Full steam ahead!

This past weekend was hella. I can't even say what kind of tired I am. Pretty damned, is a good start.

KMHD & I spent Friday evening arranging and organizing the porch for the yard sale the next day. BTW, it is a lot of work. I wouldn't want to do it with anyone else; we work well together. It is a lot of work and I'm glad that I had someone who cut the crap and kicked out the jams, you know? Our preparedness paid off and made for an easy and successful yard sale.

Too bad you can't see the fine porch set-up:

KMHD's artful clothes arrangement. Great use of bushes and crepe myrtle!:

Every sale has one!

I sold my Vespa, a bitter-sweet moment. Good-bye, au revoir!


Yard sales. They're hilarious. We started at 8:00 a.m., which is not THAT early in the yard sale universe, but as soon as 8:00 rolled around, we had some folks show up. We always find it amazing what sells and what doesn't. KMHD sold a freaking used eye patch! What?! And why? I'm somewhat disappointed that no one even looked at my golf clubs or my cute little cupcake stand. KMHD says that yard sales are the ultimate examination of anthropology. Nothing can explain the whys of what people buy & don't buy, though. Madness. Too, those buyers made us work so hard! We had to move heavy furniture and plug things in to show that they worked and pack things into car trunks and find string so we can tie their trunk hoods down, etc. etc. Ridic.

Our hours were 8:00 a.m.-2:00 p.m., but people kept showing past 2:00. We had to have the fellas sit and watch the sale while we pulled down the signs, so people would stop coming. After we 'closed', we put some stuff to the curb (which disappeared) and piled the leftovers neatly on a table on the porch. Some lady that I communicated with on craigslist picked up all of our leftovers, so we didn't even have to haul anything away.

Yay to being rid of junk, making some cabbage, AND not having to do some manual labor. End of ACT I.
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As soon as we were done with the sale, I hopped into the shower and then scrapped together a set list to play @ the Eclipse Glasses/Arkansas Queen show. Not an easy task, I was buggin'! Especially since I decided that I was going to play nothing akin to what ATM and Kyle play. I had my Yo La Tengo, I had my R.E.M. and Sonic Youth. What else? WHAT ELSE? I had an hour to figure it out before we met ATM's folks for supper.

A little while later, they met us at the house. After the hellos & hugs, we drove over to look @ a house that we have our eye on. I won't really get into the details, but it's a great place. After that, we dined @ Whole Hog BBQ, which is still the best BBQ IMO. They did not fail to deliver. After that, we had to get ready for the show. On a boat. On a boat! How exciting! We said our "See you laters" to the 'rents & packed and practiced and loaded and unloaded, etc. Man, this day. Action-packed. I felt like I had already experienced two days crammed into one. Because it felt like only 5 minutes passed before we were boarding the Arkansas Queen & getting ready for the show. Earlier that day, ATM got a text from Lorenza that said that we sold all of our tickets & that the reservation line was ringing off the hook. Also, he got calls from people frantically searching for a ticket. Which makes my being worried hilarious, I guess. I was worried that not a lot of people would show because $15 is a lot to ask of our friends & family. Thankfully, I was really wrong. We sold out & the AQ crew allowed 50 more.

I didn't think to/didn't have time to take a lot of photos. I did get a few snapshots with just me, ATM & Kyle before folks boarded.








What an incredible show! There were SO MANY people. Lots of lovely friends, pretty ladies, handsome men & proud parents. After people boarded, I never left the top deck. It was a little muggy, but once we set sail, it was breezy & cool. I had the privilege of DJing while Eclipse Glasses played. It was just the way I wanted it - not too many people, mostly folks just coming up for a smoke or to talk on their cell phone. It has been years since I 'hit the decks', so I wanted a small, inattentive crowd. I do love my lady friends who hung out. I heard that EG did well, which does not surprise me. All in all, it was a great trip. And it's so nice to see both LR/NLR's 'backside' from the river at night. I do want to call out some folks for throwing cigarette butts into the river, but I only know one by name...COLLIN! ! I saw what you did! Tsk tsk! For shame! I try not to finger wag, but come ON!

