My mom and I were texting about the weather the other day and I asked her if they'd had rain recently. She said no and mentioned tornado warnings in a nearby town. (They live in Kansas.) Then she texted, "I HATE THIS TIME OF YEAR!!!"
I had to chuckle because she says that at least once a season:
During which season is she actually happy? Why doesn't she move out of that state, if it's so bad, every year, every season? Such passionate feelings about a situation surely require actions to resolve them, no? I use these conversations with my mom as lessons for myself to reflect on my own feelings, especially negative ones. Do I hate every season in Minnesota? Thankfully, no. I honestly dislike parts of Winter - the really cold days, the dangerously icy or snowy days that make commuting difficult. The length of the season. But the rest of the year, I love it here. If I didn't, if I had a reason to hate each season, I would like to think I'd take action, seek an alternative. Move instead of constantly complaining. Taking action is what I did when I hated my last job. I applied for over 140 jobs to get the hell out of that toxic situation. I didn't just stay and complain about it. I got out. When I was a reluctant participant in a writing partnership I'd never wanted, I bowed out when I realized the relationship was sucking the joy out of my life. I do complain a lot, as humans tend to do. But I try to be conscious about my choices and my happiness levels. I try to recognize if I'm just having a bad day or if I'm immersed in a situation I need to escape. I'm also working on finding ways to be more positive. Even if it's trying to find a tiny bit of good or amusement in a negative situation. For example, when a car was speeding past everyone on the highway, zipping from lane to lane, I thought to myself, "Well, at least he's using his turn signal when he swerves abruptly into the next lane. How courteous!" And sometimes, if it's an inescapable negative situation (waiting in line at the DMV, for example), the best we can do is find ways to amuse ourselves to bear through it.
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Now you can travel the space-time continuum from your own home in this shower pod, created by NASA.
Launch pad sold separately. uLast night my husband and I visited a local Italian restaurant for my birthday dinner. We'd just given our order to the server when a woman with an "I'd like to speak to the manager" haircut was seated with her daughter at a nearby table. She promptly told the hostess to get her server, immediately.
The server rushed over and the woman (who I'll call Leona) said, "We need to get somewhere right after this, so we don't have a lot of time. I need you to take our order and get it to us as soon as possible. Do you think you can do that?" Leona's tone, while not outright rude, was condescending and superior. Of course, the server said she could, took the order and Leona and her daughter were served quickly in a flurry of waitstaff attending to them. Here are some thoughts for Leona:
I enjoy going out to eat but I'll admit, the part where another human being waits on me makes me feel a little awkward. Therefore, I am very respectful and tip well. There are so many people who feel they were meant to be served; they embrace it with an inflated sense of entitlement and superiority. Those people are ugly. There's nothing horribly wrong with this real estate photo. But, I've seen this style bedspread in multiple homes. I'm not a fan. I wondered why people are drawn to buying it. My suspicion is the pintuck design means less smoothing/neatening is required when making a bed. Just toss it on. If you want to buy your own pintuck comforter (why?) here's one on Amazon.
Real estate photos are supposed to entice potential buyers, not repel them. Sometimes the least amount of effort can improve a room. In the following picture I've circled problem areas. All the home owner and/or realtor had to do was remove the items from view. This would have presented the kitchen as clean and uncluttered. From the other end of the room, more clutter on the counter and a very concerning towel beneath the dishwasher. The only conclusion one can draw is the dishwasher leaks. No thanks!
The following three photos are from three different homes. What, pray tell, is the purpose of including this shot of the stairwell in a series of photos for a home? To demonstrate it's too narrow to put a corner shelf on the landing, that's why! And how lazy not to tuck those extension cords out of view. While this looks like a nice kitchen, what is the point of taking the photo from toddler-level? How odd. This house was not a log cabin, so I was confused why the owners framed a room with logs. Then I realized it was log cabin wallpaper.
WHY?! Why does log cabin wallpaper even EXIST? I realize I've posted a lot of critiques of real estate photos lately. I admit, it's quickly becoming a hobby. My husband and I are fixing up our own home to sell and searching real estate ads for homes or land, so naturally I keep stumbling upon these questionable real estate pictures. The next two photos are not questionable real estate photos but are of a typical new home construction. They represent very common designs available around the Twin Cities metro. And they have three features I really dislike. Let's look at the first photo. This home design is what I call, "Three Car Garage (with attached home)." The typical new constructions feature the garages so prominently and oh, yes, there's a house, too. The appeal of a home should be in the overall design, the front door/windows, the porch or landing. Not the garage. Garage doors are not attractive to me nor are they a selling point. Additionally, most of the Three Car Garage (with attached homes) are split levels. You walk in the front door and the first thing you see are stairs. A set going up to the main level and another leading to the basement.
Whatever happened to foyers? Bring back foyers! The next photo features my biggest pet peeve regarding new home construction in Minnesota. There's no deck. The deck is not included in the construction. If a new homeowner wants a deck, they have to get a contractor to build it or do it themselves. And many, many homeowners must not include the cost of a deck in their financing, and their home stands for years without one. A back door that opens to nothing but a fifteen foot free fall. So homeowners board up the back door to prevent their toddlers from tumbling out. I've never seen this zero-deck rule for new constructions in other states where I've lived. I just don't understand it. Look, I'm an animal lover. Dogs, cats - I've had both.
But when it comes time to sell my house, I'm not going to pose my dog alluringly on my leopard-print bedspread in the real estate photos. That's just exploiting the poor animal. |
About Sally FarleyI'm a typical, hardworking Midwesterner, enduring (and sometimes participating in) the passive-aggressive complexities of life in Minnesota. ArchivesLinksAsk a Manager
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