Home Ownership

Ahhh, the joys of home ownership.  No longer "throwing away" rent money, decorating any way you would like, pride in your yard, extra space to store all those amazing wedding gifts, creating memories and traditions... the list goes on and on.  Unfortunately, so do the repairs.

Let me quickly take you back to May 2012.  We had a decision to make when we moved back to Houston.  Buy a home and move in right away, rent an apartment month to month while taking time to look, or live with the husband's parents.  Many normal and logical people try to limit the amount of change happening at one time.  Not us.  We thought living seperately, working full time, job searching, preparing for a move, and buying a home all at once seemed like a good plan.

HAHAHAHAHA (that was us laughing at those normal/logical people).  

We went with option "buy a home and move in right away".  We thought moving one time from Waco to Houston was such the obvious way to go.  So we did it.  We found our dream home!  Those normal, logical people are boring and don't know what they're talking about.  It's better to get it all done at once.  

Now, I'm not going to go so far as to say our home isn't our dream home.  I love it.  Mainly for the memories and traditions that I know will take place here for years to come.  But I would like to share with you all the things that have happened to us thus far.  After all, this blog is called "It Happens" and boy, has it happened with this house.

Over the first year of owning our home, here are the rennovations we have done (most out of sheer necessities):

1.  New windows in half the house (it use to rain inside our home before the new windows)

2.  Scrapped all popcorn ceilings (popcorn should only be used as a snack, not wall treatment)

3.  Painted every room, hallway, bathroom, ceiling (with threat of only 4 divorces minimal fighting)

4.  New insullation (oops, someone forgot to put any in the house at all... in Texas)

5.  New pipes (if you ever need this, be prepared to part of your first born child to pay for this)

6.  Rod iron fence (this was a neccessity since Vedder attacked a pit bull, lost, and had to go the ER vet on a Sunday to get tubes, skin grafts, and stiches... let's just say the fence was a lot cheaper than having this happen 2 times)

7.  New furniture (some rooms remain empty to this day)

8.  Chimney updates (loooove our wood buring fire place, love the fire staying inside the fireplace even more)

9.  Landscaping (neighbors stopped for months to thank us for doing this, best money spent yet)

10.  Extermination (infestation of wasps who didn't realize we now possessed the title to this property)

11.  Dry wall/ceiling repair from leaking AC unit (this also lead to removing the carpet form our bathroom and yes you read that correctly, carpet in the bathroom...)

HAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHA (that is the logical and normal people laughing at us)

Perhaps waiting a beat before jumping into new jobs, new home, new city could have been a good idea.  Maybe those normal/logical people are on to something...

Next on our renno list... total redo of our master bathroom.  Sounds exciting right?  Well, I'll save that story for another post...  

Let Me Check My Calendar...

Before I became a teacher, I never knew the sheer amount of time it took to be a teacher.  Don't get me wrong, there are plenty of other things that go into being a teacher.  But the time alone is what shocks me.  Now I'm not here to get on a soapbox and start talking about the inequities of being a teacher.

What I'm talking about is time management and organizational skills.  I was born with these talents, but having gone to a meticulously anal high school, I perfected my organizational and time management abilities.  I am a HUGE believer in a good old-fashioned planner.  Not on my phone calendar, but an actual assignment book.  We all used these handy dandy tools in school when all we needed to remember was what chapter to read that night.  Somehow, after catapulting into the real world with bills, budgets, responsibilities, projects, errands, and chores, we cease to use a planner.

I live by my planner.  If someone asks me a date or if I can do something, I literally have to check my calendar.  People laugh when I say this.  Believe me, it's not because I'm so popular that I have a million events to attend.  It's because I'm so scattered that I don't know what I'm doing in my life without it written out in front of my face.
And I have a compulsive need to write down every event in my planner.  Here's an embarrassing admission: I've even gone back in time and written down events that have already happened and I forgot to write down.  I know what you must be thinking... but my allotted blog time is up according to my planner!

