Houston, We Have Steak!!

After weeks of staring at our pretty grill sitting alone and gas-less on the deck - we HAVE GRILLAGE!!!

The plumber who visited last week came in with an exorbitantly high estimate so we called two others for comparison. Both plumbers 2 and 3 were quite a bit lower, so we settled on one who came this morning to put in the gas line as well as cap off the leaking unused gas line to the fireplace (we're opting out of a gas insert as opposed to spending hundred perhaps thousands in finding the leak and then repairing all of the brick work).

So tonight, we had yummy steaks and baked potatoes on the grill and they were DELICIOUS!!!! What happy meat eaters we are!

Boy I'd sure like a nice grilled steak!

One of the sad things about moving into the new house was that we had to leave grilling behind - at least for a while. The rental house had a natural gas grill attached to the patio and the new house does not have an exterior gas line. For some reason, people around here are all crazy about natural gas grills and not as into the LG ones with the tank that I'm used to seeing. After we moved, we planned on waiting for tax refunds to purchase a grill and hire a plumber to run the line to the deck.

Well we've had a grill for about three weeks now. Just sitting all lonely and covered by itself on the deck. Our problem?? Dead beat plumber!!

I should mention that my Mom works for a wholesale distributor of plumbing and HVAC parts and she deals with plumbers everyday and loves them. When I visit her at work, she's always introducing me to one of her customers and sadly probably telling them stories about me all the time (I think the latest is the wedding pictures she's showing EVERYONE ). So I'm inclined to like plumbers.

When we first moved into the house we had a water leak, then a clogged drain from the washer that dumped water all over the floor, then a gas leak - all requiring some plumbing action. Our home warranty company sent over Larry and we loved him! He was friendly and during one of his visits my Mom was here and they got to talk plumbing and she liked him too. We even asked him about a gas line during one of his visits and it would be "no problem." So when the grill was purchased it was time!!!

We booked Larry and BJ took off work to anxiously await his arrival. He even promised to go shopping for steaks that night!! Well Larry never showed up, and when his office was called the woman said, "Oh I'm so sorry. His daughter went into labor! I guess I should have called you." Since we are understanding (though wishing someone would have called since BJ stayed home specifically for this) we rescheduled for early the next week. Again, BJ stayed home and we had a no show. He called and this time the office said, "there was an emergency water heater problem he had to take care of today. I forgot to call you YESTERDAY AFTERNOON." So they knew the day before that they were cancelling the appointment? And didn't call? BJ was highly miffed at this and much to my surprise allowed them to re-schedule again, but there was no time available until the wedding, so we were going to try again this past Saturday.

And of course, a No Call. No Show. I was sleeping (I worked nights all weekend) and apparently BJ left a very unflattering message on the office phone, and when he went to run errands a stern note was put on the door (in the event Larry showed up very late) stating not to knock or ring the doorbell since I was sleeping. We were disappointed because we had really liked him and are not sure if he has complete idiots working his office?? He didn't seem like the type to be so irresponsible. I just know that if the situation was reversed and we weren't there, the plumber would have charged us for the time.

So our poor grill still sits all alone and untouched. My poor belly craves a medium rare steak or a nice grilled breast of chicken. And now we are keeping our fingers crossed that the plumber we hired from a billboard at the entrance to our subdivision will actually show up today.

Random thoughts ...

First of all, my home state is NOT pronounced "Illi noise" - the "s" is silent!! I was just watching the local news and someone pronounced it wrong and it irritated me.

Second, GO TIGERS!! My Missouri Tigers are now ranked #1 after a resounding victory over Kansas! Hmmm, fried Jayhawk anyone?

BJ was very proud of me given that I watched the game AND actually understood a good portion of it. We did have to occasionally pause so he could point out what was going on around the line of scrimmage (you mean the offensive linemen and the defensive linemen are different players?!?!) and I learned a few new things like what the safety does and how overtimes work. I did fall asleep in the 4th quarter, but in my defense I had gotten off work at 7:30 a.m. and just slept a few hours that day.

