KEYS

OFF WE GO!

To get the keys to our first home.

That sounds pretty official, doesn't it.

I suppose that makes us homeowners!!!!!!!!!!

I'll write all about it soon.

Have a wonderful weekend kiddos.

Thankful

After the rough-and-tumble year so far I've had (broken jaw, cracked foot bone, the disappointments and stress of house hunting, and some personal issues I shan't mention here), things have been going so smoothly.
Smoothly enough that it has made Eli and myself suspicious.
Like "when is the shitstorm going to hit??!"  It kind of makes you paranoid when you get used to one thing going wrong after another and then suddenly it is blue skies and good moods and rocky road ice cream every day.

I am feeling quite grateful.
I try to remain grateful even when things are terrible, because it could always be worse, and in the grand perspective of the universe, my awful could be the damned best of someone else.  I am so very fortunate and need to stop letting the little things get my down.  C'est la vie.

I am thankful we have our house.  The seller signed docs, we signed ours yesterday.  The title company offered me drinks and I had a Diet Coke because I was in a celebratory mood and now that there are big changes happening I thought "why not?" No, I am not going to suddenly pick up a bad Coke habit.  I only have soda in my cocktails, and with plenty of ice, but I figured it was the next best thing to champagne.
Ick, I was wrong. Always choose champagne over Coca-Cola (if champagne is an option, otherwise...water).  It reminded me why I don't drink the stuff.  And there wasn't even ice.

Anyhow, Diet Coke aside, all we have to do now is get some of our boxes together for our first trip to the house! We're going to spend the night tomorrow, after getting the keys, and just camp on the floor.
We still have a lot of packing to do--we have all the main, big stuff...now just the annoying crap is left that fills in the cracks.  You know, shampoo and decorative pillows and end tables and nail polishes and vitamin bottles.  The things you pretend you can do without until suddenly you notice how crappy your nails look and your hair is dirty and your B12 levels are low, and whatever.
That is the stuff that sucks away your precious time.

Sorry for the crap photo but you get the idea.

In other house news, we have picked out the guest bed! It is a bunk with a full on the bottom and a twin on top, so it can sleep 3, or be quite comfortable for just one person on the bottom.
We figured this way we can have 3 of our nephews/nieces sleepover comfortably, or some poor drunk devil(s) (who had one too many "Mare drinks") can crash there. And that room has its own bathroom, so voila!
It even has a darling little ladder to take you to the top bunk and they are all railed in for safety (both for children and drunks).
We need to buy it and pick it up, probably next week. We could pay extra for delivery and setup but Eli loves to be all handy and build that stuff himself, so power to him, and $$ in our pocket to buy a cute throw or accent platter.

GORGEOUS!!! Right??

And we got a dining room table!! We purchased it yesterday and it is something else we can pick up next week.  It is gorgeous oak with a leaf (we insisted on buying a table with a leaf, they are so convenient!) and fresh white accent.  The pattern on the chairs reminds me of French gothic windows, so I was in love.

So we're nearly there with the early critical furniture pieces.  We need a bedroom set for us and stools for the kitchen counter ASAP, and later we'll need a divan for the library and some pieces for the living room (armchairs? love seat?). And patio furniture of course.  But we're doing good!

The plan is to spend our first night tomorrow night, and then bust out as much moving as possible before jumping into our glad rags and heading to our friend's wedding.  I wonder if I can get away with not showering first...? I have no shame. Especially since I will be showering tonight, as we are going straight to the new house after work.... why don't they make dry shampoo for your armpits??!
I know, it is called deoderant and blah blah. But that stuff has a point where it just stops working.
And it doesn't get rid of armpit hair.  Mine grows annoyingly quick, or maybe I am paranoid, but I am obsessed with clean-shaven armpits on myself.

I saw the flirty orthopedist again this week. I don't know if I wrote about this dude, so recap--
when I dropped the laptop on my foot in March I really screwed it up and my insurance hooked me up with this orthopedist who was the quickest one to get into, and had the best reviews.
He is way out in BFE and when I saw him before I was wearing my pencil skirt (I went on my work lunch) and he moved his hand from my thigh down to my foot. I was like "errrmmm woah" and he said he was checking some kind of alignment of bones or something.  Which I am sure he was, it wasn't like he put his hand in my skirt or made me feel violated, but he was a young handsome guy and did that intense eye-stare thing and it felt like an episode of Grey's Anatomy.  
Anyhow, he did an X-Ray, we found out I snapped off a piece of bone, and he gave me a steroid shot. Good? Good. It healed up quick.
Almost.  Like 2 weeks later we were dancing at the club and that dear husband of mine trod RIGHT on the injured spot and it killed.
And then it bruised up again but instead of swelling, it started denting in.  WTF?
I figured it would go away but here I am, a month later, and the bruising has started to get worse and spread across the top of my foot gradually, like some purple demented waterfall.
So I went back to flirty dr this week and he did another X-Ray and can't figure out what the devil is going on but is "concerned" and blahblahblah wants me to get an MRI on my foot.
And he told me I need to be careful with it. No high heels or uncomfortable shoes, no extreme exercise.  Which moving obviously counts as. He wants me soaking it in epsom baths and keeping it elevated and here I am about to undergo major moving overhaul.  Great.
I'll have to remember to take breaks.  Anyhow, maybe the hurt foot will prevent too much heavy lifiting for me, and therefore, less sweat?.... though there is the fact that Saturday will be the first 100 degree day of the summer. Whoopee.


