New House! (Finally.)

I had meant to take more artfully designed and masterful pictures, but as it was, my camera's battery light was flashing and I had no idea really where the charger was packed and stowed away (What, you're surprised we haven't fully unpacked everything yet? Bhaha.) so I knew I had to move quick.

Here's the front of our house. It's way cute - maybe quaint? Not the biggest house on our street, but I kind of like it that way. Neither Schmoobs nor I are fans of big houses anyway. We like character. Here's a fun fact about Kentucky: the grass here grows like CRAZY in the spring/summer. Like, there's no need to water it and it will grow like bananas. No sprinkles needed. (Haha. That should say "sprinklers," but I like it, so it stays.) However, it does go completely dormant in the winter. When we were getting ready to close, I asked one of Schmoobs' coworkers how often he had his lawn guy come out to tend to their yard, and he was like, "Oh, probably about five times a month." I just about fell out of my chair. We haven't bought a lawnmower yet, so our yard has a tendency of looking pretty unkempt and overgrown. Sorry, new neighbors. I swear we're not deadbeats. Funny story: A couple of weeks ago, before Schmoobs left town, we ordered pizza for a lazy dinner. The delivery guy was this nice, high school or college aged kid. As he's standing at our door, he says to Schmooblies, "So...um...do you guys want someone to mow your lawn?" Haha. I can imagine that having a side business mowing lawns in the summer is a pretty sweet gig here for those with the equipment. (Hm... *starts thinking about mowing lawns for money once we buy a lawnmower*) Anyway, I guess this kid had just saved up enough money to buy an equipment trailer for his car and was now building up his clientele. Schmoobs agreed, and he showed up a couple days later with his mower. $30 for our front and backyard. Good for us and him! But that was over two weeks ago and our lawn had since become overgrown again, but we still hadn't bought a lawnmower (Schmoobs out of town, etc. etc.). So, yesterday morning, I'm sitting at the computer writing with the windows and front door open and someone rings our doorbell. It's a middle aged woman who asked me, "Are you looking for someone to mow your lawn?" GEEZ, people! We get it! You need to keep your lawn under control in Lexington! Anyway, I hesitated because I figured we'd give that pizza kid our business one more time, but then she said she and her team would do it for $20, so I was like, "Uh, okay." Oh, hello Schmoobs' checkbook. Hahaha. I SWEAR I'M NOT A KEPT WOMAN. ANYWAY. So, our lawn is nicely shorn again. This picture makes it look a little dried out, but I assure you it's not. That yellow stuff is just the stuff they mowed and has dried out overnight. (I guess you're supposed to sweep it up?) Anyway, the next step is to trim those overgrown hedges in front of our window. They're seriously cramping Bela's outdoor windowsill viewing.

Close up! Thoughts: I really want to do something about those red steps. I'm not fond of the red shutters either, but I think the red steps look especially old and worn. I feel like painting the steps a more neutral color will help the red shutters look more fresh. Maybe a similar color to the siding? What do you guys think? I think I also eventually want to change the shutter color - like to a deep royal (dark) blue or something.

ps. This is what the house looks like in the winter, to give you a better idea of the facade when it's not slowly being eaten by monster shrubbery. I took this off the Internet listing when it was still on the market.

Living room shots! This is what you walk into from the front door. My camera doesn't have the widest angle, so all these photos seem to be a little cut off on the sides. Oh well. When we were getting ready to move in, I was worried that our lack of furniture would make the house feel too barren, but it actually doesn't feel bad to me. I like a good minimalist uncluttered space, anyway. (See: master bedroom below.) Maybe a rug and coffee table is in the works for later, but I'm okay without for now. 

Bela perching. Good kitty. Shaggy BB being my shadow, as usual. (She's getting groomed tomorrow, don't worry.)

Staircase vantage point. That thing on the right is our piano bench, but I put it there so Bela would have easy access to the windowsill.

Oh, Beebla.

Journeying upstairs...

Reaching the top of the stairs... 

The previous owners had converted the entire attic (second story) into one enormous (to us) master suite. It's pretty luxurious, especially considering we had spent the past year living in a 700? square foot half of a duplex with, like, a shoebox for storage. Anyway, this space comes as sweet, sweet relief. Sorry for not folding up my Purple Blanket of Glory. This is literally all we have in our ginormous bedroom. Hahaha. I like it. Clean and tidy.

