cheapsake

We ordered "carside to-go" tonight for dinner. Picking it up was quite akward. Do you tip the person that brings the food to your car? I didn't know what to do. I froze.

Tip? No Tip? She didn't do anything. But she brought me my food. In way, she's my carside waitress...but she didn't do anything! It's just carry-out...but different. When I get carry out from the Villalge Wok, they don't bring the food to my car....so it's not carry out. But do I tip? Ah!!!
I didn't tip. I felt good about it. Until I looked to my left and watched the woman in the SUV next to me hand our "waitress" a five spot. Stupid suburbs.

plants

I'm growing things in my yard.

suburbia, part 2

Things I like about the suburbs:

1. The drive through at Dunn Bros.
   
2. County Market. It ain't Whole Foods, but they have sometime more important than bountiful fresh fish and organic lamb. County Market has shopping carts with little tike cars attached to the front. For those of you with kids under the age of 5, you know why this is important.
   
3. Crickets singing outside my window when I fall asleep.
4. Most of my neighbors also have young children.
5. Liquor stores are open on Sunday.
6. The local YMCA.
7. I can leave my curtains open at night without fearing someone will walk by and peak in.
8. No longer have to worry about snow emergency routes

For all those suburbanites reading: what are your favorites?

suburbia

Life threw me another curveball.

We moved to the suburbs. I'm not proud. My wallet isn't proud either. Driving 28 miles to work isn't so cool when gas is $6.24 a gallon.

We've been living in the new shack for a little more than a month. Elaine asks me the same question when she wakes up every morning - "do we really live here?" Then she smiles because it's too good to be true. And I smile too.

We never thought we'd be living in what Elaine calls a "house-house," meaning a dwelling unit not attached to another dwelling unit. We live in the Minneapolis-St. Paul metro area. Like most everywhere else (except for Raleigh, NC-up yours, Josh), housing prices are quickly bounding into the unaffordable. Elaine and I have one child, Ana (regular readers of this blog know this point well). We have another child growing in the belly of my wife. We call the new kid "buster" for now, since we declined knowledge regarding the baby's gender.

Anyway, back to the house-house. Because we are having another child, we deemed it necessary to look for a bigger residence. This is a point a struggled with a bit. I've been to Mexico. A 2 bedroom apartment is big enough for 2 kids and their parents. We Americans are spoiled. Our definition of "need" tends to be dramatically different than other countries of the world. We "need" 451 T.V. channels, but many people on this earth simply need a bite to eat.

I'm not sure how to resolve this tension. So I usually choose to forget about it. Call me a coward. I probably am.

Back to the story of our new house. We walked through several small townhomes and older homes with a lot of "character." Then America happened. Someone's job was transferred to California. This certain someone had just recently built a house near St Paul, and decided the best way to sell it fast and head to 49er country would be to lower the price 20%. We got lucky. And now both of us are happy to be living in a residence which our children can call home. There's even a yard where they can play outside.

We bought a house-house. And I live in the suburbs. Maybe Elaine and I can retire in a swanky loft downtown. Or maybe someday life will throw us another curveball; we'll sell everything and move to an orphanage in Mexico.

In the meantime, I look forward to soccer games, SUV's (not mine - i want a hybrid), and stuffy neighbors. Of course, I've already met my neighbors, and *most* of them aren't stuffy, I've only seen 3 SUV's on the block, and...well, I don't know about soccer yet. And speaking of Mexico - wouldn't you know it - my next door neighbor is Mexican.

I like curveballs.