Posted Thursday, May 08, 2008 9:44 PM
I just spent the better part of 2 hours catching up on all the blogs I'd missed out on this week. And my own writing (which was never too consistent anyway) has really gone downhill.
Overall, the new job is going well. It's completely different from what I used to do, and sometimes things are a little slow. (I finish projects before they have more for me to do; I hope things pick up a little more.) I wish there was more writing involved with this position though. I don't want those skills to get rusty, so I'm thinking that I should make it more of a priority to do some writing on my own. Maybe I can find a non-profit group that needs someone to help with their newsletter, or something.
House hunting is going. It's not going particularly well, or horribly; it's just going. Our realtor just sent us another list of homes to go through, so we'll look at those tomorrow and let him know which ones we'd like to tour.
Oh, and Andy's parents have decided to come visit over Memorial Day weekend. We haven't seen any family since they were here in January; is it bad that I feel as though they were "just here"? I'm a little bummed out about spending our long weekend entertaining the parents, but Andy's really excited to see them. I'm NOT excited about cleaning out our guest room though. We've been tossing random stuff in there over the last few months (thinking we'd just get to cleaning it when we pack up and move out of the apartment), and now, I have to do some serious cleaning in order for them to stay with us. At least this time, it won't be -15 out, so we can go do stuff. (After spending their last visit just lounging around our little apartment, Andy has realized that yes, we do need to have some activities planned for when they visit.)
Posted Wednesday, April 30, 2008 8:26 AM
For finger paints, that is. Andy's niece turned 2 last Friday, and although we didn't make the 9+ hour drive back for the birthday party (come on, she's 2, it's not like she'll really remember that we weren't there), we did send her a box. She has more toys than any 2-year-old needs, so we went through the arts and crafts aisle at Target. We ended up sending sidewalk chalk, sidewalk paint, clay, crayons, coloring pages and finger paints. The finger paints were my favorite part of the whole thing. I figured, what little kid doesn't like to get messy and make things? (To be safe, I even ran this idea past one of our other friends with kids who are the same age - she thought it was a good idea.) Plus, when I was a kid, my aunts and uncles were the ones who got me the fun, messy stuff that my parents might not have - so I figured I should keep up the tradition.
So we hear from Andy's brother and sister-in-law. "Thanks for the box, but we're putting the finger paints away for a while, Rebecka's too little for them. I'm really surprised that Beth picked them out; they're for older kids."
I know it's a silly thing, and they can do whatever they want with the stuff, but it bugged me. Why call and tell us that? Just say "thanks for the box" and move on. I'm three states away, it's not like I'll see whether or not she's using them. Oh well. Life goes on!
Posted Thursday, April 24, 2008 10:50 PM
I realized that it's been a while since I mentioned that we were really jumping into house hunting, so I figured I'd update. So far, we've toured 12 houses. Nothing has really jumped out and said "Buy me, buy me," so we're still looking. But here are the highlights (or lowlights?!) of our adventures to date.
There have been two houses that I LOVED the kitchens in, but both of those were ruled out (one had a soggy, short basement and the other was right next to an apartment building). There was a huge house (2500+ sq. feet!) that must have been gorgeous when it was built, way back in the day. It had amazing woodwork, great hardwood floors with patterns built into them, a second stairway for the servants, leaded windows... just beautiful. However, it looks as though the kitchen hasn't been updated since they installed indoor plumbing (not kidding here), the electric hasn't been updated since it was put in, the old plaster walls need redone, and it's been completely built up on. If it was in a nice location or had more yard, we seriously would have considered it, even though it probably would have been like the movie "Money Pit," and we probably would have spent the next several years in constant DIY mode. (Oh, and it was pitch black, rainy and windy when we went through this house - I felt like we were in some kind of scary movie, especially when Andy found the second stairs, and then a third set of stairs that went into a huge attic...!) Last night, we saw three more houses, and we loved the yard on one - 180 feet deep! That house seems structurally solid, and it's in a nice neighborhood, but... oh the inside needs some help. There's linoleum on almost every bit of floor space in the house (and wouldn't you know it, none of it matches!) and the kitchen needs so much help. I don't feel as though we're any closer to finding "our" house, so the hunt is still on.