Third random thought, I am so sick of credit card fraud. I had a really bad incident about 10 years ago when my wallet was pickpocketed out of my purse by someone I *thought* I had bumped into, and they charged over $10,000 on my cards at Best Buy and Circuit City within 2 hours. They had my driver's license and opened up accounts in my name at several stores and continued to try to buy things for several months. It was a flippin' mess! Earlier this year, someone used my Citibank card number to charge $300 of foreign purchases in Germany, and now this weekend apparently my debit card number was compromised. Of course in this case they used it to buy some things AND pay off a T-Mobile bill so I'm hoping the culprit is tracked down. At least when my wallet was stolen a decade ago, I KNEW that there was illicit activity going on. In both of my recent cases, the cards have been in my possession all along. I know that I'm not going to be responsible for paying, but somewhere, someone is having to eat these costs.

Fourth, I need to pass along a miraculous discovery! I'll never have to scrub a toilet again!!! Momma K works in the plumbing industry and she introduced us to the Sparkle and Clean device that you attach to your tank. Apparently those bleach tablets that you drop in the tank are BAD BAD BAD and they corrode out the flushing mechanism. This device adds the bleach to the water in the bowl only so it's not bad for your toilet. My toilet has sparkled this past week, it's the best thing ever!!! I can only comment on the bleach one (which my Mom uses as well) - don't know about the blue ones, but you can get them at any home improvement store.

Fifth, I had posted a while back that I wasn't sure about my wedding dress?? Well I tried it on for my Mom when she was here and we both LOVE it!! I think the purple rocks!! And since we're eloping and it won't be seen amongst our general acquaintance in person, the link here has a few sneak peeks!!

Last random thought, I have the cutest damn dogs in the world! BJ's Mom stayed over last night for a quick visit and the dogs thought it was the best thing ever. As she was leaving this morning, they sadly looked out the door....

Fun with the new house!!

So despite our little set backs in the new home .... did I mention the leaking gas line to the fireplace?? ... I LOVE being a homeowner! Of course we haven't gotten completely unpacked, but it definitely looks settled in already.

BJ painted our boring white door a brilliant shade of red that looks fabulous! It was our way of saying "hey neighborhood, we're here!"

I should mention that it's really nice having a handy kindof partner. He's been hard at work changing out the deadbolts, putting a keypad entry mechanism on the front door, running cables in the attic to setup our wireless home network and home theater system, and of course the pièce de résistance - mounting the new plasma screen on the wall above the fireplace. Did I ever mention that we had to get rid of the 56 inch big screen? Of course it hurt BJ far more than it hurt me, but given the setup of the living room there was no place to put the massive monument to sloth. He sold it to a co-worker and had to begrudgingly downsize to the 42 inch plasma. Though after mounting it and sitting on the couch, he did agree that anything larger would have been impractical based on the size of the room.


The flow of cash out of my checking account and to places like Lowe's, Target and Bed Bath and Beyond continues :) It's amazing how a new shower curtain, a few rugs and a cute accent towel can suddenly camouflage a hideous 1980s era bathroom.

Did I mention our fabulous yard?? It's probably more weeds than grass but it has so much potential! It's going to be a challenge to figure out how to landscape given the massive trees in the area. When the satellite guy drove out he basically said, "Yeah this isn't going to work." When he was on the phone with Dish trying to tell them that we needed to cancel our service because there was no way to point to the satellites he told them, "it's so wooded I'm expecting Robin Hood to make an appearance at any moment."

Hopefully in a few weeks we'll be able to get our cars in the garage and be able to actually find the specific item of clothing we're looking for!

Home Update

It's been a busy week hence the lack of blogging. I suppose it's time for an update as I await the plumber's arrival. Plumber you say?? Yes, apparently we do actually have some sort of a water leak in the wall behind the stove. After seeing the lovely puddle return under the cabinets yesterday we realized that this was no isolated incident. Luckily we have this wonderful thing called a "home warranty" so we'll owe the plumber $45 once he arrives and the warranty will cover up to $1000 of plumbing repairs (please oh please don't be any more!). I'm guessing that there will be a nice hole cut in the wall but they can do it from the other side of the kitchen which is the laundry room! And I could care less is I have unfinished drywall in there.

So other than the unplanned leak, the move has gone rather smoothly. Of course we didn't have everything packed, but a good 90% of it. I think I'll have one more load of miscellaneous crap to put in my car and then we can close the chapter on "M" Street. It took the movers 5 hours to do the task and regardless of how much it cost it was WORTH EVERY PENNY! The only thing I noticed was a ding out of the corner of one of my bedroom dresser drawers, but I'm sure the damage would have been worse, not just physically but to my own psyche if we had attempted to move ourselves.

