weekend wrap-up

andrew's watching his dvd for his online class, so i figured i'd be productive too! or not haha. the dogs don't seem too fond of the dvd either, as bailey keeps whining, and lillie keeps groaning. it's actually quite comical.

yesterday, we got to pick lil'kitty up from the vet - yay! she was so happy to be home. after going immediately to her food bowl and litter box, she laid down in the middle of the kitchen floor, spread out, and started purring as loudly as i've heard her purr. i spent a few hours at my parents' house getting her settled and helping mom figure out what meds and food to give when and how. then lil'kitty spent the rest of the time i was there going from lap to lap, bed to bed, napping and purring. i was so glad to see her happy again after her days of sickness and fear at the vet. it's hard to tech for your own animal!

that evening, dr. page had a friend visiting from out of town, so we decided to take him out to dinner. we went to the riviera and enjoyed a great meal with great company. pictured below (from left to right) andrew, me, kristy's husband, corey, kristy, page, page's friend eric.kristy wanted to take a picture of her meal. she and andrew had the same thing - i think it was a braised lamb over greens with a mango-mint-something-or-other chutney - pretty tasty though not the best i've ever had.

today, andrew and i went to the early service at church where we were reminded about the meaning of communion and agape or love feasts. it was a pretty good sermon, and compared to last week the music was also much better. we sat with will and his pregnant wife (whose name i cannot remember to save my life), and after the service we discussed will's future occupational options. i tried to convince him to be an alpaca farmer, but he didn't seem to go for it, though he did have some good ideas about how to improve the quality of your heard for less money than just buying expensive breeding pairs. all interesting stuff.

perhaps one day we could look into that kind of thing if we end up moving to this benson house. how'd you like that segue? today we met with our realtor again and looked at some more house stuff. we went and saw the inside of one of the houses in clayton we drove by the other day, and then we went back out to the house we liked in benson. we hadn't had a chance to see the inside of this house in the light, because last time we went in, it was dark, and we had to use andrew's flashlight to navigate the place. seeing it in the day didn't change much about our feelings towards the house. we definitely like it a lot. the not so good pictures i posted last time were from the mls, but i took my camera today, and we took a few pictures of the house... of the outside. see, the pictures of the inside would certainly get you to try and convince us NOT to buy this house, as it "needs TLC" - the pc way to say that it's a MESS. there is one room that is pepto-bismol pink, the breakfast nook has severe battle wounds from an over-anxious dog, the cheap green carpet throughout the house is DISGUSTING (probably from said dog), etc. but this is all cosmetic stuff, and the positives are definitely outweighing the negatives at this point.
a view of the property from the road:
and a zoomed-in view of the same angle:the house is not actually leaning to the right, that's just me holding the camera crooked. after seeing it again, and looking at a few more places, we're both definitely interested in this option.

ps. gotta go back to work tomorrow - BLAH!!!

houses, houses, and more houses

andrew had today off, and (since we are still in the glorious time we call track-out) so was i, so we had a world of possibilities in front of us when we woke up this morning. i didn't care about what we did as long as we were together (i know, barf, but it's true) and enjoyed the beautiful day.

to start the day off, we went to oberlin to force-feed lil' kitty because she wouldn't eat for them BUT was finally being nice to them, so they decided i could once again be the bad-guy and get her to eat. she has to be eating on her own before she can come home because we got her liver biopsy back and, as well as getting over the pancreatitis, she has a bit of hematic lipidosis, which is basically treated by forcing the cat to eat until the liver has chilled out. as well as the liver biopsy, they also got back her coagulation panel, which showed that she is having clotting problems. dr page thinks it's from eating rat poison or something. for that, she has to take vitamin k either orally or subcutaneously to be able to go home. so we're all hoping she'll keep all the food down, take her meds ok, and be able to go home tomorrow (saturday).

after that, we went for breakfast at cafe carolina, ran over to cary to pick up our pillows from dormia and stop by the petsmart for dog food, and then we spontaneously headed out to clayton to try and find a real estate agent who knew the area. we drove around for a while, trying to remember where we'd seen an office the other day, but we couldn't find it, so we pulled over at a century21 off hwy 70. we met a man there who seemed very nice but talks a LOT. after several hours looking at, and cursing at, the mls, we left with a handful of over 20 properties to peruse. i think we actually made it to 6 or 7 of them today.

we actually found this house while driving around randomly:
it was very cool, but when we called the realtor, she said it was under contract already. oh well, plenty of fish in the sea.

the first one we found off the mls list was in an older looking neighborhood in clayton:
we actually liked this place a lot. the lot it was on was nice, secluded, partially wooded, and set back from the road. with a little landscaping help, i think it could be a very nice place. we didn't go inside though since we were just looking ourselves and it was the first place we stopped. i think we'd like to see inside before ruling it out.

the next two houses were actually both along the same road in clayton, but we weren't crazy about either of them:


this last one is our favorite so far:
this picture's not great because the tree blocks most of the house, but i think it must have been taken from another season or year because it wasn't as much in the way today. we like the house because of the wrap-around porch and multiple stories. it's also on a really cool piece of land with woods, and pond frontage, and it's set back from the road, surrounded by other nice houses and woods, but best of all...

