Thursday, October 30, 2008

Tricks and Treats

Not much going on down here but nice sunny weather! I checked out some mags and books from the library again. Tomorrow night is the big candy night. Hopefully I'll be able to get rid of the candy I bought. If business dies down I'll probably turn off the lights around 8 and we'll head over to Fulton Ranch to the car show and check out the action there. It is pitch black at 6:30 so I assume trick and treating for the kiddies start around that time. I got a cool strobe light w/ sound effects I'm stoked about turning on, and a skull that is activated by movement that shouts out funny stuff w/ lights. I could go crazy for decorations for Halloween. I've noticed that Target didn't have as many decorations this year as they usually do and I think it had to do w/ the fact they put out Christmas decorations at the same time so they have to make room for it all. It's weird seeing them next to each other.

Just to let anyone/everyone know, the guest room is ready!

Tuesday, October 28, 2008

Turnaround

Today was a better day. I dropped off my applications and got two interview phone calls. We'll see how that goes and what I decide to do. I seriously wish Kirklands wasn't so close to me. I'm having problems. I can't stop buying decor for the house from there.

I forgot to report on our night out last Saturday. We found a coupon for McDuffy's Sports Bar, buy one entree get one free. I wanted to go to a bar, not to drink, I like to go for the good food and usually it's a fun atmosphere. So we headed over to McDuffy's to check it out. There aren't any free standing bars around our hood. I'd like to find a hole in the wall bar someday. McDuffy's had great food and we were surrounded by T.V.s. It wasn't real busy in there at all though, which concerned me considering it was their one year anniversary celebration, hope they last another year or more. They had ham & bean soup, of course I had to get that (one of my favs) and I tried the french dip sandwich w/ their specialty mac and cheese. It was awesome! It was also the first time I've ever had a french dip.

On the last note: The Real Housewives of Orange County is coming back November 25! I'm glad 'cause these last two have sucked, New York and Atlanta are snoozeville and too snobby.

Monday, October 27, 2008

Frustrated

Today was a big day for me to apply for jobs. I've been hearing and discovering the job market sucks right now. Places are either not hiring or they are cutting employees. Crap! There are things that interest me and I want to do something different rather than sit at a desk all day long and gain more weight. I got a little down in the dumps when I met some of Kendra's friends a few weeks ago, you know, the ones w/ the degrees making lots of money doing what they want to do. And here's me, no real degree (most people don't think hair school is a real degree or that you had to go to school in order to cut hair) no idea what I want to do and no money, feeling like a low life. So I've been applying like a maniac to places either by going to the store and getting an application or completing the grueling application process online. I finally found a great job web site to use for applying; it should be really reliable since it's well known all over AZ and has a event center named after it.

At least it's Monday, I should be getting some comic relief from the TV in heat of this stressful situation. My migraine headaches set in, good thing I kept that good medicine to fix that problem!

Saturday, October 25, 2008

The Arizona State Fair

I started this blog last night, but saved it as a draft instead of writing. I wanted to describe the concert I saw last night: Old School Jam. Instead I've decided not to go into detail about it. I actually have thought about writing this blog for a while w/ all the details included. I realized it would be one huge ass blog if I did that. Here's the sum of it: we were two of the probably 50 white people there; the only one that was worth seeing was Coolio and he was second to the last to perform (esp since he was the only one I really wanted to see); the others were snoozeville and tacky; I hate the fact that Young MC came out rapping about MySpace for about 5 mins; Ton Loc didn't show up (I guess after not performing for 15 years took a tole on him-ha); Coolio rocked the Joint! he's 45 and still dresses like he was when he was da bomb, but he's skinner and he has a CD coming out soon-Steel Here. The rest isn't much to report on; I could go on about the tacky clothes or dancing. I mean all of these people are old and still act/talk/dress/walk like they are 20! But it makes me think that when I'm 45, I'm going to see if I can pull off looking/acting/dressing like I'm 25! haha


The fair was awesome! It was the largest one I've been to. We got there at 4:30 (if you get there before 5 it's only $5 for admission) and checked out the petting zoo. Takes me back to my childhood. Then we wondered aimlessly to the fair in awe as we realized it just kept on going back further. Food, games, rides, souvenirs, flea market type stuff, more food, rides and some entertainment. We watched a demolition derby before heading to see the concert. Of course what's a fair w/out good people watching!?!

