when.the.circus.comes.to.town [ch.1]

well, as youve all undoubtedly noticed, its been quite some time since i last updated you on the little events of the wife and my lives. i do appologize, however, i've been extraordinairliy busy since i last wrote to you, and i still havent fully recovered - maybe this weekend. 

well when i last left you id been working some overtime and was getting pretty tired, but "the family circus" [as my grandmother so lovingly refers to all of us] was soon arriving and karen and i were looking forward to their visit. i ended up having to work more overtime before they arrived, but wednesday they got into town around 11:30 and i left the office for the day. the first stop we made was lunch at a little sportsbar around the corner where karen and i wanted to share a "wednesday special" with the fam as their first meal. we'd decided that any places we ate out during their visit would have to be cincinnati specific - or at least a place they couldnt eat back home in tx. well the place we went is called "head first" [i suppose it has something to do with the immediate adjacency to the red's ball park?] and on wednesdays they have "loaf." this is a wednesday only lunch special and its quite tastey, i was introduced to it during my short stent at my summer internship only a block and a half away, and had enjoyed it a few times. anyway, mom and dad and kimber were willing to give it a shot, so we all had lunch there before startingall of the weekend excitement. happily, everyone enjoyed their food [although the service was very sub-par from the usual and quite disappointing]and we soon bid karen adieu [back to work] while i took the gang home to unload and take a short reprieve. before karen got off work we also made a trip to the depot so i could grab just a few fasteners to repair the dining room table, and also a short trip to the inspection bureau to obtain a permit for all of the electrical work we were anticipating in the very near future. by the time karen was getting off work we'd started discussing dinner plans, and shortly after she made it home, we all decided on buca de beppo - quite an italian family dining experience. [http://www.bucadibeppo.com/] well dinner was amazing [pretty much the norm at buca] and as always - very filling. we had some of the best pasta dishes ive ever tried, deliciously fresh salads, and the fresh baked house bread - always a palatte pleaser! we left with about as much left-overs as what we'd actually eaten and headed home to get everyone settled for bed. at this point, i honestly cant remember if anything else happened that night, not to mention the order in which anything else for the rest of the weekend happened, its all just a blur, haha! so having said that, ill give you the run-down of the highlights.

first off - the food! 

haha! i cant help it, im a major "foodie" and i dont think ive talked too much about all the different places we ate this weekend with the family. [oh, and before i forget, josh and cassie showed up friday evening just in time for dinner, haha, and they were here through sunday afternoon as well - so when i say circus, we had all 3 rings in town, haha!]

well as i already mentioned, the first two places we went were head first and buca, and that wrapped up wednesday. 

thursday we didnt actually get to go out to dinner because karen and i both had to work late, then we had planned on going to a lecture at the contemporary art center [http://www.contemporaryartscenter.org/] which turned out to be a really awesome lecture that karen and i both enjoyed very much [and left feeling quite inspired!] and then immediately ran up north to finally [drum-roll please...] get karen a desk! thats right! shes been wanting one for quite sometime now and thursday night we got another craigslist deal of the week - the desk was 60 bucks and is in PREMO shape! [not to mention exactly what she was wanting]. so yeah, we all had leftovers and sandwhiches for dinner, but i didnt hear any complaints. 

friday karen and i both had lunch at work, but for dinner we decided to take the whole gang [now that it was finally all here] to dewey's [http://www.deweyspizza.com/] at newport on the levy for dinner. [where we were surprised to run into the previously mentioned amanda and patrick, haha! what a small world!] anyway, dewey's is a local pizza joint and well, its pretty freakin awesome. everyone was very happy with their salads and pizza and we again left quite happily filled and with plenty of left-overs. 

saturday i made breakfast, and again decided to go with the crowd pleasing pigs-in-blankets. they seemed to be pretty good to me, and i didnt hear any complaints, so im assuming the rest of the bunch was in agreement. at this point, i cant remember now what we had for lunch[or if we even had it on saturday] but i do believe that saturday was the night that kimber [thats sister for those of you losing track] decided to make us a homemade feast for dinner and we had some pesto chicken and pasta creation that was quite yummy with a side of fresh salad and garlic bread - it was all very enjoyable, thanks kimber!

sunday was josh and cassie's last day in town so we wanted to do a nice breakfast and decided to go to a local neighborhood diner right around the corner - blue jay. however, once we arrived, we discovered that they werent open on sundays and had to quickly re-route and decided on first-watch [http://www.firstwatch.com/]. its similar in concept to daybreak[], [which some of you may remember from my new years blog...] basically just specializing in breakfast, brunch, and lunch. sadly, cassie [thats sister-in-law-to-be for those of you now completely lost] had to do some homework for one of her online classes, so she couldnt join us, but everyone else seemed to really enjoy their various breakfast selections. i had the "bacado" omlette which is a giant omelette overflowwing with bacon and avacado with a side of the house specialty potatoes and a dollop of sour cream on top - i thoroughly enjoyed it =] by lunch time it was just a quick sandwhich or leftovers at home before josh and cassie were off to the airport after a rough weekend of great help, thanks guys! and for dinner, we had the girls [karen and mom] swing by city bbq [http://cityqbbq.com/] on their way home. city bbq is a great little bbq place that we found over in hyde park, definitely the best stuff ive had in cincinnati [even with my stuck up texas tastes for bbq, haha! we really do have the best bbq in the world in tx, but this stuff aint bad at all for ohio!] it was quite good, as usual, they really do have some awesome pulled pork and i stuffed myself silly, haha!

