Category Archives: Life

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Real (Pain) Estate

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For a while there when we lived in Austin nothing was more fun than looking at houses. MK had a Real Estate license, we had two other couples that would join us – looking for all three families, and when MK was making more money we were imagining paying top dollar for giant houses on acres of land. There was no limit to the time we’d spend out on weekends checking out 3000 square foot and above homes debating whether a pool or a four car garage was more important. We must have gone in every house that was for sale over a period of a few months.

We looked far and wide and realized that although we weren’t sure what we wanted, we weren’t finding it. Thus began our attempt to find what was missing by trying new cities. We drove around Seattle occasionally but didn’t really think it was for us either. The first time we were in San Diego we browsed the internet and learned that living in the greatest place on earth comes at a premium. So in Park City the idea came to us to find a house there to settle in and continue to live the beach lifestyle that we love by renting. I’m a big fan of this one. MK might have forgotten it.

Lately MK’s gotten the idea in his head that we need to buy something in San Diego. I’m not sure what this is all about. But after the time that has passed and the price difference from what we saw in Austin and what that computes to here – I’m so over it. For a ton more money, we’re reduced to condos and forclosure houses. Miserable ones. It stopped being fun when the questions now are like “Where would we take the laundry?” and “Think duct tape could fix that?”.

It’s not exactly like we think we deserve a house like this (no, really – click the link and look at that place) but something liveable would be nice. I hope MK gets over this silly idea instead of putting us in the wrong place!

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Repeated Disappointment

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The reason I asked about the face issue was totally that we were going glasses shopping. And we went. And MK still only looks good in bland wire frames. I was hoping we’d discover some new daring style he could take on. I still look totally lame in glasses period. Or, PERIOD.

We both have awful sleep schedules and stay out too late for our own good. We both agree if we could just be comfy wearing our glasses out it would solve half of the bailing early we do. My eyes get sensitive if I’m out in the sun all day, which we usually are. Solution: glasses in public. Problem: what we look like in glasses.

Every four years or so this lame cycle repeats itself (this started when I was 9 or so, people) where I go hoping to find something decent only to be reminded my face looks retarded with glasses. Not only that, but any frame that might look nice will suck once you put my coke-bottle lenses in.

just not hot

just not hot

The lady today suggested that the rectangular frames that look halfway decent on my face were the problem because somehow they make the lenses fit by making them fatter. So I need glasses that are kinda round or at least go up on the bottom corners. There goes any hope I had of looking stylish. But hey, maybe I won’t look geeky?
cool but not allowed

cool but not allowed

Scratch that. I look even worse that possible in the frames that are oval or round or rectangular with an arch at the bottom. Sucky.

meh

So there that goes. I didn’t buy anything. I hate the glasses that I have now, even though I thought they were okay when I got them…  so the problem remains. I’m going to try one more super high end store – for sure some name brand on the side will hide the fact that I look terrible in them – and if I can’t afford them I’ll look on eBay. Chances are I might just give up and go for broke:

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Airports

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Ever since being totally hooked on the move Love Actually, I am a big fan of airports. Happy or sad, they are places filled with emotional reunions and tearful goodbyes. DW was late yesterday and MK and I sat coffee in hand and watched the men anxiously waiting with bouquets in their hands. It makes me feel all gooey on the inside.

San Diego, from what I understand, is the Number One tourist destination/vacation travel spot for the 4th of July holiday. The airport was certainly busy. But I don’t mind the parking and running in, I enjoy the people watching. I haven’t traveled in a little while (well, at least for us) and got all nostalgic thinking about my last few trips, happy and sad, to see my friends in Austin and my family back East.

What is an airport to you? A big pain in the butt to have to deal with to get somewhere or a unique place to see life?

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Taking Your Thoughts

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This doesn’t qualify in my book as a doctor worthy problem – so I’ll let you, internet friends, tell me what to do.

I am a pretty happy sleeper. It takes me a while, but I doze off comfortably and don’t wake up at night and have sweet dreams, mostly. But lately, there are some crazy things going through my head. Knock down drag out fuzzy memories hit me when I wake up of some of the strangest things you could imagine, real and otherwise.

