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Friday, 05 June 2009

49 days and counting until we move out...

Darin called the cops on the neighborhood kids again last night.
It started in the mid-afternoon...I got off work early, worked out on my new Wii Active (sidenote: LOVE it!) and was just getting out of the shower when I heard voices in the back yard. I wrap myself up in a towel and peak out the window, and the kids are sitting on our air conditioner. Ok, fine - annoying, but whatever. I'm drying off when I hear what sounds like voices IN my living room. I'm 99.9% sure all the doors were locked when I went into the shower, because our doors are NEVER unlocked anymore. So, I put on my robe, peak around the stairs, and the two kids are screaming obscenities into our open windows. WTF??? I'm totally caught off guard, so from my hiding place at the top of the stairs, I scream at the top of my lungs, "WHOEVER IS YELLING, GET THE F*** OUT OF MY YARD NOW!"
They scurry away, I get over it, mention it to Darin when he gets home, and go to dinner with a friend. I come home, and Darin says, "Oh, you just missed the cops" - apparently, the kids came back, so Darin called the police. The officer came, gave the kids a verbal warning and escorted them home. He was really nice about it, too. I was thinking since no actual crime (aside from perhaps trespassing) was committed, he's think it was a waste of time, but they're really trying to cut down on crime in our neighborhood so he actually encouraged us to report little things like this so the people in the neighborhood realize they're serious. That made me happy :)
And now, only 49 days until we move!

Wednesday, 27 May 2009

I officially have decided I must be getting old...
Darin and I just got back from a week-long vacation in South Carolina. Darin and I met up with my parents and my sister and her husband...we stayed in mom and dad's timeshare about 20 miles down the coast from Myrtle Beach. One of the perks that came with the timeshare was a free pass to a state park nearby. We visited both the state park beach and Myrtle Beach - and the state park was SOOO much better! Myrtle was just so commercialized...sketchy-looking hotels, tons of people, trash, etc. There were people and stuff everywhere! The state park beach, however, was largely undeveloped...at high tide, the water nearly came up to the sand dunes covered in marsh grass. At low tide, you could sprawl out and be largely un-bothered for hours! No loud annoying radios, almost no trash, no seedy businesses nearby...it was fabulous!
My parents were also great, and chose Darin's and my 3rd anniversary to take a bus trip to tour Charleston and a plantation. That left Darin and I to go play tourist in our little fishing villiage, play some mini-golf and have a fabulous dinner at a waterfront restaurant. It was such a relaxing day!
Now, of course, I'm back and up to my ears in work after being gone a week! I'm also contemplating a job/career switch, and waiting to hear back on an interview I had before we left. I think if I get offered the job, I'll take it...which is both terrifying and exhilerating all at the same time! I would be done with the very practical but very tedious and un-motivating financial world, and entering the rewarding but not-so-safe-and-secure non-profit world. Yikes?

Monday, 20 April 2009

It's official - we have a new place to live! We signed the lease today. Now, only three and a half months till we move in! It was delightful...we met at the new place to meet the owners and sign the lease. It was around 3:00. The school bus pulled up. The children got off. And then...they went to their houses! No children playing in the street, or screaming through backyards that aren't their own. No loitering in front of our house, no one standing in our yard, no one blocking traffic like they own the pavement...yay!
(Then, of course, we went home. And there were kids in our backyard. And running through our lawn. And lots and lots of screaming, shouting and playing in the street....*sigh*)
I swear, I'm not anti-kids! I'm just anti-poor-parented-kids. At the very least, children should be taught to only play with things they or their friends own. And that other people's property is just that...other peoples! You should not appear deeply offended when asked politely to leave someone's yard. And the street is for traffic, not for playing. Standing in the street is dangerous, especially when you stare at the cars like they're in your way, not the other way around.
Ok, rant over. In a few hours, I'm off to take a friend out for her birthday. Yay!

Monday, 13 April 2009

It's been ages since I've Xanga'd! I lead a pretty boring life, however, so there's never much to blog about. Today, however, I have lots to say!
Darin and I are officially moving. This makes me sad, because I love the house we're renting right now. It's got a great layout, the price is good, it has everything we need, and it fits all of our stuff! Our landlord lives in the other half of the duplex, and it's been great - he's right there if things break or we have problems, he takes good care of the property, etc.
However, the neighborhood is getting sketchier! We've always had a problem with people running through our yard to the open field behind our house (the kids use it to play ball in), and groups of kids randomly congregate in the streets and driveways (their own...or anyone else's...), but nothing bad - just annoying stuff. Last night, however, there were shots fired up the street! We live on a long residential road with cul-de-sacs branching off of the main road. Two or three cul-de-sacs up the street, someone shot up one of the houses! There have been drug problems up that way before, but the house that was shot up was just a guy living alone, with no ties to drugs. Yikes! We're officially in the market for somewhere else to live!
In other news, I hosted Easter this weekend for my parents, Darin's parents, two of my aunts, Darin's brother and my cousin. It actually went really well! I managed to cook everything so it was done at the same time (which is what I'm the worst at!) and we all managed to fit around one table! (Well, two, but they were shoved together so it looked like one!) We booted everyone out to a hotel for Saturday night, which was so nice...they all came back Sunday morning for the early church service (which was cool because it was the Easter Cantata, but a little disappointing, because the really awesome pastor didn't give a sermon because of the cantata).

And now, I took the day off to clean the house, un-decorate, and pull random crap out of closets to sell on Craigslist. We've got more stuff than we need, so if we're going to move, we're not going to move it all!

Saturday, 24 January 2009

11 Creatures Really Can Fit...!

Today was an adventure! I volunteer at the local humane society, and am on their email list for whenever they need extra help. Well, the shelter received 20+ dogs from a busted-up puppy mill operation, and several of the dogs were pregnant mommas. There were just too many dogs and puppies for our shelter's space, so a few got sent out to other rescue/shelter organizations. One of them is in Minnesota - and the half-way point to meet them was conveniently where my parents lived, so I offered to do the transport.
Of a momma and her NINE puppies.
Who are laboradors.
In my little two-door Chevy Cavalier Coupe.
Because no crate or kennel big enough to fit all the dogs would actually fit in my car, we rigged a baby gate across the back seat, piled momma and the puppies in, and off we went. Five hours later, we made it! All the puppies promptly did their business on my mom's foyer rug (which I will be shampooing tomorrow...whoops!). Thankfully, the neighbor kids came over to entertain the puppies and tire them out for an hour, and they are now all sleeping peacefully in the same neighbor's oversized kennel. Yay! Tomorrow, we load them back up to hand them off to the next shelter, and hopefully they'll find a good home from there!
(My sister called and made me send her a picture, because she did not believe that 9 puppies, 1 momma dog and 1 human would all fit comfortably in my car - but we did!)