monday it was back to work, so a fairly usual day in that sense, however for dinner we had thai express which is a great little thai food joint near the university of cincinnati campus. its actually amazing how good this stuff is considering its practically a whole in the wall and the price is extremely reasonable. mom had never had thai food before, but seemed to enjoy her pad-thai just fine, and i think we all had plenty of heat in our dishes, haha!

well tuesday, mom and dad and kimber were supposed to be on a plane soon after lunch, so karen came home for lunch [i took off the day to help finish up house stuff] and we just had some more sandwhiches - they were always really good though! however, as it turned out, dad and i didnt get everything finished before it it was time for them to be leaving so mom and dad extended their stay an extra day and we were able to go out for one last dinner in cincy. this time we decided to take them to cactus pear, which is one of karen and i's favorite places to go when we have a south-western craving. its not your true southwestern that we're accustomed to in tx, but its got a southwestern flair and the food is generally quite good. this time was no exception and i think everyone was quite satisfied. they have some really awesome salsa thats fire roasted so it comes out black. which is a little odd at first, but once you taste it youre hooked. its not spicey at all really, so it doesnt really satisfy my craving for heat, but when it comes to flavor, its a great little option. 

anyway, thats all the food stuffs for the trip, and it seems i spent my time quote for the day without even delving into all the house stuff. so, for next time i guess we'll have to play a little more catch up and actually hit the project highlights, haha! hope youre all having a great week!

welcome.to.the.working.week[end]

hello, hello there. seems like its been a while since i updated you, so i thought id take my lunch break to do just that. although... [if youve guessed anything from the title of this post] theres not as much to report as usual. 

[02.07.09|saturday]

well i woke up bright and early at 7:30 on saturday morning and hopped in the shower. why would i be up at such an un-godly hour on a saturday? glad you asked. because i had the pleasure of having to go in to work on saturday. i found out friday afternoon that i was going to be working this weekend, and although i wasnt thrilled about the prospect, i made my peace with it. so saturday morning i got up and got to it. well by the time i got out of the shower karen informed me that id missed a call, and as i checked my voicemail i discovered that the window guys had called about installing the new [and final!] window in the "project room." well i called back a few times, but to no avail, theyd skipped us and gone on to the next house. bummer. oh-well, i had to get to work. so karen and i discussed our days, made coffee and then i was out the door with one last kiss. 

i made a quick detour through wendy's to pick up a little breakfast and made it to work at about 9:15 sharp, and got right to it. around 11 the window guys called back to make sure someone would be there, and then went and did their thing - we now have all our windows! woohoo!! and yet... i remained.. at work. around 1:30 the bossman ordered lunch and i grabbed a quick bite before getting back into my work. all in all i worked about 6 and a half hours on saturday [this after id already pulled a 14.5 hour day on thursday....] and by the time i left for home, i was drained. there was no way i was getting much accomplished that evening. well i got home and found that my lovely wife had done some cleaning throughout the day [while she was hopelessly depressed missing me, im sure] and had also started prepping the rest of the dining room - good girl. but i wasnt going to be doing a ton of painting, not in my current condition. so we discussed the rest of the evening and she told me about a craigslist item we were picking up later and then started baking dinner while i did just a little painting and had a nice adult beverage to unwind from a long start to the weekend. 

soon enough we went to pick up the new craigslist item - any guesses? haha, i know its impossible, we got a grill! karen has been wanting a grill since... well, before we even got married, lol! and saturday she found one for 20bucks - only 2 years old, in working order, one mostly full propane tank, and one spare tank [empty], only a little rust - overall a hell of a buy! oh and did i mention it came with a bearcats grill cover as well? [i think on some level she was more excited about the cover than the grill, lol!] well it was fun to go pickup the grill - and im shocked at how light it was! on the way we had a long drawn out discussion about karen's thesis and what direction shes taking, topic, etc. [i wont go into the details, you'll just have to bug her if you want to know] and then on the way home we had a spirited debate on doing a thesis project and if it should be required, and what requirements we thought were appropriate to be a professor... and apparently what the definition of a professor even was. shes a fun one, my wife. =]

anyway, the rest of the evening we relaxed, ate some delicious dinner prepare by chef karen - her own little gourmet creation: mexican cornbread casserole - ole! [heh, just had to throw that in there] it was awesome, she did a great job! and we also watched life as a house. a+ movie, one of my favorites, if you havent seen it, you should consider it. i swear, i almost cry every freaking time at the end - almost.

