Thanksgiving

I finally moved into my house last weekend and besides the sewage pump leaking into the front yard, everything is just peachy! My family came over to visit and we all worked in our own way to help set up my house. I did a decent amount of landscaping before the snow hit so I'm pretty happy about that. My mom sewed me some curtains. It took her so long and she worked so hard on them I really appreciate that. My dad helped out all around and made sure we were all adequately fed. And my sister she did just about as much manual labor as I did!

I got AT&T U-Verse phone, cable, and internet the Thursday before thanksgiving and it was down almost every day for almost every reason apparently. They say 3300 feet from the hub is right at the threshold for the service. So I hope it will stay up this time! I need to remember to call them and get refunded for the time my service was down. There's no sense in paying for service which I didn't have.

I hung out with K most of the week so that was a lot of fun. We celebrated Thanksgiving with both families. All the food was delicious. I made sure to eat a big piece of all 3 desserts. There was chocolate cheese cake, pumpkin banana torte, and pecan pie. All made with tested recipies. So I loved all three! I ate way too much the last 4 days or so, but oh man was it great spending so much time with family. I really am thankful for all I have.

house update!

Well I can finally say that my house is close to being ready to live in! K and I have been starting to unpack things and clean up a bit. So hopefully by thanksgiving the house will be fully occupiable! But that's not the big update. After much fighting, I finally have a front porch being put up. It's not much, but it definitely helps the front curb appeal. Now It looks like a country farm house or cottage or something :) I think that's pretty marketable in such a scenic area, well I'd hope! The picture does not show the end product of the porch. The end product will have siding, and shingles of course! And the columns will be white aluminum.

To My Buddy

To my buddy,

You are the most wonderful girlfriend a guy could ever ask for. Every day I am happier to be with you, or so it feels. You do so many things that make me happy and I can't even begin to list them all. But these two little heart shaped cakes that you made just for me really show just how much you think about me and how you try to make me happy in every aspect of my life. You do little things like this without even thinking twice or with the slightest ulterior motive. You do it because you love me. Well I love you too.

This is probably about the sappiest thing I've ever wrote. But really I just have to say something. You make me so happy; all of the time. I can't wait for all the other happy moments in our lives together, or maybe I can because I couldn't be any happier than I am today.

More of my life

Well I ended up going to Busse Woods again to take advantage of the beautiful fall colors. I got quite a few good shots off too! One thing that was annoying is when K and I found a tree we wanted to take photographs under, a minute or so later an older couple with an SLR and a point and shoot stood near the tree looking like they were going to photograph it. We were there for no more than 5 or so minutes. And the old man blurts out "we're losing our light!" Nothing corteous, nothing subtle. Just blunt and rude. Apparently we were at the only tree in the whole gosh darn park and this guy couldn't fathom taking a picture of another tree! I didn't put up a fight because I had gotten off several shots already and the sun had fallen behind a tall building in the distance. I kind of felt happy that they actually did lose their light because of how rude the guy was! But really, it was a very beautiful tree.

My house is getting even closer to being completed. It'll be any day now. I'm sure! I've been saying that for the past couple months, but one of these days I'll find myself telling the truth and I'll actually move in. Although I have my doubts sometimes :)

All in good fun

Last weekend K and I went to a pumpkin farm and browsed all of the fresh produce. Most of it actually wasn't overpriced surprisingly. For example, you could get a whole spaghetti squash for $1.29. But there were of course the ridiculously overpriced items such as the $10 gourmet chocolate covered apples... There were a lot of fun sights like camels and some pretty crazy squash for sale. It was so packed there I felt like I was in a sea of people. But I loved it.

This week K and I baked a cold oven pound cake from the America's Test Kitchen "Lost Recipes" cookbook. I swear every single one of those desserts are the best I have ever had. The pound cake had a thick flaky crust on top due to starting the baking without preheating the oven and the cake was just perfectly moist! We brought slices into work because we couldn't possibly manage to eat that much cake by ourselves. Everybody loved it. My coworkers think I am some baking genius or something... Awhile back we made This thing called "Peach Puzzle" which was like a superior peach cobbler, if you even want to call it that. You basically bake whole peaches sitting in a sweet biscuit dough with brown sugar and butter and eat it warm. It was so good that I will want to make it again as soon as peaches are in season again. If anybody is ever around K or I during peach season, you absolutely have to request it!

Peach Puzzle

This weekend we went to a forest preserve and walked around. I saw a family getting portraits taken at dusk with all the fall colors and it inspired me. I think I'm going to go back tomorrow (today) with K and take some glamour shots. I really have to remember to buy a reflector and a stand online, because the local camera shops charge an arm and a leg for them! But anyway, back to the weekend. We drove around and got menus at many of the restaurant's around K's place and I ended up getting hungry and ordering the 3-meat combo at Sweet Baby Ray's. I had never eaten there before and it was pretty good for a chain. The ribs had a delicious rub on them that reminded me of the kind that was on this special order cajun meat that my dad used to buy for read beans and rice. Oh the memories. The weekend has been so good so far. I can't wait for more!

things go bad and then get better

On Tuesday evening I come home from work to find my motorcycle tipped over and leaking antifreeze. So I called my insurance and the police to make a claim. When the police officer begins to leave the parking lot I look over at the driver's side fender of my truck and notice that there is some pretty major damage there. And at that time I remember how my truck was "squeeking" when I turned a low speeds. So I filed a second police report for a hit and run on my truck the night before. I couldn't believe that I had two insurance deductibles to pay all at once now!