Thursday, October 23, 2008

Mix and Match

I think it's about time for a Saved by the Bell reunion! Every morning I watch the reruns and it never gets old. It's on for 2 hours, by the time I wake up I'm able to catch the last hour. It's just something about the show that I love. That's when T.V. shows were good and this one was the best Saturday morning show around; Garfield was the 2nd best; third had to be The Smurfs. I could go on and on about the good weekday shows, but the list is long. Which of the Save by the Beller's do you think pulled it off best w/ their career? Apparently, Screech AKA Dustin Diamond, came out w/ a book about on the set which included drugs and wild parties. Also, Zack AKA John Paul Gosselaar, dated all the chicks, naturally. He's still a hottie!

Anyway, not much going in this part of the world today. Tomorrow we are heading to the AZ State Fair to see the Old School Jam. Uncle B's girlfriend won 2 free tickets to it and since they are already going to see Tina Turner, they gave the tickets to us. I was stoked! I wanted to go to see this show anyway. Featuring: Naughty By Nature, Ton Loc, Coolio, Young MC, Klymaxx, Club Nouveau, Timex Social Club. WooHoo!

Wednesday, October 22, 2008

Wacky Wednesday

What a day it was! We had our king size mattress delivered in the morning. Around 1:30 our kitchen table/chairs along w/ the bedroom set was brought in. They look great and we're glad we went w/ these pieces. When I saw the bedroom set, I knew it was The One. The dresser w/ mirror is a piece of art; 3 of the drawers have cedar wood. The nightstands came w/ a surprise. We didn't know it had an outlet in it when we looked at them in the store. It was an awesome surprise to see! The headboard, footboard and rails will come in about a month.

Tonight I made a fine supper. We were joined by Uncle B and his girlfriend. We tried out the new table and chairs in style w/ our first meal on them. I also got a few Holloween decorations put out. Holloween is my favorite holiday to decorate for, although I don't have much to decorate w/ at the time.

Monday, October 20, 2008

Weekend Update

Sunday was a busy day for us. I woke up at 6:30 to get ready for the Swap Meet in Mesa. It starts at 7:00 so we wanted to get there in the morning as early as we could to miss the crowd and while it would still be cool since the temperature high was going to be 97. We made it there by 8:45ish. The directions were wrong which made us drive for an extra 15 minutes, but it only took us 20 minutes to get to Mesa. We arrived at the swap meet and started our way in to get our shop on. It's all covered and most of the vendors have giant fans or small Ac's to keep their area cool. This place is so big that we only got through half of it. First we cruised through one side, decided which ones we'd come back to buy from, sat to rest and people watch, then went through another side, stopped for a brief lunch break then finished up. We went back to the stores we wanted to purchase from last so that we didn't have to carry the items the whole time. We purchased some southwest decor from two vendors that was Made in the USA. I got a Coach purse and an Ed Hardy check wallet, only spent $40 total! What a deal :) After our purchases we left around 11:30ish. We stopped in Gilbert to check out Bedmart to see if we could find a mattress. We found one for purchase then went onward to see if we could find a bedroom set at Mor Furniture. We were recommended to go to Mor Furniture by the manager who sold us the mattress; her husband is the manager at the furniture store. We made our way west to Tempe. Three hours later we had our bedroom set and kitchen table w/ chairs on order. Everything is to be delivered this Wednesday, except for our headboard-foot board-rails, that will be coming in 6 weeks. It was a long ordeal at the Mor Furniture store and I don't care to write about it. Lets just say we walked out after it took 45 minutes to complete the transaction. The sales lady came after us out the door and promised us it would only take another 5 minutes. The store has really nice furniture, provides Otis Spunkmeyer cookies, popcorn, lemonade and tea, so we started off on a good foot. But they need to improve their checkout procedures and card opening procedures. It took less than 5 minutes to check out and open an account at NFM. This place needs to provide that service. We were so worn out that we decided to have some tension release and went to see Doni at The Room Store and to take one last look at the top running bedroom set to make sure we were making the right decision. We decided that it was the best deal to go w/ Mor Furniture given the terrible experience it was to purchase it.

