When signing the paperwork.)

ENTERTAINED (While keeping a tally of how many times we signed our names - 34 each)

RELIEVED (When realizing the search was FINALLY OVER!)

EXCITED (When shopping for supplies at Home Depot.)

ANXIOUS (When our bill was totaled at Home Depot.)

INTRIGUED (When Roger installed our new lock. How do guys inherently know how to do these things?)

DEFEATED (When a ladder collapsed while I was standing on it.)

FRUSTRATED (While trying to figure out how to redesign the kitchen/pantry/laundry room/family room section of the house so it flows better, and then realizing that it's wasn't that my solutions wouldn't work, it was just that I had no solutions to begin with.)

DELIGHTED (Upon finding a 100% wind power electricity plan that boasted a fairly low fixed rate and allows us to earn American Airlines miles.)

GIDDY (When I laid eyes on my key to our new home: It's black, with hot pink hearts and rhinestones. Every time I think about my new key, little butterflies swoon in my chest - I never knew that buying a piece of metal would make me feel like I was falling in love all over again.)

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