Parking Lot Perils

In college, my friends and I lived in the ghetto.  When I say ghetto, I mean chalk outlines on the sidewalk as I walked home, pad-lock bars on our windows, and never ending sirens screaming out warning after warning.  And I was never scared.  In fact, when my friends would be too scared to walk home from night class or a bar by themselves, they would call me to walk them home.

My own personal nightmare

Fast forward to tonight... I got out of work kind of late and wanted to go to the gym.  There were only parking spots far away from the door.  As I parked my car, I prepared the old "grab everything I need quickly and in the same motion, open the door then run away while trying not to look like I'm scared and running away" maneuver.  You've all done it so don't judge me.

Home sweet home.

The difference between myself and most sane people is that they've done that maneuver in the dead of night in a back alley, where as I did it at 6:45 in a lighted parking lot of a Gold's Gym located on a main road.  This is just another reason why I am not cut out to live in a small town!  Or it could be another reason why I am slightly off my rocker...

Barbarian

Greetings to you this Monday morning.  I hope you and yours had a wonderful weekend.  This weekend was a fairly busy but fun one.  The fiance wasn't working so that in itself was wonderful.  We treated ourselves to a wonderfully tasty Chinese buffet Friday night, which we capped off by playing Wii at his brother's house.  Thanks to my parents not allowing me to have any video games as a child, I am horrible at Wii.
Saturday morning we slept in until 7:30!  It was a brisk morning, so we watched some TV and ate some breakfast and stayed warm with the pupps under the blankets.  The great thing about where we live is that a 25 degree morning warms up to a 55 degree afternoon.  And the sun actually shines.  So we ended up taking the dogs to the park with the fiance's brother's family.  Vedder loved barking at every person, dog, and leaf that crossed his path; while Gabby loved sniffing (she is a true hound dog).
But the real thrill of the weekend was a cultural event we attended Saturday night.  This event wasn't offered in Waco, so we had to journey about 50 miles south to the town of Belton, TX.  I'll give you a moment to check out a map to locate this town...  As we pulled into the parking lot, you could smell the excitement in the air.  Literally... you could smell the diesel fumes as soon as we got out of our car.  We had arrived at the Monster Truck show, live in Belton, TX.  It was a true cultural event where I learned all about this surprisingly popular world of Monster Trucks.  There were lines to take pictures with the trucks, get the drivers' autographs, and thousands of long-time fans all packed into this small arena to see their favorite truck destroy things.

Now I'm not knocking them or this event.  It was entertaining.  I mean, who hasn't wanted to smash into a car or drive recklessly fast while careening over a huge dirt ramp?  Plus, there's the element of danger with every rev of a 1500 horsepower engine.  And we were lucky enough to witness one of the most popular celebrities on the Monster Truck circuit.  As the event M.C. informed us, "this guy is so big, that you can go down to your local Wal-Mart and get yourself a Barbarian t-shirt".   Jealous?

Sunday was an excellent conclusion to the weekend, complete with the best Mexican breakfast I've had in a long time (another joy of living in Texas).  We also grilled some ribs, made homemade soft pretzels, and watched the football games.  All in all, it was a wonderfully full, fun, and educational weekend.

It's brutal out there, kids

I wanted to provide an update on my job interview.  Following my motto of "if you're early, you're on time; if you're on time, you're late; and if you're late, don't bother", I showed up 15 minutes early.  I asked the lady at customer service and she directed me to wait in the cafe for my interviewer.
After a few minutes, a very nice lady greets me and we sit down to start the interview.  She mentions another lady will join us in a few minutes because "she's the cafe manager".  OK, I thought, a second opinion.  The interview progresses and it's going well.  Then she asks me why I want this job.  I say that I love reading and I enjoy working with customers on a daily basis and this blends the two together.   Good answer right?  Well it would have been, except I'm apparently interviewing for a cafe assistant position.  You know, a Starbucks barista but inside Barnes and Noble.  Not exactly what I was picturing.
The interview continues, it is going well, and we come to the part where I get to ask questions.  I ask a few about training and working environment and then I ask the pay.  $7.25/hour.  And the only reason they interviewed me was because I had so much sales experience.  It's part time, not even 20 hours a week, but eventually it could be full time where, because of all my experience, I could make up to $9/hour.
So after an hour interview with 2 people, a lot of questions, and confirming my references, I leave feeling like I got the job.  By the way, this was one of the most intense and thorough interviews, ever.  But the only problem is that I'm not sure I even want this job.  I didn't realize it was in the cafe, or that it was minimum wage, or only 15 hours a week.  That's only $100 before taxes (can they even tax that?!?!).  And let's not count our chickens before they hatch... I haven't even gotten the job yet.  If I turn down this job, can I still shop there?