There are of course things I'll be looking forward to upgrading in the new house - the late 1970s era bathrooms will one day have to go - but overall it's wonderful! It'll be days before we have things unpacked, but I can already see it falling into place. We went to Lowe's last night and picked up new deadbolts and a cool looking front doorknob, as well as a keypad entry for the front door. I'm beginning to love my little trips there, even if they all do seem to cost an arm and a leg.

Did I mention that Momma K (my Mom) is visiting this weekend? It will be her first trip to Little Rock and the first extended time she gets to spend with BJ. I'm thinking that we'll all have a blast!!

UGH!

We showed up to the new house this morning planning on doing a few quick things, heading back to the old place to pack, and then getting our engagement shots done later in the day. Well that was derailed when we arrived to find a pool of water on the kitchen floor!!!

After some sleuthing on our part, our hypothesis is that the seller's had a water accident when moving their washer and though they cleaned it up in the laundry room, some water escaped and was living under our kitchen cabinets, only to seep out from beneath the caulking a day later. When we pulled the caulk and baseboards out of the kitchen we found nice pools of water. We soaked it up as best as we could and now have a heater blowing on the concrete subfloor. Some water also rolled under the parquet flooring between the kitchen and dining room so we mopped that up as well.

We're *hoping* that we were right and it's just pooled water that was hanging out for a few days trapped by all of the caulked baseboards as opposed to an ongoing leak. I guess we'll see tomorrow when we go back to either a dried out subfloor or another pool :(

Lowe's ROCKS!!!

I'm not much of a shopper - I actually really hate shopping, but I think I have found a new mecca ... a new outlet for imprudent financial purchases - yes, blog readers that would be the home improvement store!!

Now lest you think I've never stepped foot in Lowe's or Home Depot, let me assure you that I have on occasion purchased a bolt or a screw or a thingamajig at one of these stores. My visits however have always been highly focused, a quest for something I specifically needed, and usually something that would require a sales associate to translate what I *thought* it was called - you mean it's not called a "little flexy door stopper thingee?? - into what I was looking for.

Today, BJ sent me to the Lowe's down the road from our new house on a quest for door hinges, a peep hole, and a specific drill bit. In order to be an educated shopper, I had an old hinge with me, the old peep hole and the needed drill bit written on a sheet of paper. Of course despite all of this preparation I'm pretty sure I called BJ at least four times with various questions because once I arrived I was overwhelmed by the expansiveness of it all!! Now that I actually OWN a home, things like sinks and countertops, light fixtures, faucets and crown moulding actually matter to me. Who knew that there were 20 different types of bathroom vents with different levels of suckability and loudness?? I was wandering the aisles and making mental images of my dream bathroom and kitchen, how cool that chandelier would look over the dining table and WOW I've always wanted a decorative flag pole to put those cheesy seasonal flags with turkeys and Santas on them (Merry Thanksgiving?). I had to re-focus my efforts on the needed items because I could have easily gotten lost in all the grandeur of things that would make my new home hellacool!

Of course I suppose we should actually get moved in first, but I have a feeling that I will soon come to love spending all of my hard earned money making my new home pretty :)

Things learned from closing

1. I really don't know how to sign my full name with middle initial.

At work my signature is J. Lastname RN which is pretty much the only way I ever write it. I was told this was prohibited and I had to sign my FULL name. Though interestingly it never looked the same way twice.

2. Our interest rate was slightly better than my sister-in-law's which I know is driving her crazy! :)

3. BJ does not handle disorganization and last minute changes in plans very well.

Of course I already knew this - I mean he's an engineer and details and precision are his life - but this was my first time seeing it in action. I was wishing we lived in Colorado so I could have borrowed some of JCR's xanax which always helps in such situations!!!

(author's note: of course as a professional nurse I would never knowingly take or encourage anyone else to take a medication not prescribed for them by a licensed practitioner. Though I'm not against spiking his coffee with Nyquil or whiskey)

4. The title agent has a daughter named Jennifer Jones and she has had issues with being confused with deadbeats who have the same name, which is another example of why I am choosing to hyphenate.

5. Our mortgage broker is disorganized and does things at the last minute causing unneeded stress in MY life (see #3).

For some reason he allegedly thought we were closing on the 14th, so basically our appraisal wasn't ordered until Monday, he was needing documents from us up until yesterday afternoon, and we weren't sure it was actually going to happen until this morning. We had also asked several weeks ago when we first started the process whether we'd need a specific affidavit signed and were assure "No" only to find out on Tuesday that we needed it completed, signed by someone else who lives out of town, and returned to the bank before closing.