Closets! Three of them! For the first time, we now have a surplus of storage and closet space! Miracle of miracles! (Side note: If you open that center closet, you'll see another little mini-door that leads to even more extended attic storage space. I feel like murder clowns and clawed monkeys hide out in there. Therefore, I have blocked that little doorway with a couple of unpacked boxes. Can't get me, Knuckles!)

Walk-in. Please try to contain yourselves. On the right is a wall of shelves. You can't tell, but in a stint of boredom while Schmoobs was gone (Oh, let's not kid ourselves. I did it mostly for fun.), I organized his clothes on the hangers by type, collar, and color. Polos and t-shirts and dress shirts! Sport and suit coats! Khakis and slacks arranged by color gradient! I thought about doing it with mine (far wall), but I decided my wardrobe has too much variety of type (blouses, cardigans, sweaters, hoodies, halters, etc. etc.) and too many patterns that it just wouldn't work as well. 

Another photo stolen from the online home listing. Holy designer shoes and bags, Batman! The previous owners were definitely a Supercouple. Twenty-somethings, tall, fit, attractive...and both are attorneys. Bigger budget than a college professor and doctoral student. Bastards! Not really. They were actually pretty nice. (Which made me hate them more...I'M KIDDING.)

The piece de resistance of the upstairs suite: the master bathroom. Again, I can't quite get the full perspective in one shot, but it's essentially a bedroom-sized space in and of itself with a sink, toilet, and shower/bath. Good work, previous owners. I approve. Oh look, it's me! I haven't showered yet. (Read: summer and unemployed. Blargh.)

I find the shower in this bathroom perplexing. I mean, it's awesome, but also weird. Like, see those three ledges against the wall of the shower? It seems like a logical place to set your toiletries, right? ...Until you realize that the each ledge surface is curved pretty drastically and so it's impossible to set anything on it. Strange. Who was the bathtub engineer who thought this up? Oh well. A shower caddy from Target solves that problem pretty easily. Also, "Oh? Another reason to go to Target? Darn."

This picture shows about 1/3 of the floor space of this "bathroom." We should put a piano in here. Maybe a couple arcade games. Anyway, so that's the upstairs. Let's head back downstairs.

I took this one with my phone. Beebla is ridiculous. Just chilling out, watching "Chopped" on television. Anyway, moving on...

I think this is supposed to be the dining area? For now, it's my work station. All manner of Interwebbing, writing, reading, etc. takes place at this table. Kitchen is to the left, living room to the right. I took this photo from the small hallway leading to the 2 guest rooms and the downstairs bathroom, which is...

 ...directly behind me at the end of the hallway. It's small and cute. The two guest rooms are on either side of this bathroom.

I would just like to also point out that I got this little scented ceramic owl on clearance at TJ Maxx for like $2. It's Cynthia Rowley and he has a small chip on his eyebrows (...? eyelashes? ears??), but I don't care. He's so cute and he sits on the guest bathroom counter making the room smell good.

Guest room one. We finally have a dedicated space for the super cute microsuede futon that my mom bought us when we were still living in Seattle! Yay! Guests welcome anytime! This means you. Come visit. I promise we'll have more stuff in this room when you come.

Guest room two. It's looking like this will eventually (i.e. when we unpack the boxes *ahem*) become our studio/office. It contains boxes of books, music, printers, and assorted instruments - piano, guitar, clarinets, trumpets, Kristina's flute, etc. I think we want to get a desk for this room. Also, notice Schmoobs' nice camera. He is wanting to get into photography as a hobby. He says I should use it whenever I want, but I'm scared to touch it because it cost a lot of money. I'm okay with using my iPhone 3GS and the 6MP Sony Cybershot that I am "borrowing" from my older brother. Hehehe.

Okay, let's walk towards the back of the first floor, shall we? Past our dining room is the kitchen. When we were looking at houses, I thought I hated the floor of this kitchen. In reality, it's still something we'll change at some point, but I'm okay with it for now. It's easy to sweep. Someday, I'll have a gas stove to cook on. Someday. Like the place we were renting last year, no dishwasher. Engh. It's fine for now. BB is stalking me still.