this is the front/side (depending on how you look at it) yard:
we're far from putting an offer on anything, but it is exciting to be looking while the market is on our side.

craziness

there has been all kinds of craziness going on since i last posted about my lazy lazy break. i decided to get off the couch and actually do something monday night, so i went to a militant style yoga class that i'd convinced melissa to join me for. it was AWFUL! i don't know what was going on with this teacher, but i was not relaxed, nor did i feel even mildly zen-like. bummer. but we totally followed it up with some guitar hero c/o melissa, and that rocked.

tuesday, andrew and i spent the day at the coffee shop working on stuff for work/school. then, andrew went to another open house thing for a fire station in cary, and i went to the gym with paige, and megan joined us for a while. i found a new machine that is supposed to be like a chest press, and we got a good laugh out of watching me try to pump some serious poundage on there... and not being able to and cursing loudly by accident. when i got home, i tried making mom's chicken cacciatore. it's basically like spaghetti with sauce that has chicken instead of beef. it was pretty good, but i think the chicken was a little bland. mom does a really good job of seasoning things, but i'm not sure i have that season-intuition or whatever it is. anyway, it was certainly edible, just not as good as what mom made me growing up.

yesterday was the really insane day though. i got up early to go to beginner's yoga with paige, planning to take it easy there and go to my hard yoga class later that night. there were fewer beginners than the previous class, and we did a few moderate poses, but it was nice to go to a slow-paced class focusing on balance and alignment. it was also good cause i was SO sore from tuesday night, i really needed that time to just be able to walk like a normal human being again. then, i was on my way to go meet lora for an excellent lunch at sushi blues when my mom called to tell me that my kitty, who i've had since 7th grade, was sick. she had symptoms that sounded like pancreatitis, which can be dangerous in cats. i went and picked her up from her regular vet in chapel hill and brought her to oberlin. she's been there since then, and while i know she's doing ok, they're still trying to figure out what's wrong with her. it could be triaditis, or it could be a problem with her liver, maybe hepatic lipidosis caused by the pancreatitis... or both, or neither. either way, i feel confident that she's getting great care.

unfortunately, i missed the awesome sushi lunch, and continued to crave it all night. i went to hard core yoga, and it was awesome even if i thought i was going to die the whole time. then i went to kim's to help her with all her novartis product stuff. she's the novartis rep for the vet school right now, so she had boxes and boxes of stuff to sort, label, and repack. we worked diligently, and i got home around 2am.

today, i visited lil' kitty and hung out with my mom. we visited andrew at work, and then parted ways. i plan to spend the rest of the night on the couch... because i can!

orchid update: my poor deflowered orchid

my mom is an enabler

she has so generously, with her blockbuster rewards card, rented THE WHOLE SECOND SEASON of desperate housewives, so that i can catch up with her, and we can watch them together! i mean, if that's not being an enabler, what is, right?? i have been joyously indulging in them for days on end, watching all day and long into the night - during which time i've been busy consuming the entire contents of our fridge. any progress i made in the working-out-since-january thing is now gone, but i feel much happier and better rested, so i'm ok with it... sort of... ok i feel totally guilty, but that's why, come hell or high water, i'm working out tonight! maybe...

andrew and i have also decided that we live on wisteria lane. you would agree if you saw the two houses next to us! our next-door neighbors (907):
the people next to them (909): (i didn't get any closer, cause i didn't want them to think i was weird for taking pictures of their houses... though i guess that does sound weird)

oh yeah, but then there's our house (905), the one that we actually got a letter from some neighborhood improvement agency saying that we'd been pre-approved for updates like new siding and pretty shutters or something. yeah, it's that bad! oh well, we like our little falling down rental house. i mean, i discovered something cool just yesterday; i can throw, with accuracy, a towel from one side of the house to the other, lengthwise. i mean, how many of you can say that for your dwelling?

on the house news, we've been looking into homes and trying to find out where we want to live. it has to be a place (that we can afford) with at least an acre, though preferably more, obviously, structurally sound, and within 30-40 mins of zebulon (for my work) and 30 mins of raleigh for andrew. so far, we have found nothing appealing, but we have almost 6 months before our lease is up, so we're optimistic this home can be found. so far, the most appealing place has actually been clayton, as it's relatively close to raleigh and zebulon and still has lots of undeveloped land. who knows though, the way these things work out, we'll probably end up in a condo in chapel hill or something.

anyway, plans for the remainder of my time off include... virtually nothing! let me know if you feel like doing anything.

orchid update: the little orchid that could now has 8 blooms at once and looks beautiful!
until you look up close and see what those nasty mealy-bugs have done to it.
so, this week i'm cutting off all the blooms and working diligently to kill those pesky little buggers. sad, but hopefully life-saving for the little orchid.

i'm wearing my grumpy pants

because i want to.