We did not get to bed until about 3:30. Amazingly, I couldn't fall asleep. We had to unwind by watching infomercials for smooth grooves to turn off the brain.

The next day, we met ATM's parents for lunch & did a bit of shopping. I need shorts, but the stores have already switched from summer to fall apparel, so I may be out of luck. Before they took off, ATM's mother gave us a beautiful china set that belonged to ATM's gran. It's so classic & beautiful, I can't believe they are ours! I feel like we got the best house-warming gift early. Now, if only we can get the house.


List-making started yesterday. Checking things off that list begins this eve. The beach is within' reach!


Extras!

From our camping trip last weekend, here is the view from our tent:

Uh oh! Someone didn't just leave foot prints!

Domino Potatoes

I made domino potatoes last night:


There are no 'after' photos, because we ate them. They were delicious, of course! I made them with olive oil/S&P instead of butter, but I may use a little butter next time. And rosemary. Too, when you bake them, go ahead and cover them with foil. The texture is very au gratin.

So. I learned the basic crochet chain and simple stitches last night. I never envisioned myself crocheting, so big pat on the back. My concern was that I wouldn't be able to sit still long enough to make anything ever. I haven't started a project because I'm still practicing, but my goal is to make a scarf for ATM. Or a pot-holder. It was lovely to sit around with my lady friends on a rainy evening (on the best porch in town) and chat and crochet. Not knit. There is a difference, btw. I never knew! My work is still a little 'meh', but I just started yesterday. I hope to get better before I doom ATM to shitty scarfdom.

We decided, last minute, to go camping this weekend. This is our getting back to AMD/ATM basics. Time to recalibrate. I want our return to the woods to be perfect, so I worked up a menu that is perfect summertime goodness, but still complies with the self-improvement plan. Easy! I made a corn salad that is so. good. Cantaloupe. Yogurt. Portabella mushroom 'burgers' with garlic-basil aioli. Dark chocolate for the sweet tooth. For breakfast, eggs & bacon on an english muffin. I can't wait to eat and nap (and crochet?) in the woods.

SOLO time:

Oops. My. Bad.

We didn't get the house! So, wha 'appened?

1. The seller accepted our initial offer, but it was contingent on our lender's required pre-appraisal, which we paid for. ($450!!!) The bank just wanted to make sure the house was worth what the seller listed it for.

2. The house was not worth the listed price, so we re-submitted an offer more attuned to the appraisal. They refused. Why? Because they did not want to pay our real estate agent's commission. Too, they did not offer a counter-offer.

3. The seller kept calling my cell phone to, I think, avoid speaking to our real estate agent, which is a no-no. I can cite cases in my court where behind-the-scene real estate dealings have gone awry & now it's left to my judge, who is no real estate expert, to figure out who is going to prevail. We never answered the seller's calls, but he did leave messages. The last one was golden! He wanted us to know that the failure of the last deal was not his fault, but our agent's because he didn't want to pay her commission. Also, "good luck" and "have a nice day."

4. The end.

The story feels so unfinished to me. We spent $450 and have nothing to show for it! I feel like this seller, who is in complete denial that this is a buyer's market, burned us. We totally paid for his appraisal. I'm 11 kinds of sad & angry. ATM & I have been dealing with it as best as we can, but this last one really broke our hearts. I think we're taking a break because we can't find one house in the LR/NLR area that does it for us. Too, all of this hunting has affected us adversely. It's all-consuming and we haven't been sleeping properly. Maybe it's good that we step back and get some sleep. Too, we've got some things going on that need our attention, so. So. We will try to not get so emotionally connected to a house we love next time. My bad!

This evening, I am going to learn how to knit. Terrifying! But, hanging out with my lady friends will be so good for my soul.

Plate Spinning

Kicking up the dust by going through all of my belongings is making my allergies go wild, so I've got a nice B3nadryl swagger going on right now.

I've got so much going on in my brain right now. Images of paint swatches and wallpaper and purging, and packing, and call the realtor, and call the lender, and call mum, and oh yeah, don't forget to eat, go to work, and get some rest, and aaaachooo aaaachooo aaaachooo! I am so ready to be done with all of this. I know, I know, big crisis. I'm one of those people that does well on a normal schedule, so I feel way off.