[02.08.09|sunday]

well i woke up bright and early at 7:30 on sunday morning and hopped in the shower. wait... deja-vu? yes... sadly... i was going to work, yet again on sunday morning. ugh. [karen wasnt exactly delighted by my absence this weekend] well she dropped me off this time, and then went to run some errands [mostly grocery shopping and filling the truck up with gas - for 44 cents a gallon baby! woo-effing-hoo! thats right! 44cents! eat that big oil! - how, you ask? have i mentioned the bigg's pump perks program before? well if no,t google it, its pretty self explanitory] i ended up working for 4 hours on sunday before id had enough and called it quits for the day.

karen picked me up at 1:30 and we decided that it was a beautiful day [low 50's, sunny, just gorgeous!] and that it was perfect weather for margaritas - haha! so we decided to hit a local "mexican-food" place on the river [don pablos - not real mexican, but itll do. they do have pretty good margaritas!] for a nice relaxing lunch. so while we over-indulged on our "mexican-food" we also started a list of projects that we could possibly attempt when the entire family shows up next week [list to follow at the end of the blog...]. after lunch we headed home and were so full we didnt want to do much of anything - so we started to watch a netflix: righteous kill. about halfway through it karen really wanted to take a walk [i think she was feeling like a fatty, haha!] so she made me get off my lazy arse and go walking with her. it was actually a really nice walk, the weather was still great, and we had fun sliding on the remaining patches of ice, haha! not to mention, it was just nice to get out of the house and stroll around our awesome little neighborhood. we lazily looked in all the windows of the different buisnesses, and i woke up a sleeping cat in the local art gallery, haha! he seemed a little pissed that i woke him up and wasnt able to scratch his back as he so clearly wanted me too - sorry! anyway, it was a nice sunday afternoon stroll through the park [literally at one point] and then we went home to finish the movie. 

i dont know if ive just seen too many movies or if the "plot twists" really were that predictable, but i figured it all out halfway through the movie. overall it was okay - i give it a solid b i suppose. it was a little slow going, and i was thoroughly unimpressed with robert deniro, carla gugino, & john leguizamo's performaces - ive come to expect more from them. donnie whalburg was at about par id say, the true godfather [al pacino] was great as always, and 50-cent was... actually a little better than i expected - kudos. but again, it was pretty slow - even the intense parts. see it if you want to, you'll probably enjoy it. anyway, after the movie i was feeling super-lazy so we retired to the bed to watch some tv on my laptop before turning in for the night...

[02.09.09|monday]

...until 6am this morning, when we had a little scare. at 6:03am our alarm system went off and in full force. i hadnt heard anything before it went off, like glass breaking or pounding, etc. but none-the-less it was blaring and i was a little caught off guard. i slowly put on some pants and grabbed the flashlight as karen and i discussed what i should do - we decided shortly that i was going to go check it out while we waited for the alarm company to call me. well, ive got to say, im not entirely impressed with their response time, it was probably a solid 2 minutes before my phone finally rang, at which point id turned on half the lights in the house and was finally arriving at the first floor. i told the girl on the phone i wasnt sure what was going on and she told me it was the dining room sensor that had triggered, so i de-activated the alarm and checked things out while she was on the phone ready to call 911 if necessary. well, after thoroughly checking out everything - i couldnt find anything out of place. all the windows and doors were in their normal condition, nothing obvious had fallen over, there were no signs of someone in the house, nothing. so i thanked her and said goodbye before turning the alarm back on and going back upstairs. the woman said that sometimes it could just be a large particle of dust that sets it off, so i really dont know. maybe some of the tape on the walls fell loose and caused enough movement to trigger it. or maybe it did its job and whoever it was was on the front porch or side of the house and was scared off by the alarm picking them up. either way, im glad it worked, but it was an unsettling morning getting ready for and going to work, lol. but we're fine and the house is fine and our alarm system is obviously fully functional. =]

anyway, im at work now and thats about all there is to report for recent events. i ended up working half the weekend and we didnt get too much accomplished because of it. a little disappointing, but im sure we'll survive. hey, we did get a pretty good list going for next week!

and here it is[for those of you that are excited about what you'll be getting to do soon!] ;]

general house stuff:

electrical 

exterior doors [replacing, repairing, & weather-sealing]

caulking any remaining windows

paint various furniture

basement:

clean floors, walls, & rafters

board up walk-out & weather-seal

mortar walls

paint & weather seal walls

insulating foam @ exterior walls?

patch & seal hole @ north end

entry:

put up crown

touchup paint on baseboards

parlor:

thoroghly clean fireplace

clean, patch, & prep walls & ceiling

paint walls & ceiling

window treatments

bookshelves

dining room:

powder-room entry

powder room:

i dont even know... it needs help - tiling?

kitchen:

halfwall

dishwasher & garbage disposal installation

2nd floor general:

strip any wall paper

clean, patch, & prep walls & ceilings

paint walls & ceilings

unpacking and organizing [at the appropriate time]

2nd floor bedroom:

clean & strip fireplace [then figure out what to do from there]

run electrical for and install light

window treatments

2nd floor closet:

repair heating duct

acquire & install closet systems

window treatments

2nd floor office:

assemble and install shelves or bookcase [if acquired by then]

assemble and install desk [ditto]

put up artwork?

2nd floor bathroom:

acquire & install new faucet for tub

install new faucet for sink

remove shelves

re-finish tub?

new cabinets?

new tile?

2nd floor project room:

remove wall board

other...?