over the break i've done a lot of cleaning, a lot of cooking, a lot of relaxing, and a lot of calling people to make plans. unfortunately, i haven't made plans with many people. all of the plans i had made fell through. so i'm wearing my grumpy pants.

the other day was a beautiful day to hang around the house and get some work done, but i had made plans to meet a friend in chapel hill, so i drove all the way to chapel hill... and she didn't show. she was very apologetic, but it kind of killed the day. i hung out with my mom for a while, and then came back to raleigh. andrew got off work, and we went to the horse complex to watch a show... until i got all depressed about how long it's been since i've ridden and how long it'll probably be till i can afford to ride again. so i'm wearing my grumpy pants.

i tried to make a really cool dinner. it went well except the piece de resistance, the parsnips. ::insert dramatic music here:: do i know how to make parsnips? no but i figured i could whip something up nonetheless, so i asked jessi how her dad makes them. he just seasons them and puts them in with a roast, so i did that, and they were inedible. so i'm wearing my grumpy pants.

then, i was supposed to go to sc to visit my new baby cousin, but he wasn't doing well, turns out he had a reaction to when they (ahem) snip-snippied his you-know-what, and he's fine now, which is awesome (thanks for the prayers). BUT that also cancelled my plans to go down for a visit. so i'm wearing my grumpy pants.

and then to top it all off, today was an amazing, wonderfully beautiful saturday, but instead of enjoying it with my husband like i should have, he was at work. SO I'M WEARING MY GRUMPY PANTS!

there was one good thing about the past few days... i got to spend lots of quality time with my lillie-bell. under my legs at caribou.
smiles!

recent events and a request

let me see, what have i done in the past few days? without school/work to keep me straight, i have no idea what day or date it is, nor can i seem to recall what has happened, but i shall do my best.

this week, i have been enjoying returning health and time to recuperate. i decided this break not to work at the vet, and it has certainly been the right choice for me. though i miss working there, i needed this time to catch my breath. and speaking of breathing, last night's yoga class totally kicked my butt. not only was class challenging and rigorous, but i certainly feel it today! that was one class that did not need to be followed by more cardio! after class, i went grocery shopping (and bought the entire store) and then came back and made an exciting dinner for the two of us. in addition to a fun wine with some whole wheat baguette and brie, i made rosemary baked mahi mahi, mashed potatoes, and fresh steamed brussel sprouts. it was a very tasty, and hopefully pretty healthy dinner.

andrew had today off, so we tried to take advantage of it and get some chores accomplished. after meeting jessi and norm for lunch at neomonde, we headed to the state employees credit union to try to find out about financing for a home loan and perhaps refinancing the tank. the loan officer told us about what i'd figured for a ballpark figure, which means no land for us and beginning with a starter house. i guess this is a good plan anyway since we're not sure where our jobs will lead us locationally, and it's probably best not to be tied down. interestingly enough though, we found out that secu doesn't do financing on homes with more than 10 acres of land - weird huh? or maybe it's that they don't do 100% on over 10 acres, but either way, that seems like sort of a strange guideline. after taking care of all that banking stuff, we came home and hung out for a while until...
i cut andrew's hair again! this time, i'm actually pretty pleased with the outcome. aside from missing his longish locks, and the one strange chunk that i accidentally cut off, i think this haircut is a great improvement. andrew seems fond of it too, so i'm excited.

after that, we went to dinner at ted's in durham and watched duke almost lose to some random 15 seed team - that would have totally screwed my bracket. then we stopped by sean and josh's place for a while to hang out. it was great to see and chat with them again, but i'm sure andrew's highlight of the night was...
on western, where a car had apparently destroyed a fire hydrant, and water was gushing into the road. all this during a drought... made for a pretty cool picture though! you can even see how the blue lights from the police car cast a reflection and show the shadow of the officers trying to fix it in the spout. the water shot a good 20-30ft in the air! ...andrew and i see the strangest things when heading home from friends' houses.

most importantly though, earlier this week my cousin michelle had her first boy baby, and at a hefty 9lbs 9oz, chase richard northam made his way into this world. i had planned to go down to beaufort, sc to visit the whole family, but chase has been having problems and is in the nicu currently. they are not sure yet if he will be moved to the cardiac specialist in charleston or if his problems (seems to be a problem oxygenating his blood) will go away on their own. either way, my plans have been canceled, and michelle asks that all of you who are praying people, please pray for the doctors to know how to help chase, and that his tiny baby body will be healed. thanks, all.

Bored at work

That seems to be the theme for the day.
For those of you who haven't heard I'm out of the running for Chapel Hill Fire. I guess it was my time to be weeded out. Oh well.
I think Emily and I have decided that I'll keep trying for other departments so long as I look for IT, theatre, and carpentry work too. I really need a job that affords me weekends off. Meanwhile I'll be at Dormia. Things here are going alright but everyones sales have been down. It's kind of a bummer. GO Economy!

Since the weather is getting nice we have thought about having a big cookout and trying out the gas grill that was kindly left for us by previous tenants. I guess that will be dictated by weather and my time off.