What makes you have insane dreams? I like my bed, I haven’t changed my schedule, I can’t think of one thing that has changed to make my brain go all crazy – besides being older. I’m not enjoying remembering things I think happened with people I know then realizing that was A DREAM. Also no fun is the creepy weird out of this world but somewhat grounded in reality nonsense that is waking me up. Sometimes I forget but still know it was troubling.

I’m thinking of warm milk before bed. Or a book for a bit. Or a white noise machine. Advice?

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This Is The Life

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The way I look at it now – I couldn’t NOT be depressed after my grandmother passed away. I’d been living such a blessed life, it made me feel like nothing could go wrong. So I had to deal with the loss, the reality, and being humbled.

Meeting new people in so many different places has exposed me to so much and taught me so many things. One dear friend battled depression and it was the first encounter with someone close to me. I kept thinking (and saying) “But her life is so awesome and great and fun, HOW could she be unhappy?” Talking to her about it made me realize that whole idea is part of the problem- knowing you shouldn’t be sad MAKES you feel guilty, and sadder. 

So I can better cope with my own little bits. I have days where thinking that we don’t own a home, that I probably couldn’t get a job if I worked for free, that I say all the wrong things at all the wrong times- all it takes is an overcooked dinner on top of all that and I lose it. I used to just shut down, but now I concentrate, count my blessings, and move on. I’m back on top of the grouchy bits and conquering them gives me the strength to make good times even better. (I totally wanted to put ‘gooder’ there…).

Point being – I have the awesomest life on the planet. I have a great family, great friends, and O!M!G! I live on a beautiful beach. I had to refrain from updating my Twitter/Facebook all weekend and week while our company was here – I was afraid to brag. Seriously, even if it was just a night out for tacos, everything was the best time ever!

BB and MB are two of the most amazing people that I’ve ever met – they make me better just for being with them. Meeting BIL’s new girl reminded me I’m still growing and never will be perfect, but holy cow is it fun to dish about family. We all ended up new shades of hot pink and lobster – well of course I’m nice and bronzed, I just have that skin – thanks Dadd! We got to watch the Sea World fireworks almost every night. We really did take some great pictures and I hope I find the time this weekend to share them with you. Just don’t call it bragging. 😉

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Status Update

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The electronic lady voice from Dell called me two days ago now to let me know that she had my laptop. I sure hope she can fix it.

They didn’t say how long it would take. Or if they’d give it back. Just that they got it, thanks for sending your broken stuff to us! I’m picturing monkeys with hammers…in the meantime I’m running around causing drama and then forgetting what it is even though I want to share more than ever before. For example,

I spent Mother’s Day with the only Mom I knew. A friend of a friend. Seemed nice. After 4+ hours of sitting around with her crazy kids (I’ll allege I mean ‘cool crazy’ if I get sued for slander) I get told that I’m a bad person for ‘rushing home’ to pick up MK. And a psycho. (That sounds like I’m picking up MK and a psycho – that made me Laugh Out Loud. She called me a psycho. You got it, I just wanted to clarify for my own sake.) And a spoiled brat. Dude, I brought her FLOWERS. So – turns out she wasn’t the only MOM I knew, she was the only insane bipolar freak I never knew I knew. Huh.

Needless to say I’m not doing that again anytime soon – although crazy seems to be in the air over here on the bay, I wonder what they illegally dump in this water?

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Non Sporting Sports Injury

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The first time I hurt my knee was in high school. In the marching band. Which is not a sport. It’d be cool to be on crutches if you were the quarterback of the football team, but not if you’re the worst girl that was demoted from flute to I’m not even telling you what it’s that bad. There were many “she can’t even walk right” comments in my family.

I sucked at every sport I ever tried, so I gave them up as fast as I could. Then, in college I blew my knee out twice more – once on a sticky bar floor and once at an uneven outdoor concert venue. I shouldn’t even HAVE pride left. At the bar, the owner was a friend of mine, and was nice enough to give me a shot of tequila after I successfully popped my kneecap back into the socket it is supposed to stay in. At the concert, I was having trouble doing it myself but no man I was with would hit it in for me as I kept instructing. All three times I’ve gone to the doctor they’ve put me in a giant immobilizer, that goes from your ankle to your hip. Again, glamorous only after saving babies from burning buildings, not in college hopping around campus after a night at a bar.