6. You can get a $135,000 mortgage without ever walking into a bank or meeting your mortgage broker.

Yes, we live in an information age where everything was handled with online applications, emailed documents that we'd sign, scan and email back, and the telephone. Of course it might be a good thing that we don't actually know where his office is, because yesterday afternoon we might have been ready to rumble. And did I mention that it was just this morning that we read about the balloon payment on our second mortgage (we did an 80/15 loan) due in 15 years that was never discussed with us?

7. BJ is the first person the title agent has ever closed who wanted ALL of the documents up front (approximately 250 pages worth) and then ACTUALLY READ them before we showed up to sign.

8. Other than the aforementioned mortgage broker issues, buying a house was a remarkably easy process for us and took less than one month from the time we first started looking.

We had heard horror stories about fights and drama and stress for couples buying a home, and it's literally been a breeze. Of course I'll need to re-evaluate that AFTER we've moved and see if I can still make that claim!

9. It's VERY exciting to be able to say that we own a home!!

Be it ever so humble there's no place like home ...

I've heard that buying a home can be a stressful process full of emotion and angst, causing sleepless nights (or at the very least sex-less nights amongst fighting spouses) and tearing apart families. Well, I guess we'll just have to save the angst for the packing, moving and "so where should we put the wagon wheel coffee table??" debates because WE BOUGHT A HOUSE!!

Or more specifically we offered, they countered (with exactly the deal we were expecting all along) and we agreed. Of course there's always the possibility of our home inspection uncovering a meth lab, smuggling operation for illegal immigrants, tiny gnomes in the rafters etc, but I'm keeping my fingers crossed.

It's exactly the kind of suburban paradise I was wanting in a first home .... a 2 car garage, 3 bedrooms, a kitchen that looks like it was built AFTER I was born, and a nice fenced yard for all of the four legged children to enjoy. It'll add a good 15 minutes to my drive to work, but in the grand scheme of things I would much rather have that than the 1950s era homes we could afford in the city that made me want to cry when we toured them.

So yeah to me and BJ - future homeowners!!! :)

Home .... the final frontier!

It's amazing that I've made it to the age of 34 but never have bought a home, so yes I'm a mortgage virgin. BJ and I discussed buying a house before I even moved back to Little Rock, but both of us can be exceptionally adept procrastinators so we're just now getting around to starting the process. Thankfully one of BJ's friends is a realtor with both charm AND savvy, so we have someone to help us navigate the treacherous waters of the market. We contacted two of the mortgage lenders she recommended and now have good faith estimates coming our way. I really liked the guy who understood when I explained that yes I know we make enough to qualify for a ridiculously expensive mortgage, but we want a starter home with a low payment so we can pay off existing debt, then move up in the future. His response. ... "well that's not very American of you!" I mean sure, we could get a $250K home, never pay off our debt and continue to feed the pocketbooks of student loan and credit card companies - I mean I know that's the American way, why pay for now what you can finance and pay for forever?

As long as we've got something to call our own and it's not in the 'hood (near the 'hood I'm fine with, in the hood not so much) or out in the middle of redneck territory I'll be OK with it. Now if we can just shop for and agree upon a house without killing each other in the process - did I mention we're each strong willed and slightly stubborn individuals?? - then life will be good.

Fast Men and New Furniture

Is it wrong for me to admit that though I am very proud of BJ's latest race endeavors, I'm slightly irritated that he is now officially faster than me??? Yes, folks your friendly blog author really IS that shallow.

So yesterday was BJ's second 5K and the absolute gorgeous temps in the high 60s at the start were perfect for a run! I had worked an overnight shift so I was in a slight daze when I arrived. BJ was running with his friend Ken so I was on the lookout for Ken's wife and son - I rightfully assumed that a stroller would be an easy find in the crowd. After meeting up with JJM, we headed towards the finish line to await the arrival of our two favorite runners. The race was the Arkansas Clear Mountain 5K and it was one of the racing series for the Arkansas road runner groups so there were lots of FAST people, for example the winner came in just at 15 minutes. I knew that BJs goal was to beat 30 minutes (a goal I have long held missing twice and at 30:41 and 30:32) so I started looking closely at 27 minutes. I should mention that staying true to my vision of racing, BJ was concerned about what shirt to wear, whether it would good etc. Clearly I have taught him that it's not only about how you race, but how GOOD you look when you race! When I finally saw him, he was sprinting hard to the finish and made it right at 29 minutes!!!! You suck!! ...... err I mean, Good for you!! Great job!! Here's a pic of him and his friend Ken (copyright jjm) - what nice looking runners don't you think??? It's a shame they had both taken off their headbands, it gave them both such a nice retro 80s touch!!

