the letter N – I Just Have to Say…

I came across this charming sign, starting with N, painted on what was clearly a door with steps outside, but also, clearly, not an exit.

N Networking

Networking is a fancy term for “who do you know who can help you?” or “who might need your help?” with the presupposition that both parties will benefit sooner or later. The more people you know, the larger the network, the more things get done.

Selling the house has been made immeasurably easier by the networks developed by my realtor and by me as well. I don’t want to give everything away about my realtor until we get to letter R, but I will tell you here that in getting houses ready for the market, he drums up a lot of business for tradespeople. He becomes familiar with companies that will work to his standards and treat his clients nicely.

We wanted to know what work the house needed. He knew a good inspector.

A section of roof had a leak. He knew a roofer who came out and gave a bid right away.

The rental house needed a lot of cosmetic repair. He knew a good painter.

Electrical work needed to be done. He knew an electrician who was reasonable in price and did good work.

I needed an extra handyman. He found one.

I do not mind giving these guys some free advertising and a good reference.

I have done pretty well for not being in the business of fixing houses. I have Joe, who is a super networker among his friends. Joe and his crews have done cement work, lawn work, pressure washing, tree removal, appliance repair, and today they took away all my recyclable metal, and old sheets of plywood. What a relief.

Through years of being hospitable to my daughter’s friends (who have grown up and now have jobs) I have a supplier of packing boxes, and a great plumber.

Best of all, my own networking has supplied me with a great number of good friends who are praying me through this whole ordeal, bit by bit. God alone knows how many times he has stepped in and helped us along because of them. Y’all know who you are – thank you so very much!

The husband and I are suddenly sick with headaches and colds, making it difficult to think and work. Nevertheless, the busiest Monday so far was today. Painter, electricians (2 of them), handyman were all at work. I took some Excedrin and starting painting in my house. I can hardly wait until letter P to tell how much I hate painting.

Writing is continuing to be hard today. Between fits of coughing and the husband’s requests for records to finish filing our income tax, I’m going nuts. We hate filling out our tax reports so much that it is almost assumed that we will be late and filing for an extension. All those statements with tiny numbers and dates that are nearly impossible to find. Maybe someone else should do our taxes.

As a treat for myself, knowing that this day was coming, I went to the big box store and bought myself some nuts. And as a treat for my daughter who is getting tired of nutrition information, all I’m going to say is nuts are good for you, in moderation. It’s not like you can’t go look this stuff up yourself, right?

“Can’t you write a story about nuts?” she wanted to know. And I’ve been thinking of the myriads of times in my life when nuts have figured prominently.

Back in the 70’s when I got married, Gourmet Magazine ran a layout about a wedding that I admired greatly. It was very “flower child” oriented, woodsy settings, and a beautiful cream colored cake with several tiers. And decorating the steps of the tiers were little meringue mushrooms and halved walnut shells. The walnuts were probably in there somewhere too but it is the shells that I remembered. When the cake was refashioned for my wedding I think the walnut shells were replaced by small pine cones. So much for prominence.

And much more recently, peanuts have saved me from traffic accidents. (I will slip in the fact that peanuts are legumes, not tree nuts, but they have similar nutritional benefits.) Driving home from work in the midafternoon became difficult for me. My early rising and active physical work day left me quite tired and I would find myself sleeping at stop lights and perilously close to sleeping while moving slowly in traffic. For probably a year, I would keep a 2 lb. can of peanuts in the car for those times. I found out I could not eat and sleep at the same time, and although I often got rather sick from too many peanuts, I always made it home in one piece.

Back to the cashews, it seems lots of people like them. It’s something about the consistency and the salty way they crush in your mouth. Last year, shopping in Cambodia with my friends Mike and Trish, we found cashews in the Russian Market. Somewhere in the middle of this vast place there was a candy and food vendor who had 1 lb.measures of cashews all shrink-wrapped up in shiny plastic and Mike decided to get them. I was skeptical as I am a little fearful of eating from the Market. Mike said they were pretty good and he didn’t get sick so my daughter and I went back later to buy ours. The Russian Market is covered, very crowded, very little moving air and probably 100 degrees F. in the summer. Unless you live in it, it is very easy to get lost in the maze of similar looking booths and tables, meals being cooked on hibachis, children napping in corners. It is such an interesting place. We did finally find our cashews. Mine were not as good as Mike’s. I’m sticking to nuts from home. End of story.