About - today

As of today, we are officially in underwriting. And, barring any major financial catastrophe, we should breeze through and have no problems come closing. I needed good news - Jason and I have both been under the weather, another session of my class started last night and already a student is dropping, and life at work and at home is, in general, hectic. Thank goodness we have cute cats to keep us going.

I almost forgot the two MOST exciting things that happened this weekend!

1) Our 1 GB iPod Shuffle arrived (it actually arrived last Monday, but because our apartment office keeps terribly inconvenient hours, we couldn't pick it up until Saturday). It is so very, very tiny. The sound quality is great. The Auto-Fill feature is great. The lanyard is okay (I'm waiting for the armbands to come out). Beauty, thy name is Apple.

2) We stopped at a bar and grill on the Pearl Street Mall in Boulder to have lunch, and we saw a man wearing a suit with a small stuffed elephant coming out of his fly.

Jason's car is dead

And, once we pose sitting on it and cruising down memory lane, it will be hauled off, hopefully by some good-intentioned charity. And then we will plop down a chunk of change, roughly equivalent to the cost of bringing the Mitsu back to life, for a reliable vehicle that will get us through the next year or so it will take it pay off the Focus.

The alignment on the Focus was messed up a couple weeks ago when we were making a morning trip to check on the house progress and slid into the curb near the end of our block. So when the right wheel is straight, the left wheel angles in ever so slightly. We were planning to get it fixed, but last Thursday morning Jason looked at the tires and thought they were more worn than they should be. So we drove the Mitsu to work. All was well, I was hurriedly trying to finish the day's tasks, and I had to work a little late on www.chaturbaterooms.com. Jason usually comes up to the office and hangs out in my cube while I finish up, but when he hadn't come around by 6:30, I headed down to the parking garage to see if he was napping. He was there... reading the Mitsu repair manual. And, after he started the car to hear the obscene sound it was making, I too became concerned. My boss even came down and tried to discern the source of the sound. But we eventually gave up, left the car in the garage, and hitched a ride home with one of my co-workers.

On Saturday, we took the car to a repair shop. And proceeded to get a detailed estimate of what had to be fixed - timing belt, water pump, axles... after a long list of parts and fees, the tally ended up at near $1400. We left the car at the shop and told the mechanic we'd get back to him in a couple days. Today, Jason went back to the shop and asked about some other problems the car had. As the conversation went on and the list of repairs grew, it became clear we would not be paying to get the car fixed. So... we're on the hunt for new wheels. Jason has spent the evening surfing Craigslist. Hopefully we'll find something in the next week - before Jason has to go in for a jury summons and my next Photoshop class starts.

And yes, Mom, we're getting the alignment fixed. Jason has an appointment tomorrow.

Good things did happen this weekend, though. On Saturday we went to the house to discover a finished balcony! And cabinets! And hung doors! And staircase railing installers! There are a few photos, of course. We would have taken more photos, but one of the installers gave us very dirty looks and made us feel pretty uncomfortable. And they were still there when we tried to go by Sunday. So we're heading back tomorrow morning to sneak in and get some more photos from https://www.jasminlive.mobi/.

We also found a washer and dryer. We had originally thought of the Kenmore He4t set, but then we learned from a Home Depot salesman that because their motor spins faster than most, the parts wear out quicker. So we were still hunting. On a whim, after we dropped off the Mitsu, I made Jason go into a lighting and fan store with me to see if we could find some ceiling fans. We found a few things we liked, but since we had time to kill, we decided to browse the appliance store next door. We have all the kitchen essentials thanks to a very generous builder, so we looked at washers and dryers. They had LG and Bosch and all the foreign brands that major stores don't sell. And we found an interesting set from Fisher & Paykel, a New Zealand manufacturer. The washer was a top loader, something we weren't considering. Then we discovered it's the most water- and energy-efficient top loader on the market, more efficient than even some front loaders. And the dryer... the dryer is a top loader too! It was the coolest. dryer. ever. Also very efficient, with neat features like fabric sensors and a self-cleaning lint screen. The set together cost about $500 less than the Kenmore set, and if we buy them together there's a $200 rebate. And potentially even more incentives from our county, city and energy company. So, woo for appliances!