After returning from the race, our new furniture was delivered! It was a shock to see the former bachelor pad living room suddenly turned into a warm, and welcoming living room as befitting the status of two, cool, young professionals. We now have a cream colored couch with sage and rust accents pillows, a kick-ass old fashioned leather club chair, and a fun, red hot swivel chair that we just threw in the mix because it was also on clearance and I loved it! Every time I walk into the room I still grin and the couch is hands down the MOST COMFORTABLE couch I've ever been on. Seriously, it's soft and wide and so roomy that even two people who really didn't like each other could lay down and barely touch. The dog children have sniffed around once or twice and I think we had to tell each of mine at least once to get down.







































And for when we're not watching?? We purchased these evil mats from Dr Fosters and Smith (my favorite dog stuff supplier!) to place on the furniture.I'm guessing that it will only take one time of jumping up and feeling unpleasantness on their paws before they stay away forever. I feel a little mean, but we are determined that this will NOT be dog furniture and given that they all have comfy beds (Cleo just got a new one this week that even matches one of the cushions on the couch) I refuse to feel guilty.

An update on athletic endeavors

Since this was originally *supposed* to be a blog about my running and triathlon pursuits, which later turned into a discourse on my travel nursing, I should really get back to business.

As to the running ... my training for the Chicago Marathon has officially derailed. There's no point in beating myself up about it because it is what it is. I knew when I signed up back in March that training for a marathon was a serious undertaking that requires commitment to putting in the miles. I haven't kept up my end of the bargain, simple as that. Instead of making excuses or beating myself up, I'm going to look forward to what's next. Yes, I'm out the $120 registration fee, but I'd rather not run it, than run it and risk hurting myself.

With that in mind, BJ and I decided to turn our attention to a late year half marathon. It will be my third and hopefully an opportunity to break 2:30, and his first attempt at this distance. We thought about Tulsa, but then looked at the Las Vegas Marathon/Half- Marathon on December 2nd. It has an awesome course that starts and ends on the strip, tons of running Elvi, a run through wedding chapel at mile 5 (it's tempting, let me tell you!) and of course all the excitement that Vegas has to offer. So starting this week, BJ and I will be training for this race. We're going to try to do all of our long runs together so that we can find a good pace that works for both of us. This race will be my immediate goal with the overall plan of debuting as a kick ass marathoner at the Little Rock Marathon in March. Now that I've disappointed myself once - I don't think I'll let it happen again.

In travel nursing news, I started my assignment at Arkansas Children's and I've quickly gotten back into the swing of things. It's a massive unit and I've been surprised at how many people remember me! I've gotten lots of "weren't you here before?" which was a surprise because there are so many nurses there, I just assumed that most wouldn't remember me at all.

Regarding the sibling rivalry, I am happy to announce that all of the dog children are now getting along. There are still occasionally tiffs, just as you would expect amongst stepsiblings, but the days of poor BJ's dog getting a daily ass kicking from my spaniel seem to be over. I'm still not sure what the pecking order is among them, I have a feeling that the small terrier (nicknamed the "Great White Devil" by BJ) is actually in charge of everyone. In any case, they can now be unsupervised which has relieved a great deal of stress on my part.

The last fun thing to report is that BJ and I made our first big purchase together! We were at Dillards doing some pre-wedding registry research when we happened to see a couch that we had previously liked on clearance as a floor model. [Side note: who knew there were so many patterns of crystal and that he and I would each have such strong opinions on the vessel for holding the wine that will hopefully get us drunk for years to come?!?!?] Given how excellent the price was we couldn't' resist, and if we're getting a couch, we might as well get a chair right? So next weekend our new living room furniture will be delivered and we will finally start having "our" stuff as opposed to his and hers. It's an exciting time, let me tell you!! Now if we can just figure out how to keep the dogs off of it ...