We've still got a yard sale to contend with, the Arkansas Queen Eclipse Glasses show (with me coming up with a DJ set list!), and a vacation and all of the planning that requires. All before a tentative closing date.

Even though the contract for the house isn't set in stone, we figure it's a good idea to start going through our stuff to pack. Obvs, we get to work at a comfortable pace. Purging has been easier to do that I imagined. A new home will be a clean slate for sure. Too, if we find a place smaller than the one we live in now, well, I don't want to fill it with STUFF.

3516 N Olive

Update: The sellers @ 280 Goshen countered our ridiculously awesome offer, so we pulled our contract. As to be expected, they changed their minds and accepted our initial offer, but we had already moved on. You know, there is some satisfaction in knowing that we could've had that house. No harm, no foul, but bwahahahahaha!

After agreeing that we wanted to move on, we drove around Park Hill to collect more addresses and numbers. We were about to give up when we ran across this gem (You'll have to forgive the quality of these photos, we don't have a scanner. These are pictures offa a flyer!):

First off, RED DOOR! The bushes & landscaping need to be scaled back so you can see the aluminum awnings, which hang over most of the windows. Those will be lovely on a rainy day. I'm not too concerned about the little porch, because there is an A+ deck in the fenced-in backyard. A backyard that has a mature pecan tree which provides the shade on the deck. From the street, it's not the most dazzling place, but it conforms to our style. The goods are inside & in the back!

There are wooden floors throughout w/ tile in the (tiny) kitchen. I think it's pretty wild that we ended up falling for a house with a small kitchen, but we are confident that we can make it work. This house is smaller than the one we currently reside in, but we gain storage & space through a detached garage that is about half the size of the house & houses a wood-burning stove! Seemingly, all of the majors (electricity, plumbing, AC/heat, roof) are in good shape, so our concerns are all cosmetic. They are letting us keep the washer/dryer combo & refrigerator, which is fantastic in that that's one less thing for us to worry about for now. I will express some disappointment in having an electric stove, but I'll get over it. If there are hook ups for gas, maybe I'll get lucky? I am stoked that there is a dining room! This is coming from someone who has been eating off of t.v. dinner trays for 8 years. There is a weird nook in the dining room that the seller didn't know what to do with, but I think we can easily correct that. I've read enough mags & design blogs (for years) to not be turned off by weird nooks.

There are only two bedrooms that are modest in size, but not problematic. There's one on the front end (guest room/temporary music room) & the back. They remodeled the bathroom. Now we've seen some really awful remodeling jobs, but the seller actually did a good job on this one. I was blown away by that, actually. There is a pedestal sink, which is a personal preference. Too, there's a linen closet, something our bathrooms here have lacked.

This house is $10,000 cheaper.

If I seem foolishly, emotionally invested and really sure of myself, well, it's because I just learned the seller accepted our (badass) offer! We just have another little hurdle & then we are in! Somebody pinch me!

280 Goshen

I've been going back and forth between severe anxiety to extreme confidence and everything in between. Why? Because we made an offer on a house yesterday evening!

A big part of me is sad about the whole ordeal, which is crazy, I realize. I've wanted to buy a home for as long as I can remember, but I guess I've gotten really comfortable with where I am now. Eight years comfortable. I live in an excellent neighborhood, one I'm reluctant to move out of, but am being squeezed out of by rising property value. Park Hill (NLR) is a wonderful neighborhood, my next choice. I love Park Hill. There are old trees everywhere, beautiful homes, and a lake nearby. We'll be neighbors with the Holland-Salleys and the Bakers! I'm just one of those people that doesn't take change very well. Eight years! Also, I worry for SOLO. She's an old lady now and I imagine this move will be hard on her. I only wish she understood that her kingdom has expanded and that it would be the last time she had to move ever.

Then there's the part of me that can't wait to unleash the interior designer within. Ha! I have this manila envelope dubbed 'the folder of dreams'. It is filled with magazine clippings & rip-outs of ideas & inspirations for my future home. I've had it for years! I've made ATM look at it a few times. I'm pretty sure I made KMHD take a gander when she bought her home. Finally, I get to bust it out and make things happen!

