Chili Powder

So much to say...

Whoa- it's been a while.

Except for the random picture posts with few words over the past few weeks, I haven't blogged much on either blog. We have been painting, moving, cleaning, and supplying our new house with the necessities. Um, and we got cable again... Unfortunately, blogging was moved to the back burner...And really the only reason why I am able to catch up this evening is because I am in Arlington in a hotel, with no house responsibilities!

So, where do I start? What have we (and I) been up to? I'll start with the house...

Two weeks ago we closed on our first house. This has been something that we have been working for for what seems like forever...We started focusing on buying a house about 3 years ago once we were both stable in our post college jobs and Marcel was out of diapers and daycare costs decreased significant. A side-note: For those of you who don't know our "story"- Zack and I got married in Las Vegas and decided to start a family shortly thereafter. We got pregnant almost immediately, and I graduated from college 7 months pregnant. The following year, after a heinous summer school schedule, Zack graduated from college. So anyway, once we were "stable" from all our our life changes, we decided to get a financial adviser to help us reach our financial goals. When we first met with him, first and foremost on our list of financial goals was home ownership. Unfortunately, our advisor's goal was to make money for himself, so saving money for a down-payment did not enter into his plan. After paying him a chunk of money, we followed his plan for 6 months or so. And at that point we had about $600 in savings, if that. Yes $600...and that was after, at his recommendation, getting rid of cable and high-speed Internet AND sticking to a ridiculously tight budget. I mean TIGHT. He had our money tied up in all of these investments and insurance policies that earned him money, and left no room for a house down payment. We couldn't even go out for the occasional celebratory dinner, or do anything exciting and spontaneous.. When we finally gave him the bi ol' boot, he didn't seem to get it...he tried to persuade me to consider buying a house with zero down. Now folks, is that a financially responsible thing to do? Where the heck is the money for the window coverings, lawnmower and edger, and repairs coming from??? Not to mention the interest that we would pay on the down-payment loan... Yeah, I guess I am still a bit bitter about that experience considering it set us back nearly a year, when all was said and done.

So, after breaking free from our financial advisor, we started to save money. Not the easiest thing to do with a small child and daycare expenses. Saving money for a house down payment was trying to maintain a balance between allowing ourselves to do things we enjoy, such as out of town trail races and vacations to my hometown, and saving enough money to move before Marcel entered Kindergarten. So, now, two years later, we finally were at a comfortable place to take the plunge (and still have money to dress the windows, get some new furniture, and buy gallons and gallons of paint).

So here we are- finally in our new home. Which we love. We have painted a few rooms, and have plans for most of the other rooms (did I mention the country art stencils?) I solicited advice from my dad and brother, "wood-workers extraordinaire", on how to refinish a bunch of the older wooden pieces that we have. Whereas I used to want to spend as much time away from our old place as possible, now I don't want to leave the new house. I want to be Miss Paint, Refurbish, and Garden.

The only downside of the move is the commute. Not that it is really much farther- but now I have to be strategic about travel. No mercy is shown when your child forgets his lunch box and you have turn around to go get it. A 5-minute detour back home adds at least a half an hour to the commute. Which brings me to my "learning to commute from the new house horror story"...

Last Thursday was to be a great day. It was my day before the weekend since I took Friday off to celebrate my birthday. My coworkers planned a nice lunch at a cool new Mexican restaurant, and there was to be Red Velvet cake in the afternoon. So, I was looking forward to a great day. The only thing stinky about the scheduled day was that we had to go over to the old place and clean in the evening. But Zack and I had a  super-fast cleaning plan, so the looming cleaning plans really were not putting a damper on my plans for the day.

I packed up the car with rags, cleaning supplies, garbage bags, and the vacuum- to bring over to the old place. Marcel and I hopped into the car and headed down the road. I hoped to get to work in 45 minutes. A few miles down the road, I started to smell bleach, and the smell became stronger as we drove along. I pulled over into the grocery store parking lot to check it out- and sure enough- despite the fact that the cap on the bleach was locked on, it was leaking. I could see a small stream of bleach creeping toward the driver's seat so I grabbed a few rags and wiped it up. I got a little bit of bleach on my hands, which was immediately uncomfortable. I got back in to the car and to my horror I looked down to see a few bleach spots on my favorite black cotton skirt. I got our of the car to survey the damage and see that I had dragged my skirt through the bleach when I got out of the car (it had run down into the door area and I didn't know it) and my skirt was ruined. There were purple streaks all over the bottom of the skirt. Not cool.

So I turned around and headed home. While I was driving, I noticed that a spot on my leg was burning from the bleach. I got home, threw out the skirt, changed into a wrinkly un-ironed skirt, washed the bleach off my leg and hands, and headed back out. A few miles down the road, something made me ask Marcel if he had his lunch box. He didn't- it was still on his floor in his room. So I turned around, grabbed the lunchbox, and got back on the road. Little did I know at that point that I had a hour more to go in the car! I did not cry, but teetered on the verge...When I returned home that evening I was reminded of my crappy morning when I saw my favorite skirt stuffed into the tiny bathroom basket. Boo hoo.