2nd floor hall:

pull up carpet & refinish floors

stairs...

3rd floor closet/bathroom

install towel rack

install closet hardware

patch walls...

um, thats all we've thought up so far. i doubt we'll actually get to all [or most even] of it. and depending on the electrical situation... well, that might be all we end up working on, who knows. 

either way, its sure to be a busy & fun-filled family time, haha! cant wait!

hope you all have a great week! talk to you again soon! =]

...and.later.that.day

well thanks to everyone who emailed or messaged me today, it was quite thoughtful of you all and very helpful. after writing the original post about tfa, i got back on the website to read more and hopefully discover the answers i was looking for. soon enough i did in fact find the answers to a lot of the crucial questions that i really needed answered - most importantly the ones about finances and geography. so in light of all the new information ive gathered, it seems i will be unable to do tfa. well, for the time being. 

as it turns out they do pay full standard salary + benefits, which is not only comparable to what i earn now, they also note that in many cases those members that have higher levels of education [i.e. masters degrees, or phd *ahem, ahem*] can earn more than their standard salary range depending on the school district and region they work in - so i could actually make significantly more? nice. additionally, it turns out that theres a specific regional map of locations you can apply to work for [however you arent guaranteed to get the one you request it seems?] and im afraid ohio and kentucky are not included in their program. so.. that was a definite deal breaker [for the time being...]. and lastly, i learned that they do pay for a certain amount of student loans, and from what i can tell you can apply it to whatever loans you like. however the payment is in the form of an americorps grant and the greatest amount you can earn in your two years is just under 9500 bucks. thats not um... quite going to cover all my student loan debt - although its certainly a nice chunk!

so given that information, ive come to the conclusion that for the near future, tfa just isnt going to work for me. however, i havent completely dismissed it. i still think it could be a great opportunity depending on how life plays out for the next few years. karen still has to finish grad school, but after she does and we feel satisfied with the house, we're both very open to moving just about anywhere in the world, which would certainly be a great opportunity for teach for america... so its not completely off the table yet, just set aside until further notice. 

so yeah, thats the story there i guess. it was helpful to just vent my thoughts though, thanks for listening. also, dont think im just giving up. im also considering a range of other options including part time work [the depot or lowes perhaps?] and im also very interested in the possibility of getting an adjunct position at one of the local colleges. ive gone through the list of openings and pools that i can apply to, so i fully intend to spend some time in the coming days [and weeks if necessary] putting together all my various required information, including but not limited to: transcripts, resume, portfolio work, recommendations, etc. its going to be a lot of work, but with a little luck, it might just pay off. im a little worried that i wont be considered given that i have no prior teaching experience, but hey, you never know till you try right?

well thats all for now. hope you all have a pleasant evening - our dinner is ready! =]

t.f.a.

so recently ive been thinking about a pretty drastic change in my life. with the onset of all these freaking student loans im going to be paying off for the next 10-20 years, the costs that are continuously popping up with the house, and my very limited salary opportunities in my field of work, im starting to get a little stressed out... additionally, the last two months energy bills have been in excess of 250 bucks [although i really hope that they start to go down significantly now that we've installed all the new windows...] and for whatever reason [i still havent called them, maybe i will during lunch today] my federal student loans bill was double this month what it was supposed to be. and did i already mention our house taxes? and like all other americans im drowning in credit card debt as well. [although, its not nearly as bad as most people and im slowly digging myself out each month - i havent put anything on my credit card in well over a year... i actually cant even remember the last time i did.] soon karen will be returning to school full time [march] and we wont have double income anymore, so far i think its the only way we've been able to stay above our expenses and also save a little each month. shes planning to try and find a part-time job while shes taking classes, but im sure itll be a significant pay cut from what she's bringing home now.

im sure this all sounds like a lot of complaining and whining, and i certainly dont mean to. im just filling you guys in on whats pretty constantly in the back of my mind. ive actually come to make peace with our financial situation in the last couple of months and im no longer nearly as stressed out over it as i once was, but the fact remains that all of this stuff is there, just lurking... fiendishly... i try to be responsible with our finances, and as such i want to be able to pay my expenses in a responsible manner... which brings us to the real topic of this post. 

ive recently been considering the idea of joining teach for america. [www.teachforamerica.org] karen and i have been discussing the reality of this option for the last few days, and well... according to the website its getting down to crunch time for me to make a decision or not. i have until february 13th to make a decision and apply for the program if im serious about doing it. so now the dilemma: i just cant decide. theres two sides to every decision, obviously, and i guess i just need to vent my thought process [and if you guys want to, feel free to provide some feedback]. 