Today our realtor Peter and his wife Sheila (AKA She-She) invited us to lunch. This was the first time we've seen Peter since we came to AZ and looked at houses back in July. She-She is pregnant and they are expecting their first child ( girl) in December. We ate at Longhorns Steakhouse and shared some good stories and started a new friendship. They are crazy people! She-She is her nickname he calls her. He also calls her 'sunshine' 'baby' 'babe' and other mushy mushy names. After our 2 hour visit we arrived back home and I took off to the Chandler Library. I made the mistake of going right when school let out. It was filled w/ kids on the 'puter checking their MySpace pages and sitting on benches making out. I had to let out a few chuckles. I received my card and checked out a book. This is a high-tech library or at least the first I've encountered. I can re-check or hold books online and drop off books at any of the 4 locations. They also email and call you when the due date is close.

Saturday, October 18, 2008

Larry, John, Doni, Doug

Those are the names of the sales men who helped us today.

After our NE football win, J and I set out to look at more bedroom furniture and stopped by a mattress store. It was a long afternoon. We are finding that the price of the bedroom furniture and the mattresses are more expensive than NFM. We are still hunting for a kitchen table/chairs. It would be nice to have a one-stop-shop instead of finding a table at one place, a mattress at one and a bedroom set at another. We can't find that one-stop-shop here.

On a good note, I found the best-quick supper yet! If you like fettucine Alfredo I found the thing for you! I found an Alfredo kit that is a Macaroni Grill brand and it cost roughly $5. It was enough to feed two people. It is super quick, easy and extremely yummy! The last time I had Alfredo was at Old Chicago about 2 weeks ago; this boxed version was just as good or maybe better than Old Chicago. Go to your store and see if you have it there. I found it in the parmesan cheese area/pasta area. I'll be heading back to grab more! All you need is 1 pound of chicken, ( I used one chicken breast) and the Macaroni Grill Alfredo kit. Takes about 15-20 minutes tops!

Tomorrow (Sunday the 19th) is Swap Meet day in Mesa! It's a giant flea market basically in the middle of the desert. I hope I find some good deals!

Friday, October 17, 2008

Di Sciacca

Pronouced Shock-kah. J and I visited this place after our fabulous dinner at El Zocalo Mexican Grill. They actually use the glasses from Di Sciacca's. On the back patio there are tables nestled into nooks and surrounded by fruit trees and bushes. Decor makes you feel like you're in a romantic Mexican locale. Twinkly lights in the trees, fans for the summer heat. There was also a blues band playing. (I took a couple pics) We then proceeded to check out other little shops and some restaurants that were down on the Main Street of Chandler. Reminds me a little of The Old Market w/ the brick streets and cutesy stores. It was a pleasant relaxing evening spent downtown.

Thursday, October 16, 2008

Pump It



Here's a picture of our pool at night. It looks like it's glowing. My question is, "how do they change the light bulb in a full pool?" Answer . I love Google!

Wednesday, October 15, 2008

Just Another Day in Paradise

While I was busy filling out grueling online job applications, neighbor-long haired waver- was busy practicing his skateboarding and drums. His license plate reads: Toxic. Hmmm, I like it.