But, beside the traffic mishaps last week (yes, mishaps! I had another one on Tuesday due to a rainstorm- 1 hour and 40 minutes to get to work...) we are so happy with our new place and our new neighborhood. Pictures to come soon, once we are unpacked!

Jennifer

Rad Birthday Party

I had the Raddest birthday party today, thanks everybody!  My friends Adam and Nancy made me an August Strindberg costume and a pink balloon critter that looked like Helium (at right and here) so I put the Strindberg costume at our table at Dave and Busters and they took a picture and we all squealed Misereeeee...

Tara and Mark made me a phenomenal tshirt that says It's never too late to quit.  It's a celebration of laziness.  I'll model it for the blog soon enough.  And Kristi gave me an office voodoo kit that Marcel and I opened.  Marcel pretended it was Adam and stabbed him in the penis.  Good times!

Melanie and Adam A. showed up and we all ate food and talked about Six Feet Under, movie critics, Hugh Hefner, and other birthday rambles.  Then we all went and played games.  Marcel and Jen racked up a million tickets in skeeball and kiddie roulette, we all played Daytona 500, Kristi and I played an exhausting boxing game (like dude at left), and Marcel got to play his first shooting game complete with a full-size replica M-16!  Yay kids with guns!

Now I'm gonna kick back, put my slippers on, drink a tequila, and read Vice Do's and Dont's.  Being a grown folk is the funnest. 

Happy Birthday to Me!

Tomorrow is my 30th birthday!  I'm gonna take the day off work and spend it with the wee man, whose school is closed for teacher training.  Tomorrow will be a Connect Four and BBQ marathon between father and son, wherein I will crush his psyche.

As I notch away my third decade I'd like indulge myself with a list of 30 things from my 20s that make me me:

1. While on tour, Crash Worship once stayed at my house.  They balanced their checkbook.
2. I used to paint with dead goldfish.
3. I once ran naked from the highway patrol.
4. I've been in a magazine called Show Us Your Butt.
5. I've had three plays produced.
6. I almost got kicked out of UT for this email scare which I can't go into but it was a real bonding experience with Jen.
7. Once I saw a car exit the highway and drive over a sleeping pigeon.
8. I met Kathy Acker and heard her read from Pussy, Queen of the Pirates.
9. My entire body was covered with fire ants.  See number 3.
10. I attended a playwriting workshop taught by Erik Ehn.
11. I once circled every fifth word of Swann's Way, typed them up, and tried to write a play with them.  I didn't get far.
12. I was arrested for hot checks, handcuffed on the side of the highway, and spent the afternoon in jail.  I kept a piece of Jen's hair in my mouth the entire time.
13. I read Les Miserables. 
14. Me and a group of friends tried to rent a warehouse to live and create art in.  Another group got there first and performed a rock opera there called Trip Van Winkle.
15. I sent Robert Wilson three one-act plays I had written.  He wrote me back!
16. I've put out cigarettes on my tongue and arms, a whole buncha times -- being tough during happy hour.
17. At a restaurant my friend once went to the restroom.  Then I noticed my teaspoon was gone.  I ran to the restroom and looked over the stall and yelled at him because he was shooting up.  He's dead now.
18. I've coughed up air sac.
19. I tried, tried, tried, tried, and tried -- but I never could play a digeridoo.
20. For about eight months there, somewhere in my early 20s, I was unbeatable in dominoes.
21. I once ate an entire bag of Bugler cigarette tobacco on a dare.
22. I read and finally understood Nietzsche.
23. Between making friends and making enemies, I think I about broke even.
24. I used to research Latvian chess grandmaster Aron Nimzowitsch with a very kind Swedish man Olle Ekengren.
25. I learned that my ears love Brahms more than John Cage, but my sense of humor loves Cage more.
26. I drove a cab for a year and met a woman who feeds her cat a bottlecap full of Jim Beam each day.
27. I read Kenzaburo Oe and went to heaven.
28. I watched Pier Paolo Pasolini's 120 Days of Sodom and went to hell.
29. I always liked Richard Hatch.
30. There's some guy out there, some ex friend of a friend of a friend, and one light I licked drugs off of his car key.  Never knew who he was.        

Yeehaw!  All that and a Bag o' Funyuns!  30s here I come!

Shots of the BBQ yesterday

 

You know it took me a long time to get these photos in this post. Ran out of time to write about the party! Quick overview- tether ball, horseshoes, washers, fort climbing, paddle boatin', barbeque eatin', and pirate-being good time.

Sharp Dressed Man

My handsome husband all dressed up in a tux!

Jennifer