I have really digressed here.
What I am trying to say is that I am thankful.
I am thankful for our new home and that we can buy new furniture to go in it.
I am thankful our new home will have a yard! And bathroom and bedroom doors that lock!
I am thankful for my best friend and the awesome friendship we have, even on separate continents, and I cannot wait for her to arrive here (13 days)!
I am thankful I have enough nice things that I can donate many of them to help others.
I am thankful for my working body--especially my vision and sense of hearing.
I am thankful for family that will help us move.
I am thankful for art, that brightens the world every day and can change my outlook on things.


And I am unutterably grateful for my husband.
I sit next to a girl at work that is in an abusive relationship.  Her boyfriend obsessively calls her all day, even when she explains she is busy, and I can hear him yelling at her through the phone. She tries to baby talk him and cries sometimes and does her best to appease him, by demeaning herself and submitting to his bizarre demands.  It is awful to listen to and I feel so bad for her, and it makes me so thankful for the healthy, respectful, communicative marriage I have.


Was that cheesy enough for you? Well better at least than the people who don't say anything grateful ever and then go around the table on Thanksgiving because the holiday insists they do it or whatever.

CLOSED.

DID YOU HEAR...?

   Something major happened to us today...

Migraines, garlic burgers, and poetry

This weekend is not what I expected.
Friday night I had saved in my phone (which is a big deal, if you know me) that we were going to go on the art stroll downtown.
But then Eli had a bachelor party he had to go to (he is a groomsman) and I had a completely terrible day at work, where I got into a big fight with a loan officer that lasted for about 6 hours. Compliance concluded that I was right, but it was at that point where you are so drained that you cannot even relish in vindication.
So I just collapsed on the couch with a big glass of Merlot and some Seinfeld. 
And went to bed alone. And couldn't sleep and texted Eli around 11:30 to see if the bachelor party was any fun and he responded "I've been playing Uno. For two hours."
Some bachelor party, eh?

The next day we went to the Salt Lake City Arts Festival and were supposed to stay there into the evening, and then hit the bars with some friends and basically do a "redo" of the poor failed bachelor party.
But then I got a massive sinus headache that became a migraine, right in the middle of our fun.
We had the best Thai food from a cart (that chicken satay, my God  yum!!) and some local beers and listened to some beatniks spewing poems and I made a hand puppet and we shopped for some art. We didn't buy any of course because it was so overpriced ($400 for a replica painting you printed--not painted--printed on a canvas? No thanks) but I sneaked a few photos and now I can make my own rendition.
Inspiration is everywhere, ya know? ;)

Oh and they performed a ballet number on the side of the glass library facade. For real! I'll put a photo up of it but it was insane.
We were having a great time and then this headache got worse and then the migraine.. oh and a migraine in the heat of the day when you're stuck outside is not good. I thought I was going to barf and pass out at the same time. So we had to go home and I collapsed with an ice pack over my eyes and went to bed and we didn't go out that night and do the bachelor "redo."

And the next day we were supposed to go to the pool and lay out and actually relax but we ended up packing almost all day.

So, not what I expected.
But whatever.
Instead of trying to be witty and interesting out with friends Friday night, I got to sip wine and relish someone else (Jerry, George, Elaine, Kramer) being witty and interesting and not worry about carrying on a conversation with someone for the first time all week.
I was able to enjoy Eli reading me some of my favorite poems while I reclined in a dark room.
And instead of suffering a sunburn and screaming kids at the pool, we got one step closer to getting into our new house and while packing I found one of my favorite necklaces I thought was lost and a precious baby photo of my brother and I.

Delightful!


Monday night we rounded up the gang and went to Cotton Bottom Inn, this famous dive bar in Holladay none of us had been to. They apparently have the best garlic burgers in Utah.
We knew it was a dive going in, but I didn't expect it to be like that.
We had to sit outside because there were 2 tables intended for no more than 4 people inside, one pool table, and a jukebox. They had no liquor, no wine, just 3 beers on tap.  And the waitress was the most foul mooded hipster I have ever encountered.  She was just plain mean.
We shot some pool while waiting for said garlic burgers and it was quiet as the grave.  I plumped for some tunes on the juke, but they were $1 a song.   A SONG.
So after a few I asked the waitress if she could play something (usually they have a way of playing background music if the customers don't want to go broke livening the place up, ya know. They'll put an override on the juke or plug in their iPod or something) and she said "sure!!!" brightly and then added "just put money in the jukebox." And proceeded to walk off.
I was like "I have been, but when it is $1 per song.... would you rather it be dead quiet?"
She said "well some songs are 2 for $1."  I said "Oh, sure, like what? Willie Nelson?"
I checked the juke. The 50 cent songs were... Willie Nelson.

The waitress ignored us, rarely giving us just enough attention to roll her eyes, and mixed up our orders 3 times.  If you stared at the Idaho tattoo encircling her elbow she glared at you. Well what do you expect when you get a massive tattoo on your body and expose it to the world? Is the world supposed to not look??

The garlic burgers were pretty good, but toooooo garlicky. The kind where you're eating it and going "I'm going to regret this tomorrow" (sure enough we all got ass cancer and acid reflux). The best part was the bun.  But there were no french fries. Like IN THE ESTABLISHMENT.
They serve all their food (keep in mind the "menu" consists of 3 burgers) with a little bag of plain Lay's potato chips.   Not the best thing to eat with your burger.  I want hot greasy fries drowning in ketchup.

The waitress considered to be a sourpuss and we went outside to the big dirty picnic table to avoid her. When we asked for our check she refused to bring it outside (though she would for any other table, as we witnessed), and said we would have to go back inside to pay.

We were glad to leave and will not be back !
Especially for those prices. When I pay $9 for a burger, I expect a little atmosphere and a little respect!

Oh well.  I made some peanut curry chicken last night that more than made up for it !
And.... WE SIGN OUR CLOSING DOCUMENTS ON OUR HOUSE TODAY AT LUNCH!