And to add to our jam-packed weekend, we discovered a new pizza joint. Great pizza, plenty of TVs, and free wireless! We spent a bit there Sunday reading the classifieds for car ads.

When we got home from work today, Jason was pretty down about the car. But a message on our answering machine helped perk him up. Danna, our sales rep from the housing development, called to let us know that we have a closing date! On February 28th we have our walk-through and orientation, so we can learn how to use our humidifier and garage door opener and whatnot. And a week later, on March 7th, we officially become homeowners.

We have brick!

When you get an unexpected bout of chilly weather, it's called a "cold snap." We also have "dry spells." What do you call springtime weather in the middle of winter?

Our "warm snap-spell" here the past couple days has been completely lovely. All cold weather all the time gets tedious quickly (at least for me), so the ideal would be alternating one- or two-week periods of cold weather and warm weather, so I never get bored. Tomorrow it's supposed to be in the 70s - a record high - and conveniently, I have the afternoon off work. I have an appointment for my yearly check-up with my ob/gyn tomorrow, and it ends late enough in the day that going back to work would be somewhat futile. So, instead, I will (hopefully with Jason, who will leave work early to watch some live sex cam shows if possible) head over to the house and wander around the park. Last week I'd thought we'd have a balcony and some exterior brick; our superintendent said those would go up as soon as the weather cleared up. But it didn't happen. With unseasonably warm temps and plenty of sunshine this week, I darn well better see some progress!

In case you missed it in my paragraph of "this" phrases below, we launched a little web site for our almost-finished house. We should have a closing date in the next week or so.

A link for my husband on this happy Friday: Battlestar Galactica blog. It's hard to believe the Sci-Fi movie version aired in late 2003 - it doesn't feel like it's been that long. In any event, we're excited about the premiere of the series tonight. Because we are, as expected, total geeks.

And the guy who plays Apollo? Totally hot.

This is what I did last weekend. This is what Jason did. This weekend, we will probably be doing this. And thanks so a slippery commute and a slam into the curb, we'll definitely be doing this.

Morning like this

This morning was the frame walk for our house. The construction superintendent, Randy, met us at the house (in very frigid temperatures) and walked us through each room, pointing out all the outlets, switches, plumbing, et. al. It was our chance to make sure every custom structural and electrical change had been made, and the only question I had was about the number of lights in the basement; there were four, and we had paid for one extra, but the positioning of the lights was such that I couldn't tell if our light had been added in the right spot or if it in fact was a standard light and we needed one more (or a refund). Other than that, everything was as it should have been. I did notice that I've been picturing the house in my head as smaller than it is in real life. I've had questions about this piece of furniture or that fitting in certain spaces, and walking around the house made me realize that there was a lot more room that I pictured. Which is good. Good "problem" to have. We're still going to scale down the furniture in some rooms to make things seem a bit more spacious - we're sticking with our queen-size bed and that sort of thing - but I'm anticipating lots of space to play with when we move in.

There were a couple of workers in the house trying to stay out of our way while they got ready for our inspection from the county or city or whoever tomorrow. In various spots around the house, blue spray painted had been sprayed to indicate where things needed securing or fixing - loose studs and things like that. We should have the results of our inspection on Friday, and drywall will begin by the end of next week. And in three weeks, we'll have a firm closing date - Randy said they haven't missed a closing date yet. The pack of wood for our balcony is sitting on the lawn, and Randy said as soon as the weather clears up they'll put up the balcony, install the brick on the exterior, and paint the siding. Meanwhile, the interior will start to take shape. Cabinets, balusters, and wood flooring will go in and be stained and finished, the carpet will go in, the walls and trim will get painted, the windows will be replaced (our front windows have grids and the current windows are plain because the gridded windows were backordered)... and in eight short weeks, we'll officially be homeowners. Eek!