first let me explain the program [as i understand it so far] to those of you who are unfamiliar with it. the general gist of things is kind of a trade-off situation. our country has a serious depravity of well educated teachers, most especially in inner city school districts. the whole idea behind the program is to fill the need with recent graduates of a higher education program - regardless of their major. so the trade-off is that they get teachers and in return they pay off your student loans. thats the deal. now then, the technicalities of the program are a bit foggy to me, and if you visit the link i provided, you might understand why. the website is insanely overloaded with information and its taking me a while to get through it[or even find the parts relevant to my questions]. you have to give them 2 years of time in an inner city|urban school, that much i know. also, according to what ive read so far they're looking to include a lot of diversity in their program and art & architecture graduates are one of the smallest represented demographics in their program - this is promising for me getting in, i think. however, ive yet to discover how the payment exchange actually works. i havent found yet if i also earn a full salary with health benefits during the year as well - is it a normal teachers salary? is a drastic cut in pay from what im earning now? [which is comparable to a high school teacher anyway, so im not worried about making a standard teachers salary too much] if i dont have any kind of real income or benefits during the program, then theres no way i can justify it for the sake of paying off my school loans. i havent found yet if i get to apply to a certain district or of they just assign you wherever they need you to go - if i have to leave cincy, thats a deal breaker. also, i havent found yet the specifics of the student loan repayment thing. i know they pay off student loans, but do they pay off all of them? is it only federal, or do they do private loans as well? is there a cap on how much they'll pay? these are certainly questions id like answered... anyway, theres a half dozen others as well, but im still making my way through all the information on the website [if anyone happens to know the answers to these questions or where on the website to find them i would GREATLY appreciate any help!] so the pros and cons...

[pros]

i could potentially get my student loans, or a very large chunk of them, paid off in 2 years as opposed to the 10-20 its going to take now. also, ive had in my mind for several years that i want to be a professor at some point in my life and thats nearly impossible without any teaching experience on my resume, so this would provide valuable experience towards my future. also, id love to teach in general, its always been a passion of mine to help others learn and i think id make a pretty great teacher for a middle school or high school [which brings up another question, do you get to choose an age group or do you just get assigned something? i dont necessarily want to teach 2nd graders, i think id be bored out of my mind, but with the potential loan pay off and the satisfaction of knowing im helping fill this need for these kids, im sure id be able to do it with little hesitation]. not to mention the potential to actually work a teachers calendar. class is out at 3pm? holidays and summers off? i could handle that. haha, im sure theres more to it than that ;] generally i think it would be a good experience with more than enough benefits to it [depending on the way the program is structured obviously]

[cons]

what about architecture? if i take a 2 year sabbatical from architecture, then what? ive played with the idea of still working part time in the field, but i really dont know how possible that would be with after school tutoring, grading papers, or whatever other things are required of teachers. [did i mention im daunted by the idea of designing a curriculum and teaching outlines and stuff? i mean, im sure i can do it, i just have no idea where to even start - yes they do provide teacher training for the program - and its just got me a little nervous right now] also, just how dangerous are these inner city schools we're talking about? do they have metal detectors? is there serious violence problems? am i going to get shot by some disgruntled kid who brought a gun to school? that doesnt exactly sound pleasant... but i digress. architecture. im currently working on idp, [which i mentioned before this past summer] and if i take 2 years off, thats just delaying getting my architecture license for 2 years. not to mention the maintenance fees involved in keeping my idp active after i pass their time frame [its only like 100 bucks a year or whatever, but still.] additionally, i havent even been working at my office for 6 months yet, and id feel pretty awful just abandoning them out of the blue. im sure theyd understand, and even thought about asking to workout some kind of part-time|weekend schedule possibly, but id still feel terrible about it - my office is really pretty great! what if i start to forget stuff? i mean... i doubt i will, but you never know. after 2 years of teaching algebra 1 or whatever, am i going to forget some of my architecture stuff? am i going to have to relearn a ton of information when i go back to architecture? will the industry and technology have drastically changed while i was on sabbatical? things are changing so rapidly in our lives as it is, i mean while im working in my field i just roll with it and im constantly learning and adapting - but if i take a break for two years, what will i miss? 

i dont know... theres probably a ton of other questions still rolling around in my mind on both sides, but its definitely something i feel is worth giving serious consideration to at this point in my life. feel free to share your thoughts, my adoring readers. but for now, i bid you adieu.

bed+breakfast

first off, theres been a little update in our visitation situation, lol. 

i got my parent itinerary yesterday and they are coming for 6 days starting wednesday, feb. 18th and staying through tuesday, feb 24th. thats cool with us, a nice long visit [and hopefully we could get this electrical situation under control with dads expertise while they were here]. additionally, last night my brother called and informed us that he and cassie [my future sister-in-law] were planning to come up and visit as well [but just for the weekend, theyve gotta work and such] - no problem, we've got enough beds, although the sleeping situation might be interesting. weve got the new windows and they definitely help in keeping a lot of the rooms on the second floor much warmer that they used to be, however, theyre still quite chilly for some reason. so, if anyone sleeps on the second floor they'll definitely have to cuddle up a little extra, lol! mom says its no big deal, we've all shared hotel rooms before, they can just share the attic room we were going to put mom & dad in [which also happens to be the warmest room in the house when the little electric heater in there gets going.], which is fine with me, i dont have to sleep in there with the snoring. ;] well, if that wasnt enough of a full house, dad informs me this morning that my sister doesnt want to be left out of the festivities either, so she'll be tagging along as well for the full 6 days that my parents are in town. shes off school during that time or something. so now theres going to be all of them in that room i suppose? its certainly big enough, and we've got enough air mattresses, so im not too worried about it. 