The week went on and I found out that the hit and run caused over $3000 in damage with over $1200 damage to my suspension alone. The guy really must've wacked my truck hard. I also get a call stating that my motorcycle will be filed as a total loss since its value is less than the cost of repairs. Now this may sound bad, but think about it. This means the insurance will give me money for the value of my bike minus my deductible! My deductible for my truck is paid for!!!! I will miss having a bike, but really I need the cash more and I wanted to get a new bike next year anyway. If I have the cash, I will do that.

Then on Friday I worked until midnight. The whole day I was disturbed by my boss repeatedly for status updates. I work faster than 9/10 of my co-workers on SW builds and I really didn't appreciate the constant pestering. I understand he was only bugging me because his manager was bugging him for updates constantly. That still didn't stop me from getting annoyed and giving him overly verbose updates just so he'd get off my back :P Anyway I told him that I was going to dinner and if he needed the build finished when I was away that he could have somebody else start where I left off. And I think by this time he had noticed that I was giving him such up-to-the minute updates because I was frustrated because he replied saying that my work was really appreciated and that I could hand over the build if I wanted to. But that wasn't the part worth writing home about. He told me that because of my hard work, he had given me a BRAVO award and bonus. This award is given to people who go above and beyond their job description and I don't think that many people are getting this award in such a tough time for the company. So this really made my day. The award gets put in my permanent file as well so this will help me career-wise when I am looking for a promotion or to negotiate a raise. This is really the best thing to happen to me at work. So things did get better, all around.

I'm not even excited anymore

In a perfect time to be blogging my rants about building a new home and all the headaches that I never thought would come with it. I have written nothing. It's been a surprisingly scary last month. So many things that I couldn't have imagined would happen went wrong. But it looks like I'll still get a house and things are mostly smoothed over for the time being. But all I can say is, when times get rough, your builder can be a complete ass, and the bank, well they can make your life a living hell. But oh well, you live and you learn. I have had a major life lesson this month. You never ever trust anybody you are paying. They're only being nice to you because you are paying them. And if you run into a problem, the bank certainly doesn't have your back.

I'm not excited about his house anymore and I just want it to be done with. But unfortunately, I can't even set any deadlines when it will be done anymore because my builder keeps completing work so slowly. You'd think he'd want to get done and get the rest of his money and be out of my life, but somehow I think it brings them pleasure to string me along. I don't know why. It doesn't make any sense.

Wow, almost a month since my last post

So the house is finally there. I'm sure it's not that interesting to you, but this is what it looks like...

Dear Rich Philanthropists,

Please donate money to the buy me this car fund. I am only $39,094 short of my goal! Start donating today!

MY CHALLENGER R/T

MSRP As Configured: $39,095 Net Price: $39,095

2009 CHALLENGER R/T J Pkg.

$31,455

Destination Charge

$675

Color

$0

Dark Slate Gray Interior

$0

Stone White Clear Coat

$0

Features/Options

$6,965

MyGIG® Multimedia System with GPS Navigation

$1,390

• 1-Year SIRIUS Traffic(TM) Service
• Universal Consumer Interface (UCI)
• SIRIUS Traffic(TM) with 1-Year Service
• UConnect Hands-Free Communication
• SIRIUS Satellite Radio
• Navigation System with GPS
• Auto-Dimming Rearview Mirror with Microphone

20" x 8.0" Aluminum Chrome Clad Wheels

$1,350

• Goodyear Brand Tires
• 245/45VR20 BSW All Season Performance Tires

Electronics Convenience Group

$1,060

• Tire Pressure Monitoring Display
• Universal Garage Door Opener
• Remote Start System
• Universal Consumer Interface (UCI)
• UConnect Hands-Free Communication
• Steering Wheel Mounted Audio Controls
• Security Alarm
• Illuminated Door Pull Handles
• Traveler/Mini Trip Computer
• Vehicle Information Center
• Temperature and Compass Gauge
• Instrument Cluster w/Display Screen
• Auto-Dimming Rearview Mirror with Microphone
• Illuminated Cupholders

6-Speed Manual Transmission

$995

• Bright Pedals
• Performance Steering w/Variable Displacement
• Anti-Spin Differential Rear Axle
• 3.92 Axle Ratio
• 3.73 Axle Ratio
• Anti-Lock 4-Wheel Disc Heavy Duty Brakes
• Hill Start Assist
• Trak Pak

Power Sunroof

$950

High-Intensity Discharge Headlamps

$695

R/T Hood to Fender Stripes

$200

Sound Group II

$185

• AM/FM Stereo Radio w/In-Dash 6-Disc CD/DVD/MP3 Plyr
• 368-Watt Amplifier
• 7 Boston Acoustics Speakers with Subwoofer

Compact Spare Tire

$100

Engine Block Heater

$40

Leather-Trimmed Bucket Seats

Incl.

Monotone Paint

Incl.

Electronic Stability Program

Incl.

• Brake Assist

Leather-Wrapped Shift Knob

Incl.

Light Slate Gray Insert

$0

Luxury Front and Rear Floor Mats

Incl.

5.7-Liter HEMI® VCT Engine

$0

Power Heated Fold Away Mirrors

Incl.

• Body-Color Exterior Mirrors

Sun Visors with Illuminated Vanity Mirrors

Incl.

Heated Front Seats

Incl.

Automatic Headlamps

Incl.

Fog Lamps

Incl.

Leather-Wrapped Steering Wheel

Incl.

MSRP As Configured:

$39,095