I saw a TV show that counted down the best cities to live in. This was a poll taken by people going online and naming their favorite city to live. The Number 1 city was New York. Everytime I see footage of NYC it makes me want to go back. That city is fantastic! I don't think I'd want to live there though, mainly because I wouldn't be able to afford it. A 1,200 sq. ft apartment cost 2.1 million. For an apartment!! Funk that. If you haven't been to NYC, I highly recommend saving up and going. It is something unlike you've ever seen. A culture shock and nothing but fun. You'd have to save some good money though. Your flight there is high, the hotel is high and you'll be spending loads of money on the great restaurants, sites, shows and shopping. Now, I was only there for a 24 hour period of time, but it was a time to remember and I can't wait to go back someday.

Tuesday, October 14, 2008

Furniture

We got a new motor for our pool since it was going bad. It was covered by our Service One warranty which means it only cost $50 for the service fee. The new motor would have been $300. Good stuff.

Tonight we decided to go look for furniture. We need a kitchen table and chairs and a bedroom set. We headed to Ahwatukee to a store called The Room Store to see what we could find. We found a nice bedroom set and met a nice man named Doni. We chatted w/ him for a long time. He was from Indiana and has lived here since 1996; he also gave us his card and said we could call him anytime if we needed to know anything. So naturally, throughout the rest of the night we're making "we should call Doni" jokes. Example, "lets try out Del Taco. Where is one? We should call Doni and ask" or "Doni we can't find our car in the Ikea parking lot, do you know where it is". We're bad, but it was funny. We've established a relationship w/ Doni already. He advised us how many famous people come into The Room Store such as Shaq and how him and Shaq have the same mattress. He was also willing to give us Shaq's address to his Scottsdale home. LOL

After our furniture experience we decided we wanted to check out Ikea. I've seen the catalog before and knew it would be a weird store. It was 8:30 and they close at 9, so we hustled to find it and get in. When you walk in, immediately you have to go up an escalator to the 2nd floor. This place already reminds me of a haunted house or the stairway to heaven. Then you're just overwhelmed and see a monstrosity of stuff all over the place. We just started to follow the arrows on the floor pointing you in a direction. The place is a maze, literally. You then have to follow the Exit signs to get out. It takes you down two flights of stairs, no escalator down to hell. So I imagine myself w/ my Ikea yellow bag full of stuff and falling down the stairs. Keep following the Exit signs and it basically takes you through the entire store and the warehouse and finally the Exit where you have to self-check your items. Not only do you have to find your way through the maze, haul your crap down two flights of stairs, self-check yourself out, but you have to haul it away and get it into your vehicle somehow. Just back the truck up to the Exit doors and load up the car or in the case we saw, a Penske truck being filled up. Ikea furniture looks very uncomfortable, small/short, cheap.

We couldn't find a Del Taco on the way home, so we opted for Jack In The Box instead. My fourth time there! Love that place except their weird mascot.

Bleaching

I found this interesting and disgusting. But if you ladies are interested in what the new 'craze' is then this article is a must see: http://www.marieclaire.com/life/sex/advice/anal-bleaching

Monday, October 13, 2008

Monday Monday

Monday's are rough for TV watching. I don't have a DVR or TIVO; not sure I'll ever want them either. Too many good shows on all at the same time on Monday's. Currently I'm watching Christian Slater's new show "My Own Worst Enemy" to pass the time until The Hills come on. It's about time this man came back! He was the "IT" man back in the day and he's been missed, by me at least.