So of course I took up skiing. And the point of this story is that although my knee hurt from time to time, it barely would pop, not the full on dislocation I’ve come to expect. And I made it through ski season – the toughest sport I’ve ever attempted, still walking on both legs.

Until last week, when no, not skiing, but standing up from sitting down and turning to reach and get something…did I pop my knee out of joint. My knee is a dork.

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The Hassle of Moving Utilities

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While most of what we do is gallivant around for fun and just use someone else’s stuff, running here and there on a whim, there are some real hassles. Doing this furnished housing coming and going has taught us a few things. I have become somewhat of a master at packing boxes creatively. I can tell you how to dole out shampoo and kitchen spices for 6 to 12 months with no leftovers. I can separate seasons of clothes better than ever. That stuff is a breeze. The least fun part has to be the cable, internet, electric, and gas billing.

You can’t just call up and pay for 6 months and be done. I wish. You can’t transfer because it’s a different company everwhere. MK needs a ton of security to work, so we’ve gotten two internet connections in most places. We got a COLLECTION LETTER last week – totally in error- please, for a bill we didn’t owe. And that information is so two houses ago. So it can be a hassle. We do our best and keep extensive files everywhere just in case problems like that come up. I just can’t stand dealing with the 1-800 numbers, the hold music, the passwords, the arguments.

MK dealt effectively with it and showed them who was boss. But dude, it has to be my biggest complaint to get all that stuff shut off in one place on the right date and set up in another on the right date. It never gets any easier!

BONUS: Featured News

  • Stay tuned for a GIANT EXCITING POST TOMORROW!!!
  • It rained all day yesterday, getting rid of all the snow. Now it’s snowing.
  • My baby car is all-growed-up – we go a tow hitch to transport more crap!
  • There’s now a “Moving” category in the category cloud- for you to read up on!
  • Get your calendars- we are already accepting reservations!
Imagine if we were OLD and still needed a land line phone, too...

Imagine if we were OLD and still needed a land line phone, too...

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Tax Drama

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MK is a procrastinator. A big one. Many of you know this about him. What you might not know – and what I didn’t know until we were married- was just how bad.

For example, there is an unopened TurboTax CD sitting on his desk right now. Before I got married my daddy did my taxes in January for me right when I got my W2 and sent it to him so I could get that money back for whatever car repair or rent that came up right when I was low on cash. But it got done. Early.

So I couldn’t comprehend the first April 15th I spent with MK, where he stayed up until nearly midnight and had to find the last open post office to get a postmark in time. And the year after that, even with me suggesting we get an early start, the same results. That was a frustrating time. He doesn’t like to be forced in to things. He’ll put it off until he can’t possibly do it in time, then does it. The taxes always get done (and well).

Don’t get me wrong, it’s not like I could do our taxes, never mind quickly. This guy has the hardest job for taxes on the planet, but he’s mastered it in the last ten years. Well, the last ten April 14th and 15ths. While I hide under the covers and eat crackers. It makes him a little crazy. Then we can’t spend money for like a month, the more I think about it the more worked up I get over the craziness…

So I’m over it. I’ve taken a step back, told TB I’ll be on her couch to avoid the whirlwind of looking for stamps and getting to the post office on time. Stay out of the path of the last minute filer, that’s SGS’s advice.

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Sitting Waiting Wishing

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Well, I’ve got two weeks until I head into the SXSW hysteria. And I’ve got nothing. No company, no snow, no errands to keep me busy. So there’s already been two days of doing nothing that I foresee continuing for the next two weeks. I spent an embarrassing amount of time on the internet yesterday trying to find something to do. I’ve read books. Watched bad tv. I’ve cleaned the house. Twice. I’m boooored. I hate being bored.

When JV was here he asked me what it’s like to be funemployed. It is all fun and games after MK is done work and we have adventures to go on. But every couple months it does turn in to a little “why get out of bed, there is absolutely nothing to do”. This is one of those times. Of course there are things I could find to do, but that attitude sets in and makes it hard to get going. So I’m going to sit around and wait for my trip. Now would be a good time to catch up with me if you want…

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