The other end of the kitchen room. To the left is the laundry washing machine and dryer. The washing machine the previous owner left us is HUGE!! I think we had become accustomed to the washer/dryer in our old place that basically held like three pairs of socks and maybe a t-shirt before it was full (slight exaggeration), so when we throw a normal-sized load of laundry in our washer now, it's like staring down into the Grand Canyon with all of the space left. It's glorious! I can wash more than one blanket at a time! Huzzah! To the right is the door to our patio/backyard. Also, please note Bela eating again. HUZZAH TIMES INFINITY!

This camera's limited scope makes it hard to give proper perspective. Oh well. Anyway, stepping out from our kitchen, you head into our enclosed patio. It's pretty sweet. Covered patios/porches are pretty common in this part of the country, I've found. It's essentially a deck with a ceiling and wrap-around screen. The only thing I don't like is that the previous owners put a plastic barrier on the outside of all the screens so the only breeze that comes in is through that outer door leading to the driveway. I'm sure it's to keep rain and stuff out, but still, a breeze would be cool. Get it? "Cool" breeze. Anyway. There's a ceiling fan above, which is pretty nice, and does give some air movement when the weather is warm, like it is today. Notice BB hopping up the steps as she has finished her morning piddles.

Part of our home offer was the stipulation that they leave their patio furniture, which they clearly agreed to. We can't wait to have friends over for some summer hangouts! And family, too. Hint. That Christmas Snowman and box are just things that haven't quite made it to the garage for storage yet. That 30 foot journey is really challenging, apparently...




Beebla enjoys the patio.

And, finally, we come to the backyard. Freshly mowed, heh. The back lawn wraps around the back of the garage for a little bit. I think it would be great to start a garden back there, but I have no idea where to even begin. Shovels? I have the perfect person to ask for advice...Papa!

View from the driveway. That's our garage. (We have a garage!) Patio to the left. Also, serious question: What am I suposed to do with that plant overgrowth on our gravel driveway? Weed killer? Pull it out by hand? 

Here is our gravel driveway both from the garage and from the street. As you can see, it's a fairly long driveway and not super wide. Hey, did I ever tell you that the only thing I got marked down on during my driving test (sixteen years ago holy crap) was driving in reverse in a straight line? Yeah...that hasn't changed. You might find it humorous to know that I have, on more than one occasion, had to stop myself in the middle of the process of backing out the driveway because I realized that I had essentially backed the car fully onto our neighbor's front lawn. And then another time onto our own front lawn. Hahaha...hahaha...ha. I REALLY HOPE NOBODY SAW ME. Needless to say, I have since found out that we have juuust enough room on the gravelly space in front of the garage to do a two-point (sometimes four-point) turn and head forward onto the street instead of backwards.

View from towards the back of the lawn. Garage is to the left and, of course, our patio straight ahead. That window directly above the patio is the same window at the top of our bed in the master bedroom. I can often find Bela there in the afternoon peering out at the world. To the left is our driveway leading to the street. You can see the gate is closed right now to keep Knuckles out when the sun goes down. BB is all, "Ok, it's hot. Let's go back inside."

I hope you enjoyed the tour! Now come visit already. Geez.

Brighter days.

The last several days have been pretty tough. I've been essentially a shut-in since Schmoobles left for a 10-day stretch working at nerd camp, which was the worst timing ever since Bela seemed to be taking a turn for the worse starting right around my birthday. His tumor has been really large for a while now, but he hadn't shown any signs of pain or discomfort.

But then, a few days ago, I just noticed that he was throwing up everything he was eating. This wasn't too worrisome since he's always had a tendency to regurgitate from eating too quickly. Then I became alarmed when I would try just feeding him little tiny bites of wet food from a spoon to control his eating speed, but even eating just a little bit of food the size of an m&m would get thrown up within minutes. 

After a couple days of this, I really became concerned that he was losing weight, especially when it seemed like he wanted to eat but couldn't hold anything in. So I did some crazed researching online and went to the store for some catnip and Pepcid AC. I thought, well, medical marijuana helps people who feel nauseous and in pain...so maybe catnip will help Bela? I read on the Googlatron that some vets prescribe a small dose of Pepcid AD to cats that have upset stomach, so I got some. While at the store, I also got some Nutri-cal. 