Andy and I were talking last night, and he feels that I shouldn't expect to "love" the house we find instantly; I think that we'll know when we find our house because it'll be "love at first sight." His argument to that is that we can't afford what "love at first sight" would be, so why hold out when we can find something nice and suitable/acceptable. What do you think?
Posted Tuesday, April 22, 2008 10:05 PM
I have to be missing something. Rice should be easy to cook, right? I made stir-fry for dinner, and, while the meat and veggies were tasty, I still can't get the rice right. So tell me, where am I going wrong? I'm doing 2 cups of water, one cup of rice, bringing it to a boil and then simmering (covered) until the water's absorbed. The water cooks away, and the rice is still semi-hard and chewy. I'll add more water, cook until it's absorbed, and it's still not any better.
Maybe part of the problem stems from the fact that I bought brown rice instead of white. (It was part of my effort to eat healthier grains...) My rice problem wasn't quite as obvious when I was cooking white rice.
Poor Andy, rice isn't his favorite anyway, and here I am, serving it half-done. Maybe I should stick to potatoes and pasta.
Posted Monday, April 21, 2008 7:49 PM
Really, I do. We got together with our small group last night, and one of the couples brought their newborn daughter for the first time (she's three weeks old). And everyone, except me, proceeded to go ga-ga over the baby. Don't get me wrong, she's a cute enough kid, but I didn't get those warm fuzzies that seemed to overwhelm the rest of the girls in our group - at least a couple of them want babies "right now."
And I just don't get it. I mean, maybe I'll want kids someday, but I think that even if/when that happens, I won't be excited/thrilled with the idea of being pregnant the way these girls are. I'm much better with kids as they get older - not that I'm great with them anyway - but I definitely prefer them when they can actually communicate with me, rather than just screaming.
So who knows, maybe I'll be in that place one day, but for now I'm just stuck trying to avoid having the new baby handed to me. "No, she's cute, but I don't want to hold your kid!"
Posted Tuesday, April 08, 2008 11:28 PM
Well, just to visit, anyway - I have no motivation to go back for my master's yet...
I'm on the KSU PR alumni listserv, and so I get regular updates on the latest and greatest happenings there. And tonight, I got an e-mail about the upcoming Campaigns class presentations at the beginning of May. It's a big deal for the senior class. The class is divided into teams and spends the entire semester creating a PR program for a real-life client. At the end, each team pitches the client, who then picks a winner. Alumni come to the presentations, and then everyone goes to Ray's Place in Kent to celebrate afterwards. That class was one of the most stressful/exciting/sleepless/painful times of my life - but the time at Ray's was great! I so wish I could go back to Ohio for the presentations and to catch up with my old PR buddies. Plus, I want the sweet potato fries at Ray's... mmm.
Seriously, if you're ever in Kent, visit Ray's Place and order the sunset sticks. You'll be glad you did.
Posted Monday, April 07, 2008 8:20 PM
It's official! As of tomorrow morning at 8 a.m., I'll be a productive member of society again. I'm excited and nervous, but I think that's to be expected. It'll be great to have a paycheck again! I guess I should get things around for tomorrow and figure out what I'm going to wear! It's the "first day of school" butterflies all over again.
I think I'll try to get Andy to take me out tomorrow night to celebrate - after all, I doubt I'll feel like making dinner after my first day of work!
Posted Friday, April 04, 2008 7:51 PM
After what feels like forever, we're finally starting to move on with our house-hunting project! We met with a mortgage broker and gotten pre-approved, and tomorrow, we're going to go through three houses that our Realtor found for us! I'm not expecting us to fall in love with any of them, but I'm glad we're doing more than just looking at places online.
I'm planning on taking a notebook and our digital camera with us - should we bring anything else? Any things we should pay particular attention to? Questions to ask? Should be quite the adventure.... wish us luck!