Thursday, August 27, 2009

"It's all about who you know"


That's what I heard someone say behind me in line about 30 times this morning. Well guess what? I don't know ANYONE in the Mansfield school district, which is why I stood in line outside the Stadium for 30 minutes, only to be turned away from a substitute teaching orientation.

The economy is really bad, guys. Everyone is saying it, so it must be true.

That was supposed to go until 11:30, but here I sit. Disoriented.

Job searches are exciting for about 3 days, and only when you still have your old job that sucks, but you see the light at the end of the tunnel. Now I'm in that "light" and I have a sunburn, so to speak. By this I mean, I've been overexposed to the light that is quitting my old job that sucks. Is any of this making sense?

In other news, the house is coming along. Two nights ago, I FINALLY set up the office. It's cleaner, and better, but not finished. Still needs paint, new office furniture, new closet doors, etc.

Last night, I FINALLY implemented Phase 1 of cleaning our master bathroom. Actually, I guess it would be more accurate to say I completed Phase 1, since we'd already been using this bathroom. LONG STORY SHORT, I put shelf paper in all the dirty drawers so now my stuff can sit in them without my worrying that someone else's hair or makeup is contaminating my things.

I swear, every time I try to clean something in this house, I go through an entire canister of Clorox wipes, and find things that continue to amaze me. Last night, one of the bathroom drawers was filled with sawdust. I can't help but wonder if this is on purpose? Surely, it is....

Elvis has developed a love of the swimming pool. A few minutes ago I peeked in the backyard and he was sitting on the edge of the hot tub, just staring out over the pool. He's even claimed his own pool float. Luckily, he's only really interested in it when we're in it.

Elvis on his floatie.


Looking like a wet rat.

So hopefully, some progress will be made on the house this weekend, and I can post some more pictures. I did paint our bedroom last week, and Kennedy installed his surround-sound in the living room this week. More painting, maybe?

Sunday, August 16, 2009

Waiting...

Well, I got some Adobe products the other day in the mail, and am just getting a chance to install them. Little did I know it would take 1-2 hours to completely install. I'm probably not helping the situation by surfing the 'net, but it's 11:33 at night and I have to find something to keep myself busy as I eject and insert disc after disc.

So as I sit here, the only thing I hear is the constant chirp of a cricket behind the fridge. It's LOUD. Loud, as in, I went upstairs and Kennedy was watching TV (which is always on full volume) and I could still hear the chirp. And I wouldn't really describe it as a chirp, because it has not ceased. It's more like a long whistle, or an alarm clock, or "the most annoying sound in the world" that Jim Carrey makes in Dumb & Dumber.

This cricket is not the only pet we've inherited with the property, by the way. We've also inherited about 30 geckos, which all prefer to stay in the house and run along the baseboards. There are also some screaming locusts in the backyard that like to jump on you when you're sitting at the edge of the pool at night, those jokers. And then of course, there are cats. I wonder if Kennedy knows that we have cats? So far I've seen 2 that like our back yard, and torment Elvis by lingering near the window when he's trapped inside.

I think I'd rather just have another dog.

So, Saturday evening, Kennedy and I hosted our very first "event" at our house - a family cookout/thank you to all those who helped us get this place livable. It was a lot of fun, but unfortunately, I didn't really stop to take any pictures. There is 1 on my iphone, but I'll have to figure out how to get that on here another time. But I'll probably forget, so just imagine lots of family sitting around our nice, clean patio, chatting and eating burgers.

Tomorrow starts my guerilla-style job hunt. It's time to go to the trenches and get this job thing wrapped up. More on that later.

Time to insert another disc!

Friday, August 14, 2009

Takin' a breather

I'm finally getting a moment to sit down and rest! I've been going non-stop for the past week. Kennedy and I FINALLY (3 1/2 months after we put in our offer) closed on our house last Friday. It has been a long and torturous journey but we finally reached the light at the end of the tunnel. There was a mountain of trash/overgrown yardstuffs/more trash to wade through before we could have our own stuff moved in. And with our stuff came a new wave of boxes and packing paper!

Here are some pictures of what we encountered when we first arrived on Saturday morning.



An upstairs guest bedroom with be-be pellets all over the floor, among other things...


Laundry room with soap stuck to the floor, a broken cabinet, and a snake-skin in one of those drawers!


Our swamp pool.

Not pictured is tons of grimy dirt and junk that had to be wiped down before it was livable space. There is still lots to clean before I feel OK about it! The house is slowly becoming ours and we're looking forward to doing lots of entertaining here.
We couldn't have done any of this without help from our family and friends. They've been so helpful and supportive throughout! (For example, my mom used 4 of her vacation days just to do our yard work, and uncovered some treasures along the way.)

As I'm writing, Elvis is curled up in my lap sleeping like a little angel. He has been so neglected this week (not literally, but starved for attention) and I look forward to having most everything in order so he can get the attention he deserves.

Another thing I'm looking forward to is getting back on the ball about finding some employment. Also, I'm in the process of learning the adobe products and some web design so I can help out my dear mother-in-law with her ministry's website, www.prayinglife.org.

I'm hoping to learn enough so I can take it over completely! Muahaha.

I'm currently running on fumes here, needing a little bit of a break. However, the work is never-ending here! I'm off to tackle more rooms.
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