So on day three, I let Bela get a little doped up on some catnip and then tried to get him to at least take some Nutri-cal so he could get some calories in him. Bela being a cat, he was too finicky to lick it off my finger, so I had the bright idea of smearing some on his paw, knowing that the first thing he would do would be to clean it off with his tongue. I'M A GENIUS! It worked. 

It worked about three times. After that, he got so fed up with me smearing this brown goop on his paws, that he just stopped cleaning himself and began staying away from me.

This scared me. We've been told by our vet that cats sometimes will not vocalize when they start feeling pain, but will instead just start hiding. That night, I realized I hadn't heard or seen Bela in a while and went looking for him. I found him in our walk-in closet, curled up and hiding behind Scott's wall of hanging clothes. He had never hid here before. He looked so tired and defeated. By this point, the only thing he had eaten in three days was a little bit of Nutri-cal. I was doubly devastated, not only because I thought that Bela was preparing to pass, but also because he was going to do so without Schmoobs here. We have resigned ourselves to the reality that this tumor is going to take Bela sooner than we had hoped, but the least we want for our President of the Finer Things Club is to both be there for him when the time comes. 

But Schmoobs was gone for two more days. I was a wreck. I remember staring at my phone late that night, contemplating calling him and telling him that Bela was hiding now. We would both know what that meant. But I didn't call him. I just picked Bela up and placed him in our bed, right next to my head because I thought that if he was going to go in the middle of the night, at least I could be there next to him.

He was still there when morning came. A little groggy, weak, but there. I think I apologized for trying to push the Nutri-cal on him so aggressively yesterday and told myself to just let him be for a while. But a little after lunchtime, I decided enough time had passed since I last tried to force him to take some Nutri-cal, so I crushed up a little bit of Pepcid, mixed it in with a little dollop of Nutri-cal and smeared it on his paw. Eventually, he licked it off. I was encouraged.

A short time later, I decided to try giving him some wet food again. I scooped up a tiny bit on a spoon and held it to his nose. Then he licked at it and eventually ate it. I prayed that he wouldn't throw it back up. And he didn't! Succes. I didn't want to push my luck, so I only gave him similarly tiny bites like once every couple hours for the rest of the evening. But he kept it all in. 

I even opened up our living room windows, and he came downstairs with renewed energy, sat on the windowsill, and watched the world outside. I was even more encouraged!

Yesterday, I started giving him more wet food and he ate it all. More importantly, he kept it all in. I don't know what it was - the catnip, the Pepcid, the small abusive doses of Nutri-cal - and I don't really care. He's starting to get back to his more normal self. 

Schmoobs came home late last night for a short pit stop - he had to go back out of town for more work today, but this time only for 3 days - and we were both relieved that Bela is making a turn around. We also snapped a photo of the fearsome foursome in our new house:

 This was the only shot where Bela wasn't hissing at BB and trying to claw his way out of our arms.

This was more like it. (Good to see that he's getting his energy back, though, right?) Yes, we had a wardrobe change because we snapped a couple pics both before and after lunch, where Schmoobs had a burger juice accident on his shirt. This was before lunch. The sun was too bright.

Anyway, after that rough stretch, I am feeling better that Bela will be with us for at least a while longer. Schmoobs comes home for good on Saturday night and the plan continues to spoil Bela relentlessly every waking hour of every day. Endless wet catfood, open windows, and catnip for everyone! (Mostly Bela.)

It's my birthday.

Things I Cannot Wait For. (Things For Which I Cannot Wait?) (...Which I For Cannot Wait Things?)

1. My bangs to grow out enough for me to be able to tuck them behind my ears. By my estimation, this should happen by July or so.

2. My doctorate to be finished so I can be done with school and have a career once and for all. This will allow me to finally be able to start chipping away at my student loans with some degree of efficacy AND allow me to buy sushi/chocolate/cake/Chinese food whenever I get the craving without suffering from guilt or regret.

2b. To finally have a job that pays well enough for me to live happily and not spend 75% of my waking hours thinking about money as well as one that I do not dread or hate with a lava-filled passion. Also one that will fund my desires to travel the world with yearly stops in the Philippines for beachside mango rums.

