Tracy Calabrese

On Thursday, my dad was in a card accident. Someone hit his truck from behind, hard enough to spin it completely around. After the accident, he got out of the car and had to sit back down because he was dizzy and light-headed. He was taken to the hospital and checked out and thankfully, he was OK.

After talking to him on Thursday, I had a horrible nights’ sleep. Thoughts of what if? kept running through my head. It’s scary situations like these that make me really count my blessings and be thankful for everything and everyone in my life. This is something I need to do more regularly because you never know what could happen.

Right now, I have eight days left in my apartment. I am traveling this Thursday - next Monday and possibly next Thursday and Friday. I can’t wait to get out of here. Three years in the same apartment…it was a good run, but it is time to move on.

I feel like I am breaking up with my apartment.

I have been attempting to eat the contents of my freezer and pantry, which isn’t the healthiest food in the world. Lunch this week will consist of Lean Cuisine’s, dinners will be veggie burgers, crab cakes, fries, one lonely pork chop, some Uncle Ben’s teriyaki rice and an assortment of frozen veggies. I have a few boxes of opened cereal, pancake mix, an assortment of granola bars, english muffins and egg beaters.

I spent most of the weekend packing. My dad came down on Sunday and helped take apart my busted computer (Literally. He took out the hard drive and then took the computer with him to recycle.) and helped me spackle the holes in the walls, fix the washer, move the refrigerator (to clean underneath and behind it) and move stuff from my outside storage closet inside to the pile of boxes that continues to grow.

I have a laundry list of people to follow up with tomorrow - listing agent, mortgage broker, title company, insurance company and financial planner.

I still have to pack up part of the kitchen, the bathroom (linens and towels, mostly), dresser and closet. I am not looking forward to the closet, but it has to be done.

There’s a lot to do in the next week and half or so, but I am so ready for it.

One of the condos on my short list (my very short list of 2!) just went off the market.

I need to get on the whole making a decision thing because I have just now realized that I could be passing up my future home by being hestitant to make a decision.

Time to call my dad and ask if we can go see another 6 places this weekend!

My dad is a super handy guy. My mom and I used to call him Tim Taylor, from the show Home Improvement, because he was always fixing things, always had some project going on around the house.

My dad taught be how to do a lot things throughout the years. In high school, I wanted to paint my room green and he told me I could if I did it myself. So I did. I even painted a palm tree on one wall. I think I did a pretty good job too. He taught me how to drive in the parking lot of a church using my grandparents car. He attempted to teach my how to drive stick/manual, but I cried and that was the end of that. I can screw on a mean outlet cover ever since I spent a weekend working with him at a hotel his company was renovating in Pennsylvania.

Since my parents don’t live too far away, I still rely on my dad for a lot of things. He washes my car every time I visit them, he hung shelves in my apartment, helped me set up my TV over Christmas and since he owns a property management business, he is coming down next weekend so we can go look at places without pushy realtors.

I just want my dad to know how much I appreciate him. Happy birthday dad! I will enjoy the leftover red velvet cake from dinner last night.

PS - My mom’s birthday is Friday, so I will write something nice about her too.

When you arrive at work, turn your cell phone on ring and take it out of your bag. Check it every now and then throughout the day to make sure you don’t have any missed calls.

Leaving your cell phone on vibrate in your bag means you miss phone calls from your client and more importantly, your dad about free Stars tickets for tonight. When you get home and listen to the voicemails you missed during the day, you get pissed off.