I've already planned dinner parties and having guests.

Too soon?

We won't even know if they've accepted our offer until 6:00 this evening, so all this crazy talk may be over nothing.

I feel like we gave a good offer, so I'm confident. And terrified.

All other business has taken a backseat until this is taken care of. In the meantime...

Sip

It was tough day @ work on Friday. Thankfully we got an invite from Heather to swim @ Casa de Holland-Salley. It was bitchin'! They have a really nice backyard which is far from the street, totally surrounded with greenery. And mosquitos. I probably could've stayed out there all night listening to 8 tracks & sipping iced tea, but the little buggers proved to be too much for us. We were driven inside after about 30 mins.

We decided to go get some grub, but before going to dinner (Starving Artist. Again. They aren't paying me.), we drove around Park Hill to look at homes for sale. Park Hill seems to be the best place (so far) in the hunt for our new home. We will be meeting a realtor on Monday to take a peek inside some of these homes. I can't wait, can't wait. I'm already hosting a dinner & guests in my mind. Too soon?

KMHD & I have been discussing our futures lately. The thing is is that we don't want to work for someone else & don't want to go back to school. She said it best: we are going to spend our 30's trying to start a business & work for ourselves. I'm going to wait until I buy a home (and probably a car) and finish my gig working with Judge Kilgore. Hopefully, I'll be debt-free, aside from a mortgage & car payment by that time.

Good Saturday. Coffee with baby. Shopping w/ KMHD. I got a new dress. The self-improvement plan afforded me that.

Ladies & gentlemen, we are floating in space.

*Tomorrow eve (Saturday, 8 August), we are hosting bands Awesome Color (Bklyn, NY) & Egyptr (Fayetteville) at 209 Victory Street. 5$. BYOB. 9:30 p.m. ATM & Kyle will be DJing 'tween sets & probably after, so, please come & bring your interesting conversation. Attn out-of-towners: need a place to crash? See me!*


My dad's family is from the Finger Lakes region of New York state. More mid-state than upstate, Interlaken is a tiny village; it's not featured on all NY maps. Both of my beloved grandparents are buried there. I've been there maybe three times ever, but lately, I've been wanting to go back. Probably because billions of solid gold memories have been forged there. And then there's the curiosity. My uncle Steve is staying in my grandparent's home. I haven't talked to him in like 15 years. How is he? How is the house? Is he being plagued by the 'goddamn woodchucks'? (Inside joke. With my grandmother, even. Bless.)

Dad, being the difficult, strange, paranoid isolationist that he is, hasn't been helpful filling in the huge blanks of our family history. I would never accuse him of it, but I believe that he doesn't want us to connect with the larger part of the family. I'm sure his reasons are utterly ridiculous. I mean, there was a family reunion & we weren't informed of it until it was way too late. I can't imagine what our relatives must think of that. Anyway, my sister & I have decided to go around his back & reach out.

A few years ago, our second cousin, Kim, entered his name on a hugely popular search engine. He found KMHD instead, so he dropped her an email that was all "Hey there!" and sent us a few of his band's cd. Nothing really came of it, but I figured he'd be a good start to get our foot in the door. Early this week, I sent him an email asking if we could come visit & explore ye olde stomping grounds of dad, his siblings, & our grandparents. The very next day, I got a most positive response. Of course we could come! The family is stoked! What an opportunity!

It looks like we won't be able to head up that way until next year, but I can hardly wait. This is farm country, not the big city. Amish communities abound! In my memory, it's very cool, green & plush.

The dude has got good form!


Yeah, last week, we got one more swim sesh in with Seth. He made killer sriracha bread that almost derailed my self-improvement plan. (Seth, I promise, that's not a back-handed compliment! Just the normal kind.) See & wish for smell-o-vision:

Recipe here. Seth added the extras on top, so if yours doesn't turn out like the photo, then you're doin' it wrong. It goes well with everything. Soup. Mozz w/ basil & ripe tom. Balsamic vinegar reduction. Your mom.

I'm trying not to bug out about finding a home to buy as we haven't even hit the rough patch yet, but I am feeling I-L-L about the whole mess. Can I get that beach countdown going?

Proof and pudding and whatnot