Brrrrisk, boots, & bookstores

It's finally a chilly day down here in the south.  And I'm not being sarcastic.  The high today is only 37.  I enjoy a brisk cool day every so often.  I can put my sweaters and scarves to good use and curl up with my dogs while drinking a hot chocolate and reading.  The fiance was off work Monday and Tuesday.  We decided to watch some movies with the dogs since it was too cold to take them to the park.  Instead of lying on our couch, we ended up making a bed out of blankets on our family room floor.  It was quite enjoyable!
Today, I am going to go to a few stores and see if they are hiring.  I've been applying to jobs online but nothing has been happening.  So in the mean time, I am going to get a retail job (I hope).  I'm hoping for a job at a bookstore, which is my dream job, but beggers can't be choosers.
While this cold weather continues on, I'm going to enjoy it and bundle up with my scarves and boots.  It's easier for me to enjoy cold weather down here because 1.) we have no snow 2.) the high Sunday is 60 3.) it's only cold for a month.   Wanna move here yet??? (I'd suggest having a job first, apparently they're hard to find...)

Slice of Heaven on a Friday

My doggies are at the groomer's.  If you were inside my head, this would be more like: MY DOGGIES ARE AT THE GROOMER'S!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!  I can actually do one of my favorite things: sit on my couch and drink coffee (and be on my computer).  With the two holy terrors around, this ritual inevitably ends with Vedder chewing on a toy, Gabby deciding that is the ONE toy she has to have, therefore a fight ensues and they run around and before I know it, they have busted up onto the couch, forcing me to spill my coffee all over my cream colored couch and then to finish it off, they trample my laptop.  
But not today.  They are being groomed (aka tortured to them) and I have freedom.  It might be pathetic, but my main motivation for finding a job is to get away from my dogs for a while.  Not money, not ambition... just getting away from my dogs.  Don't get me wrong, I love them so much.  But everyday, all day, feeding, walking, taking them out, scrubbing the couch because one of them stepping in mud and tracked it all over the couch... I can't wait to get a job!  
Happy Friday to you all!  Enjoy the weekend and have fun!

It Happened... at the in-laws

Greetings and happy Monday!  Great news... I have a new power cord and I am back in action.  I've been lost without my computer.  But never fear, after a quick trip to Houston and $80 later, I'm back.  And yes, we only bought one of the two power cords we needed because they are $80 each!  Enough about that....

I'm not someone who gets embarrassed that easily.  Mostly because I find whatever happened to be more funny than anything.  But this weekend, something happened that was a bit embarrassing.  My boyfriend and I traveled to Houston for his nephew's birthday party and the Texans game.  Of course we have to bring our dogs, so we pack up all their stuff, all our stuff, gifts, football tickets, phone chargers, I had to bring my ruined computer chargers... we were like a traveling circus.  

We arrive at my boyfriend's parents house and we all decide to go to dinner that night. Now, by no means, is this the first time I've met his parents.  I love them and I really do feel at home with them.  He has a wonderful family and they all make me feel like part of the family.  So me, my boyfriend, his parents, and his cousin are all at dinner having a nice evening.  I can't recall the exact sequence of what lead up to this, but something someone said triggered a horrifying realization in my mind.  It was so sudden and out of the blue, yet completely true, that I couldn't help but blurt out in the middle of the conversation, "I forgot underwear!"
Yup, I just shouted out in the middle of dinner, in front of my boyfriend's dad, mom, and male cousin that after tonight, I would have no more clean underwear.  Guess what the topic of conversation/butt of the joke was the rest of the weekend... my underwear, or lack there of.
Before you get your panties in a twist, yes, I did go to Target and get new underwear.  Nonetheless, I was embarrassed.  Luckily I bounce back quickly because now I find it a funny story to share with everyone!  Enjoy your Monday and I hope you find some amusement in my embarrassment.