the one thing i am worried about however, it the showering situation. as far as bathrooms go, we've got three functioning toilets & vanities, so i think we can accommodate all the women. showering on the other hand... well theres only one operable shower and that wont be changing before this visit happens.. additionally, karen and i have discovered recently that we have about half an hour to maybe 45 minutes of continuous hot water with our new water heater [depending on how hot you keep the water i assume - karen takes scalding showers while mine are slightly less so]. it gets nice and hot, but i guess the tank doesnt last forever. so now that we're going to have 7 people sharing the one shower, it's going to be interesting, lol! its like being back at home in the mornings before school all over again... im thinking everyone gets 10 minutes and we do it in shifts, not to mention divided between the nights & mornings. anyway, dad assures me itll be fine, we'll make it work, and im really fretting over nothing. at any rate, it sounds like we're going to have plenty of hands and little assistants to help out for bit, so we should be able to get TONS of work done... i hope. karen and i are going to have to sit down this weekend and plan out all the projects we want to work on, coordinate materials & such, and hopefully we can be fully prepared for all the projects we have the potential to accomplish. the only two problems i foresee being a real possibility:

1. all the new recruits might not be up to working at our pace, haha! we hit the ground running each weekend [if you hadnt noticed yet] and we dont stop till we drop. 

2. ever heard the term "too many cooks in the kitchen"? my family, god love em, is a very opinioned bunch... its bad enough when karen and i cant agree on how something should be done or a color choice, etc. but now add this group into the mix with their views and thoughts on how it should be done... its going to be interesting. we're definitely buying any and all paint required BEFORE anyone gets here, haha, that should cut out at least half of the problem - if its already purchased, they dont need to "help" us pick it out. ;]

in other news, karen and i have recently been hit with credit card fraud and its really pissing me the ef off. it started last monday when i checked our bank account. im a little bit on the anal retentive side at times [real news flash there, huh? as if you hadnt already picked up on that, haha!] and i tend to check our accounts online at least every other day [if not everyday when im tracking certain purchases, bills, or expenses]. well this time around it paid off and i caught these 3 charges while they were still pending. 

well i called the bank and told them i didnt recognize the charges [theyd been made under my debit card number, not karens] but that i had the card in my possession so it obviously hadnt been stolen. furthermore, my lovely wife and i had been asleep at 12:37am, 2am, & 2:19am when the charges were made and no where near the address it showed the purchases being made. well they tried their best to assist me, we cancelled the card and ordered a new one [takes 5-10 business days minimum... ugh.] but they were clueless as to how it had happened or what the actual businesses were that were listed. when something posts to our account it lists the amount, time, date, and location, but depending on how the business has it set up a lot of times it just shows an address. this time it was simply an intersection of two streets which wasnt much help. not to mention, the intersection in question just happens to literally be a block away from my office, we drive by it every single day, and theres nothing on that corner! [or so we thought...]

anyway, i was frustrated then, but since we'd caught it early and it had only been my card used [although i still dont know how!] we thought we'd be done with the mess and just move on. id still have to call back later after the purchases actually posted to my account to dispute them and get them taken off, but i was assured that wouldnt be to much of a problem. 

well fast forward to this morning... i get on to check the account and sure enough those purchases had finally posted, however... theres a new one!! the same place! again at a time karen and i were at home and together and both had our cards[well, mines been destroyed since then]! this time however, there was a new twist. it was under karens card number... im irate at this point, not to mention completely confounded as to HOW! its obvious at this point that its not some kind of accident, not some kind of bank error, this is definitely intentional and too much of a coincidence to not be the same person doing it... but HOW?! karen has her card! anyway... so i called the bank and disputed the original charges, and karen has to call and do everything for her card. so now im assuming we're going to have no debit cards and depending on how we have stuff set up to debit for our bills [which i honestly couldnt tell you if its electronic check or debit card off the top of my head for any of them] its going to cause some nice problems for us to sort out. not to mention we pretty much strictly use our debit cards for purchases, and 90% of the time its my card we use because we're together when it happens. needless to say im a bit miffed right now and anxiously waiting for my new card. 

one problem still remains however... the how! ive yet to figure it out for sure, and the bank is no help. dad thinks we may have inadvertently had our cards cloned somewhere. apparently some crafty thieves can now take your card to pay a bill, lets say at a restaurant you frequent, swipe it in a card reader that makes a digital copy of the magnetic signature on your card, then ring up your bill as usual and youd never know the difference. well they can then take that digital copy and essentially paste it onto a blank credit card [dont ask me where you get any of this equipment, im befuddled!] and then voila! cloned credit card! i dont know how real this is or not, but i tend to believe my dad. either way, its bothering me that this has happened, and even more so that i dont know where that is. i cant for the life of me think of any place that we frequent often enough that this would have happened, or for that matter, anywhere that we've both used our cards for this to happen. like i said, its almost always just my card, rarely karens... so how do we avoid it happening again? honestly, i doubt anyone is going to catch the person doing it, and i cant figure out where id even stop going to avoid possible scammers... we really dont go anywhere that frequent other than the grocery store or home depot - and i assure you neither of those places has a person thats swiped my card twice, hell we usually do the self check out - so unless someone is installing fake readers at these places or something... ack, im so far beyond confused...

