A Moving Experience

The good news: We have completed our move.
The bad news: We get to do it again in three months.

Our old house is officially sold. That's cause for celebration. It is also my anniversary. That's even more cause for celebration. Unfortunately, my softball team has a doubleheader tonight. What says "I love you" more than two hours of coed softball? I think it's just behind "Honey, I got you a scrub brush" in terms of romance.

Taken for Granite

Tomorrow is a big day. It's time to pick out the countertops, tiling and flooring for the new house. The only thing I'm pretty sure about is the Ubatuba granite in the kitchen. Notice that I'm only "pretty sure" and not 100% confident. My cabinets are already on order. Of course things were so hectic at work, I didn't get a chance to go get a sample to take with us tomorrow.

I hope the selection process magically falls into place tomorrow. What's the worse that could happen? I could totally mess everything up and it costs a fortune to fix. That's not so bad.

On a much lighter note, Holly's field trip today (bowling) went well. There were no reports of inappropriate touching at the alley.

Girls and Boys Behaving Badly

When Randy picked Holly up from school, the following note was sent home.

Explorer class parents,

We wanted to inform you of an incident that occurred during the field trip to Fairmount Park today. There was a couple off to the side that were being minimally affectionate with each other. About an hour into the picnic, the couple took the physicality to an inappropriate level. One of the Explorer children saw what was occurring and brought it to the teacher's attention. By this point, a few more children also saw what was going on. The teacher approached the couple, who were oblivious to the fact that anyone was watching them, and they immediately stopped. When the teacher returned to the group, many of the children were inquireing about what the couple had been doing. What she told them was that it was the woman's way of keeping the man quiet after an argument. Not all of the children in the class witnessed the event, but we want to make sure that all parents know about what occurred. If you would like more details, please check with the teacher in the morning.

The School's Director told Randy that Holly was one of the kids who reported the behavior. I'm dying to ask Holly about the incident but her only comment about school today was that she had fun making a pizza at Domino's. That was their field trip today prior to the park visit.

The teacher in this class is awesome. I'm cracking up at her explanation for the behavior. I can't wait to get the juicy details tomorrow.

Spicing Up the Blog

I realized I don't have enough pictures in the blog so here's a blast from my past.


This was taken in the wee hours of the morning on January 1, 1996 in Tempe, AZ. My friend Christine and I had enjoyed several adult chilled beverages in celebration of the Gators impending defeat of Nebraska for the College Football National Championship. We lost 62-24 on January 2nd. Is it bad that I have no idea who the guy is in the picture?

Can You Feel the Electricity in the Air?

Well, it's coming from Girlyland. The electrical walkthrough took three hours and 15 minutes. Towards the end of the walkthrough, I was ready to tell Steve (electrical dude) to just put outlets every foot or so and call it good. As with all of the other contractors, I'm sure we are about $4K over budget.

I had to laugh when Steve asked Randy why he wanted a 220V outlet in the garage. I've been wanting the answer to that question as well. We had an outlet installed in our current house 8.5 years ago and it has never been used. Apparently, Randy wants to hook up a compressor for air tools and other manly objects. In Randy's defense, our current garage has no room to do any type of automotive repair. At Girlyland, he should have plenty of workspace. I think the entire population of Arvada could fit in the new garage.

Next up....picking out the flooring, countertops and the like. Anyone want to venture a guess on how far over-budget we can go on this trip?

Home on the Range...and the Refrigerator....and the Dishwasher

We have our electrical walkthrough at the new house on Tuesday. It sounds easy enough....just point out where you want the outlets, right? Apparently we need to tell the electrician exactly what the amperage requirements are for our appliances. To know what the requirements are, we have to know what the appliances are. We haven't exactly gotten around to that.

The refrigerators are all pretty much the same in amperage, so no worries there. The cooktop and the wall ovens are our biggest obstacles. We know we want an induction cooktop but I'm not sure which one. I've done scads of research and there is some variation in electrical demand. I guess we will estimate high at this point. I'm sure the electrician will be floored by our requirements in the basement. That's what you get with ten pinball machines and three arcade video games.