3. Schmoobs to come back. Even if it's just for a night on Tuesday before he leaves again for three more days of work.

4. Visiting home this summer.  I needs to see me peeps.

4. Dinnertime. I think I'm going to cook up some chicken wings.

Things that happen in my bedroom at 3am.

I was awake at 3am because 1) I can't get a job anywhere not even for seven-stupid-dollars-and-forty-freaking-cents an hour, and 2) I have become addicted to watching every episode of the British trashtacularfest "Made in Chelsea." It's like Laguna Beach (remember??) and The Hills with way more money and haughtiness. But they all speak with super posh British accents so, even though they are all vapid terrible people, they sound classy. Like, check out this guy. He's my favorite. He sounds just like Stewie Griffin!

Anyway. So, I was up in our bedroom with the animals in the wee hours of the night staving off sleep and regulating my sleep cycle in order to minimize the number of scary dark hours I spend unconscious in this big house by myself. When Schmoobles is out of town, Knuckles is still a very real and menacing threat to me. 

I looked over to my left and noticed President Bela of the Finer Things Club staring very intently at a spot on the carpet.

He was stalking some insect that was crawling around slowly.

I wanted to go over and kill the thing with my slipper, but then I thought, "No, Bela is stalking it. I want to give him the satisfaction of THE KILL!" I didn't want to take away the glorious victory that his feline bloodlust was yearning for. So I let it go. I was all, "It's just a little baby beetle looking thing. It's not like it's going to get very far before Bela gets it."

AND THEN THE DAMN THING SPROUTED WINGS AND STARTED FLYING ALL AROUND ME TRYING TO EAT MY FACE WITH ITS TINY LITTLE WICKED FANGS! (I couldn't see that closely, but I'm sure it had fangs.) So I yelped, threw myself off the bed, grabbed a nearby slipper, and crouched down into defense mode. But as I scanned the entire room, I couldn't find this damn apparently-flying predator anywhere. I looked everywhere. How could one sleep knowing this beast was lurking, just waiting to bite your face off - or worse, crawl into your mouth orifice while you were sleeping?!?!

But after searching every nook and cranny while mumbling to myself - slipper still firmly in my grasp - I finally decided to call it a night. I checked the bed covers and pillows one last time to make sure it wasn't hiding in there, took off my contacts, cautiously climbed back into bed, and went to turn the bedside lamp off.

Guess what I saw as I flicked the switch...

THE MOVING SILHOUETTE OF THIS DEADLY INSECT!! It had been hiding inside the lampshade all that time!!

Without my eyeballs in, I could see enough of this dark, blurry moving object to know what it was. But I knew that I wouldn't be able to see it at all if I made a move to attack it and it flew out of the lamp. So I whimpered to myself, wrapped myself in my comforter like a little burrito, making sure to seal off all possible openings, pep-talked myself to keep my mouth closed the whole night, and drifted off to sleep.

Less than 3 hours before the sun comes up!

And that's what is going on in my life at 3am.

Also, I cooked this for dinner last night. Thing you should try if you have the following in your kitchen - onion, apple, greens of some kind, cider vinegar, goat cheese: 

1. Saute the onions in olive oil or coconut oil. Throw several garlic cloves in there, too, if you want.

2. Add an apple, sliced. Add some cider vinegar to the mix. I don't know how much. A couple tablespoons? Depends on how much you like vinegar and how much you're making, I guess.

3. When the above ingredients are soft, add your greens to wilt. You can also add a dash of black pepper and a squidgen (I made that up) of sea salt if you want.

4. At the last minute, you can toss in some raisins and sliced almonds. These are optional, but they add a really nice touch.

5. Serve with goat cheese.

The perfect delicious and healthy accompaniment to a couple of roasted chicken boobs. Also, I totally am incapable of adjusting my cooking habits when Schmooblidoos is out of town, so I ended up with way too much food for one person's dinner. Oh well, leftovers for lunch!

Pros and cons of the day.

Okay, let's start with the con:

I got rejected for two more stupid measly University summer student jobs today. One of them was a $7.40/hr job.

I think I'll go wipe my ass with my two college diplomas now.

Pro:

I cut off about 3 inches of dead disgusting hair MYSELF (to save money). And then colored the grays out of my hair MYSELF (to save money). And finally did a deep-conditioning treatment MYSELF (to save money).