anyway, hope you've enjoyed this little update. hopefully you figured out the title [hint: i feel like im running a bed & breakfast soon, lol!] but if not... wow, youre dumb. ;]

if you dont already do so, id advise watching your bank account and credit card summaries like a hawk. this fraud thing is a serious epidemic and it doesnt seem like anyone is coming up with a solution that really works. i never thought it would happen to me, but now i know it really can happen to ANYONE!

have a great afternoon!! miss you all!! leave some love =] 

little.victories

1.30.09|friday

well when last we spoke of current events it was friday afternoon and if memory serves, we were discussing the new windows, the inspections|permits situation, and my parents had just informed us of their impending visit. for those of you who actively read the comments as well, you already know that i mentioned in one that amanda was coming to town friday night, that was the basis of our evening's activities.

so after work karen and i called up amanda and we arranged our schedules for the evening and planned what we were going to do. amanda had some meeting to attend when she first arrived in cincy and we werent going to meet|eat till after 8pm, so karen and i decided to make our first stop dinner [seeing as we were famished post-travieller] and after a short debate on what sounded good we ended up at deweys for a nice big salad and a nice big pizza. it was delish as always and after dinner we headed home for a little hard work. 

we got back at the house around 6:30 and the place was a disaster so we spent the next hour and 45 minutes cleaning any and every-thing from one room to the next. just general tidying up, straightening, putting things away, organizing, and where necessary some good old fashioned cleaning of floors, surfaces, etc. at 8 amanda notified us that she and pay-trick [thats patrick in "amanda speak" - her boy... well, im really not sure what they are technically...] were at hideaway [another local northside restaurant that has some pretty delicious food and a funky-eclectic atmosphere that karen and i find pleasing and humorous. they also have the most awesome appetizer called creamer potatoes with special hideaway sauce - if you ever venture to hideaway you HAVE to try them... mm-mmm, delectable!] and were ready for our arrival. so we finished what we were doing, bundled up for the cold [high teens to low twenties i believe] and drove the 4 blocks to meet them, lol! [it was cooold!] soon after we arrived a few more of amanda's friends from cincy joined us as well and the 6 of us waited for a table and had a few laughs. eventually we were seated and had more robust conversation and some of the fore-mentioned creamer-potatoes, and eventually main courses [i was still full from deweys so i abstained from a main course, haha]. we had a good time hanging out and having dinner and eventually it was time to hit the road so we said our goodbyes and then amanda and pay-trick followed us over to the house so that they could be the first of our friends to see the new place! how exciting!

well for the next couple of hours we gave them the tour and then enjoyed more conversation and laughs [not to mention a little wine and some of my mother-in-law's AWESOME fudge! which we all thoroughly enjoyed! thanks mom!] before they ultimately said their goodbyes and headed home for the night. it was a ton of fun getting to have a social life for a night and we loved being able to finally entertain at the house - even if it was only for a short while and the place was a disaster, lol!

1.31.09|saturday

saturday morning we slept in a little, but eventually were pulled from our warm cozy bedding by our desire for sustenance. i was the first down and got coffe started and then decided to make some of my famous breakfast burrito concoction that i can only refer to as "breakfast mix-up." i wont divulge my secret recipe, but i will say its always a pleasing meal for karen and i and will surely fill you up! for us it made a quite satisfying brunch [as it was nearly noon by the time we finished] after which we decided to relax on the dining room sofa for a while and watch some west wing. [i LOVE west wing!]

i honestly cant say how long we vegged out, but at some point we decided it was time to get something accomplished for the day and the first thing we did was unpack and put away a bunch of boxes that were still in the dining room. satisfied with that project and ready for the next, we decided to move all the furniture away from the walls and get started prepping the dining room for painting. it was the next room in line and we were anxious to get the ghastly sponge-painted catastrophy that was our dining room out of sight and out of mind. so for the next few hours we cleaned, taped, and plastered the walls on 2/3rds of the room. [we've decided that the only way we can really do these rooms and live in the house at the same time is to do half a room at a time until completion and move all the furniture from one side to the other, but still have it in somewhat of a useable arrangement. such was the case with the dining room as well.]

eventually karen decided to call it a night [without telling me, lol, i thought she'd just gone upstairs to use the restroom or something] and i did a second run-through of plastering before assisting a neighbor in freeing her car from the snow and then eventually a nice-hot-shower and bed. [karen had passed out pretty quickly, so she didnt even notice my absence until i made my way upstairs and woke her, lol!]