The Sports Blues

My dad had two daughters.  And even though he loves us more than life itself, he didn't get to have that son to bond with over things like sports.  Well, no matter... he successfully turned my sister and especially me into sports fanatics.  I love watching sports, playing sports, talking about sports, and this year, for the first time, I am participating in fantasy football.

I really thought I'd be awesome at playing fantasy football (I'm still not sure if that is the right terminology "playing" fantasy football).  I mean, I have a lot of free time, I follow sports anyways, and I felt like I drafted a good team.  Well week 1, I lost, but scored a ton of points.  Week 2, I won and was in first place in the leauge!  I really thought I was the shit.  I even made some moves, aquired different players, and solidified my dominance.  The thought of matching up against me was sure to strike fear in people's hearts.  

Did you know there are bye weeks?  And did you know that you have to switch players in and out when its a player's by week?  Plus, who gave my running back permission to pull a hamstring and not play?  Get your ass in there and win me some points!  Let's just say I'm in last place...

Perhaps I can console myself about my losing fantasy team by getting excited about my "real" teams.  My Cincinnati Reds were in the playoffs for the first time since 1995!  But... they were swept.  Ok, no biggie, how bout dem Bengals?  Getting lots of talk on ESPN... as being one of the most disappointing teams in the league.  There's always college football and I'm a true blue Pitt Panther fan!  Hail to Pitt!  Can you say Continental Tire Bowl??? Let's hope we can even make it to that bowl... I have the sports blues!  Might need to whip up a good dinner/dessert or buy a lovely fall inspired article of clothing to cheer me up.

Job Interview

I've been reluctant to tell people when I have interviews.  When you get excited and tell 20 people about an interview, you have to tell 20 people you didn't get the job.  But in the spirit of blogging and being opened, I have a job interview tomorrow!!!! Now don't get too excited... first let me give you a recap of my past interviews.

I applied to a distribution company and after 2 phone interviews, had an in-person interview.  I dusted off my blazer, shined my black pumps, and arrived 35 minutes early because "early is on time, on time is late, and if you're late, don't bother".   I go in and call the extension of the person whom I was meeting.  So far, pretty normal stuff.  In a few minutes, he arrives and escorts me to a conference room.  We sit on opposite sides and that's when "it happened".  Things started taking an odd turn.

He sets a red party cup on the table and I'm thinking, is this a weird interview trick? (read the next line with a country accent) "You don't mind if I chew, do ya? I'm just a good ol' country boy here in the city."

City? there are like 20,000 people in this county.  He proceeds to tell me the entire history of the company.  Should I be taking notes? Asking questions? Telling him I already know this because I read 3 million articles on the company in preparation for this interview?  Is he going to ask me any questions?  Or look at my resume?  What am I interviewing for again?

Suddenly, our time is done and he is bringing in another gentleman who is going to interview me.  This guy wastes no time.  No sooner has my butt touched the chair when he asks why I'm good for this job.  I answer. He asks what makes me better than everyone else for the job.  I answer again.  We kind of go back and forth for about 30 minutes. Now this guy was older, experienced and kept a smirk on his face the entire time I answered his questions.  He gave me that look that because I was a young girl, there was no way I knew how to use computers and create excel reports and converse with prominent business professionals.  I left that interview feeling slightly annoyed.  But I knew I was qualified and that I had answered all his questions.  A few WEEKS, yes weeks, later, I received an email entitled "No Thanks".  I thought for sure it was spam, but I opened it anyway.  There was nothing but an attachment saying thanks but no thanks, you didn't get the job.