Speaking of the video games, the Sea Wolf is in bad shape. It really needs to be rebuilt. Randy swears he will find someone to refurbish it even if it is pricey to do so. I love the Sea Wolf.

How could you not love it?

It's Just Like France

We are moving into an apartment while construction on our new house is completed. The apartments are nice but their marketing claims are a little extreme. Their website states "Capturing the timeless charm of a luxurious French mountain chateau..." I've never been to France but I'm fairly certain that their luxurious mountain chateaus don't have cheap carpeting.

The clubhouse and pool area is really nice. Today was the day we took possession of the apartment. It is also the day of the complex's annual summer pool party. Given the 102 degree temperature, the pool was a welcome respite. Holly really had a great time but I think she assumes the party is an everyday thing at the pool area.

As Randy, Holly and I splashed around in the pool to the musical stylings of the Baha Men singing "Who Let the Dogs Out", Randy commented "It's just like France!"

Vanna White Would Be Very Confused

Holly, my five-year-old, loves to play Hangman/Wheel of Fortune. We will sometimes play it in the car. Here's a transcript from a recent game:
Holly: "There are six letters."
Me: "Is there an 'A'?"
Holly: "Yes, there is an 'A'."
Me: "Is there an 'L'?"
Holly: "There might be an 'L'."

Did I mention that this is a very difficult version of Hangman/Wheel of Fortune?

Things That Make Me Go "Huh?"

During my morning commute through Denver, I noticed the following.














Please accept my apologies for the poor quality of the photograph. It was taken with my camera phone while I was stopped at a traffic light. Allow me to describe what I saw. A fairly run-down small house with this weird facade attached to the front. It did not fit on the house at all. Once you walk through the door of the facade, you would be on the front porch of the house. It really reminded me of a poorly-designed Hollywood set or a poor man's Western amusement park. I don't even know where the person would have bought this.....Facades R Us? If you are a friend of the folks that live there, what would you say? I guess if I ever tire of the look of our new house at Girlyland, I can just slap up one of these puppies.

Hard Drive Hilarity

I've got a lot of useless files on my hard drive. I thought it would be fun to occasionally post some of my oddities. I'm not sure why Todd wants to hit Laa Laa. It's probably that annoying voice of his/hers.

Softballs Ain't So Soft

I play softball on Monday nights. If I do say so myself, I'm quite the fashion plate. Picture if you will, me in my "Colossal Carpet Care" t-shirt, paint-splattered Ocean Pacific shorts, soccer shin guards, right knee pad, Gator socks and dusty cleats. It's hard to believe I haven't been featured in Sports Illustrated's best dressed column. I'll post a picture at some point.

Last night, we had a couple of women subbing for some of our normal players. (BTW...this is a coed league.) As our game was about to begin, I ran to the bleachers to retrieve my water bottle. Sitting next to my bottle was an Alabama t-shirt. I went back to our dugout and inquired if anyone had left their Alabama shirt on the bleachers. One of the subs said it was hers. In a joking tone, I told her that as a Gator, I'm not allowed to touch a rival SEC t-shirt. I think she thought I was serious.

We won 17-9. It would have been 17-0 but to make it competitive, our team shifted a lot of our position players. The shortstop walked at least five people while he was pitching. I remained at my position of catcher. I would have tried the outfield but I would have looked silly standing out there in soccer shin guards and a knee pad.

Blog Days of Summer

I guess it is time that I joined the blogger revolution. Yeah, I know....I'm about two years too late. Randy, my dh, is more of the bleeding edge technologist in the family. I'm more of a "let's wait and see if this technology trend sticks" kind of gal.

Sometimes I sits and thinks and sometimes I just sits. Unfortunately, there is no sitting for me today. Moving is a pain in the .....well, back. We moved nine pinball machines and two video games to storage today. Yeow!