2.1.09|super-bowl.sunday

haha, super-bowl sunday indeed... 

karen and i had decided the night before that we were going to get up early sunday morning and get one coat of paint on the dining room before church so that by the time we returned it would be ready for the second coat. well as arranged, we got up early and did some painting and were really excited about the new color. its kind of a sagey-olive-green [although it reminds me more of what i consider to be army green than anything else] and after the first coat we were quite pleased as we headed upstairs to get ready for church. the paint went on very well and thr room looked a trillion times better after one-wet-coat. [that sponge paint was horrific!!]

well, as it often seems to happen, we finished getting ready for church at about 10:05. church usually starts at 10am [although this weekend for super-bowl sunday they were starting at 10:15am. regardless...] it was obvious we werent going to make it to the 10am service, so we resigned ourselves to doing a once over of all the shopping lists before treating ourselves to a breakfast at ihop before attempting the later service. 

well i dont mind telling you we were very pleased to discover that ihop had all you could eat pancakes! hahaha! i enjoyed the hell out of some pancakes and was quite proud of myself for putting away 3 plates of them =] however, in light of the all-you-can-eat situation, the plates they brought you were about 2/3rds the norm. at any rate, we were nicely filled to the gills by the time we waddled out of ihop, however it was only 11:30 and the next service wasnt starting for another 45 minutes. at this point we decided to make the quickest shopping trip on our list, a quick run to walmart for some lightbulbs and license plate covers [we finally got our license plates for the new truck last week!]

well... haha... things never quite go as planned. we got to walmart after 15 minutes of traffic [which was pathetic because it was only across the freakin bridge from ihop! where did all these people come from?? and where were they going??] but were sure we could get our few items and still make it on time. so we went in and found the lightbulb section just where we'd left it the last time we'd been there, however this is where we ran into a slight problem. we were getting lightbulbs because we had some cupons from our energy company that were going to expire soon and we wanted to take advantage of them before that happened. however the cupons were very specific about which lightbulbs [all cfl's of course! woohoo!] each cupon was for. well you wouldnt think that would be too much of a problem except that the specific packaging was shown on the cupon and the packaging of the lightbulbs in the store had changed since the things were issued. i wasnt sure if it was going to be a problem or not, but looked for the ones pictured for a while. 

to make matters worse, haha, while i was being anal retentive, karen got distracted by the adjacent fabric section and wandered off. it was an awesome find though, all the walmarts in denver, and im pretty sure texas as well, have stopped selling fabric and i assumed that it was a nationwide thing. recently karen and i have been looking for fabric to redo the new couches and chairs with, and joanns was a disappointment to say the least... whooo-expensive!

well we found all kinds of cool fabric and eventually i even found a sales associate [who was totally clueless about the lightbulbs anyway, so i just said screw it...] and got the closest thing i could find - oh and we also found some license plate covers, haha. anyway, by the time we checked out we looked at the clock and it was 12:30pm... so much for church. meh, they were doing some super-bowl sunday special thing anyway, and i was hardly interested in what that would turn out to be. i didnt mind missing it and we got to continue our sunday shopping anyway. 

after walmart we went next door to the depot [february had finally arrived!] to get a few things on our list - it was actually quite short considering how long it had been, 4 or 5 items total i think? followed by a quick trip to home emporium to pick up one specific item [more to come on that at a later date however], then next door to lowes for an additional supporting item to the one at home emporium, then finally next door again to bigg's to do our grocery shopping for the week. [whew!] after all of that we finally got home just before 4pm and were pretty tired, lol! well after unloading and putting away everything we decided to get to work, and jumped right in to the second coat of paint. it went on very smooth and we were really loving the color - it had only gotten better as it had greated us when we got home - fully dried and to its real color!

well after that coat of paint we were hungry again [although i dont know how!] and had a snack|supper and watched some more west wing [yeah!] and just relaxed for a while. however, around 6:30pm i was motivated again and we decided to tackle another project - re-covering the dining room sofa. 

well, after discussing our approach and testing some fabric and batting options, we searched the house for karens staple gun only to discover that it was pretty dinky and was NOT going to get the job done. we were both pretty revved up at this point so we made the decision to make a trip back to the depot to get a real staple gun and various staples and brads and such, and then continue the project. it was a very quick trip - we stayed focused: get in. get out. get home. - and before long we were stretching fabric and experimenting with the sofa. im not sure how long we played with that but we got half the sofa re-covered and so far we're really happy with it! i dont have pictures yet, im going to wait till we're finished with the transformation, but im really hoping it turns out well! =] after that i talked to my mom and brother for a little bit before bed and then karen and i passed out exhausted from our weekend.

yeah, we totally forgot about the super-bowl in the midst of all the projects, but then again neither of us were all that interested in it anyway - i didnt even know who was playing - nor did we have tv to watch anyhow. oh-well. 

2.2.09|monday

well, thats today. and youd think that it being only lunch time i wouldnt have much to report, however i do have two victories to add to this update! this morning on the way in to work we stopped off at the city building & inspections office and officially obtained our permit for the wall! woohoo!! so now that we have all our permits in order, i just need to schedule a couple of inspections and hopefully we can get the certificate of occupancy soon !

secondly, about 2 hours ago i got a phone call, and i was shocked to find that it was the window people calling. theyd already ordered the correct sized remaining window, it was being fabricated this week, and would be ready for installation this weekend! so we're getting the last window installed saturday morning! woohoo again!!!

i love little victories! =]

this week is starting off pretty good so far, but now, ive got to get back to work. hope you all have a great week too! ill try to keep you updated on any more progress we make on the house this week - although i certainly cant promise anything, lol!

cheers! [and go... steelers?? where my cowboys at??]