So, I have really beautiful and healthy hair now.

I will use it to muffle the sounds of my tear-filled screams as I continue to be rejected for jobs for which I am overeducated and overqualified. Well, not tear-filled since I am still basking in the awesomeness that is our new house (Have I really not posted photos yet? Ooooops.), but this still seriously sucks. Somebody needs to employ me this summer and soon.

Blogaday Summer 2013. Status: Not good. Whoops. (Don't act surprised.)

Look, I've been a little preoccupied lately with the fact that the summer course I was told I would be teaching (and importantly, be paid for) was cancelled literally on the first day of the summer session and now I am scrambling to figure out how the hell to make that $2500 I was anticipating for bills and mortgage (wheee!) payments for the next three months. Damn you, stupid corporate business model university system!

I've gotten back to the occasional freelance copywriting gig in the meantime. But I am quickly remembering how soul-numbing and low-paying that work is. Sigh.

Also, I've been scouring the Lexington craigslist for possible temp or part-time work. You know, if I had any interest in a career as a truck driver or telemarketer, craigslist would be a treasure trove of opportunity. But, as it is, I don't. Nor do I have any interest in any "model" work for "young females." (Am I even considered "young" anymore? DON'T ANSWER THAT QUESTION.) Especially for photographers who advertise "puffy nipples needed." AAAAAAAAUUUUGHGHGHG. Gross gross gross. Stop being disgusting and super creepy, craigslist.

Anyway, next step is to harass area band directors for contact information for their band parents in hopes of getting a few private students. Wish me luck...

Maybe once I get this money thing figured out, I can blog actual pictures of our awesome new house.

"This may shape up to be a daily post summer..."

...HAHAHAAHAHAAHAHAHAH.

Maybe starting tomorrow.

In the meantime, Happy Mama's Day to She Who Is The Bearer Of The Golden Womb From Which This Magnificent Creature Sprang Forth! I am almost certain that if my mom were a piñata, she would be filled with millions of candies that taste like patience, forgiveness, silliness, emergency funds for when I have run out of money to pay my bills at the end of the month, lumpia, and "blingbling" (inside joke).

Things I said today...

...FINALLY!

"We have so much storage!"

"Thanks, cable/internet guy. That was really fast and efficient!"

"Yes, our shower has awesome water pressure!"

"We could fit six of our beds in here!"


It's days like today when I really realize how much I've been neglecting this blog. We moved into our new (and first!) house today. My feet hurt like hell and, up until the shower I was finally able to take ten minutes ago, I was a disgusting, stinky, sweaty, greasy mess, but it was worth it. We're not totally done yet, either. There are probably still two or three trips of smaller stuff to move over from our old place - including my contact lens case and solution...oops - and we'll be fully moved.

BB took to the new place pretty quickly. She started exploring all the ins and outs instantaneously and even, apparently, already had a bout of soft stoolage out on the driveway, which she then smeared on our covered patio. Schmoobles got to clean that up (by "that" I mean both the patio and BB's dingle factory) since I was busy working away unpacking the kitchen. Bela, on the other hand, was unsurprisingly less immediately enthusiastic. He hid upstairs inside the boxspring for a couple of hours. This was perfect because our bedroom is super roomy, pretty much empty besides the bed, and was fairly undisturbed all day, so he could feel calm and aware of his surroundings. After a while, he decided he felt comfortable enough to check out what was going on downstairs. Now, he is sitting next to me in bed looking pretty darn happy.

The other only even slightly negative thing about today is the knowledge that we are now completely responsible for paying all of our utilities (and, uh...everything else). The rent at our last place included all water and electricity, so it was like, "Wheeee! Air conditioning galore! Television on all the time! Yaaaaaaah!" (Sorry, polar ice caps.) Not anymore. I think the thermostat right now is at 75. Before my shower, it was slightly uncomfortable - especially upstairs where our bedroom is - but after washing the day's film off, it's actually quite pleasant, especially with the ceiling fan going.

Anyway, seeing as how my summer course got cancelled (ARRRGH! Goodbye, $2500 I was really counting on... *grumblegrumblegrumble*) earlier this week, I may find myself with some extra time these next few several to get back into the swing of blahging. This may shape up to be a daily post summer...