The next interview was for a non-profit  and I was really excited for this one.  Trying to learn from my last interview, I decided that I needed to appear more experienced.  So I purchased new pants and a few nice tops.  Obviously, it's a great idea to spend money on interview clothes for a job you need because you have no money...  The first interview was face to face and went really great.  The lady was very nice and said she loved my experience and she went ahead and set up another interview.  I go to the second interview feeling confident and excited.  This job was made for me!  She brings me back to the interview room and introduces me to another lady.  As requested, I hand over my list of references.  The first question out of her mouth is  "Are you relocatable to Austin?".  My mind goes into panic mode.  Austin? Where did this come from?  Last interview, we talked all about I had JUST moved to Waco with my boyfriend and blah blah blah.  I say no and she and the other lady go back and forth asking me questions from a list.  It took 20 minutes. Guess what I got the next day?  An email.  It happened again.  Another no.

So then there's tomorrow.  How can I prepare for that?  I thought long and hard about what I have learned from the rejections and decided I need to come across experienced, smart, and capable.  Bingo... fake glasses.  

Thanks to eBay, I purchased eye glasses with clear lenses that make me look oh so smart.  Watch out world (aka Waco), I'm about to lower the unemployment percentage!  If the glasses work, I'm going to write to President Obama and suggest giving everyone who is unemployed glasses.  Thus, the economy will be stimulated by the government buying all those glasses and the unemployment rate will decrease.  Perhaps I should be an economic advisor... that is, if my interview doesn't go well tomorrow.

"that" dog

The weather has been nothing short of perfect for the past 2 weeks.  Sunny and 80-85 degrees. And here's the real kicker... no humidity!  In honor of this perfect weather, I thought I would treat my dog and myself to an afternoon in the park.  I pictured us strolling along down by the river, him chasing a squirrel, kids wanting to pet my dog cause he was "sooo cute", and me conversing with fellow dog owners while we watched our doggies frolic about the park.  I also thought I could take cute pictures of my dog and post them on my blog and this would be a good way to introduce my dog.
What actually happened wasn't exactly as I pictured.  Upon arriving at the park, my dog (Vedder) and I got out of my car and set out on the path.  We weren't 20 steps into our walk when Vedder began barking at a small child.  The parents were horrified.  I was mortified.  But I pressed on and came upon a squirrel that a family was watching eat a chicken bone.  Well, the show was over for that family because my dog terrorized the squirrel up a tree and out of sight.  After a few apologies, we settle into a brisk walk.  Now, Vedder was good around all the people.  He ignored them and all the many distractions and I began to think that all those hours of watching the Dog Whisperer was paying off.  Surely people were jealous of me and the fact that I owned one of the cutest and best behaved dogs in the world.  Perhaps my next job could be a dog trainer in the Waco area!
We were on the way back to my car for a water break when it happened.  I noticed 2 large dogs up ahead on the path.  So I got Vedder close to me, made him sit and tried to distract him as they approached.  Needless to say, the scene that ensued was mor-ti-fying.  Vedder, who is 18 pounds soaking wet, began maliciously barking at these 2 pit bulls who were being walked by a family with little kids.  Vedder was lunging and trying to attack these dogs and he wound his leash around his neck and was choking himself and barking and growling... everyone in a 100 yard radius was staring and shaking their heads.  I had to pick him up to get him to stop choking.  It was awful.  And if that wasn't embarrassing enough, I heard the little boy say "Daddy, why is that dog so mean?" and his dad said "I don't know son. Some dogs just are.".  Apparently, I have "that" dog and I am "that" owner with an out of control animal and I don't know what to do.
Ok let me defend myself a little.  Vedder has lived, played, and stayed with other dogs before.  These have all been successful meetings.  Huge dogs, small dogs, in the middle dogs.  On his "turf", on their "turf", at kennels... he's been good with it all.   But, for some reason, he snaps when its a meeting like the park.  Well, that pretty much ended our perfect day in the park.  I will be watching more Dog Whisperer in the coming weeks and crossing off "dog trainer" as a possible job.

The "beast" at rest.

He is pretty darn cute, though, right?