Do you watch your neighbors? Do you think they watch you? Do you make up stories about them? Well, our neighbors across the street is my mission possible. It started out w/ me thinking a man and a woman lived there since I saw them both leave the house and they both waved. That is not the case. It appears there are two guys living there. The one who waved, does have a girlfriend and he plays the drums in the garage. He'll bang on them for at least an hour at a time. I don't see him around as much though. I see the 'other guy' around. He has a woman too and she comes around alot. These guys are totally different too. The "waver" has brown slightly curly hair and dresses normal and drives an expensive fast car. The 'other guy' is the pant sagger who has random other pant saggers from all around come over all the time. This afternoon I was sweeping out the garage when I noticed pant sagers young girl, probably 21/22ish left and he walked her out. Her car was parked there all day. Immediatly after she left one pant sagger jersey shirt wearer came and knocked on the door and was let in. Maybe 5 minutes later another pant sagger-jersey wearer knocked on the door and was let in. I was keeping my head down low but kept my eyes up sneaking a peak of the action. In my head I was picturing the pant sagger texting his other pant sagger-jersey wearing buddies saying "his bitch was gone and to come over". And then a drug deal picture ran through my head. These kids are always around this house. Two of the kids, or at least one for sure, lives down a couple houses. So we are still trying to figure these guys out. Now I always kept a watch on things when I lived in the apartment and I'll continue to do it in my own house. Kinda of a private eye or a peeping tom. Another thing that went through my head was why this cute chick was w/ this pant sagging loser.?. At least one state it making it a law against pant sagging.

Saturday, October 11, 2008

Chilly

Today's temperature was low and I must say I've adapted to the warm sun and it was chilly. The temp now is 64 and windy. The high was about 77 w/ a low of 55. Tomorrow won't be any warmer. I guess winter is settling in now! Today J and I met Kendra at her friends house in Scottsdale to watch the NE game. All, but one were from NE. After the loss, J and I stopped to check out the Chandler Fashion Center on our way home. The mall is huge! It also has valet parking, but you have to pay $6 for the service. Our new qwest is to find a furniture store and price out bedroom furniture. It's weird how we can't seem to find any furniture stores around here. It's not like you have your default NFM to turn to. I guess we just need to pull out the phone book and start going down the list.

Friday, October 10, 2008

Red White and Brew

I love the 70's! This is what I'm watching on VH1. I've seen the 80's one and loved it. I find these entertaining and educational. I wish I grew up in the 70's and got to experience the carefree living. Thing's have changed so much and I always wish it would go back to the good ol' days. Some 80's style of clothing are coming back though. If you're looking to start wearing some 80's clothes again, go to American Apparel in downtown Omaha, next to Urban Outfitters and The Slowdown. That store brought back many memories of some of the clothes my mom put me in when I was growing up. You can get your acid wash jeans, leg warmers, body suits and all the spandex you can handle! Anyway, today I got my hair colored. It looks great! A nice highlighting look. I also asked her to use the flat iron on me. I've never used one. So afterwards I headed to the store to buy one for my own use. Jim and Stephanie stopped by to see the house and we all went out to eat at Red White and Brew. It was a good time w/ good food and free dessert.

Thursday, October 9, 2008

SanTan Brewery

Today was the big haircut day. I haven't had my hair this short since my senior year in high school. I asked for it to be sitting on my shoulders and yet it's sitting above my shoulders. Oh well, it's just hair, it will grow back. It will solve my "hate to use the hair dryer" problem though. I will probably be going back to get it colored on Friday. Tonight J and I met his old college friend, Kendra and her friend Jeremy. We met at the SanTan Brewery which is located on the main street of Chandler. It's amongst many shops and restaurants. A real cool laid back younger crowd. I had to miss The Office tonight so I was bummed, but it's good to get out and mingle.

Wednesday, October 8, 2008

Sex and the City

I finally watched the movie. I rented it from one of those grocery store one day rentals for only $1. This is how I'll be renting my movies from now on. Quick, cheap and conveinent is right up my alley. The movie started out terrible I thought. It was pretty cheezy, but after 40 minutes it started to pick up. Thursday morning is going to be a big one for me. I've decided to get my hair cut and possibly colored. I haven't had anyone cut my hair since 2002. It's not that I don't trust anyone, it's that I'm too cheap to pay for it. I think salons charge too much for everything. That was always one of my issues of being a Cosmetologist. I felt bad for the prices the salon's charged. In these difficult times w/ money, these are the services people don't like to spend the money on so it puts the salon out of business. I know this has already happened to one of my old hair school friends. Last week J and I went to a shopping center's car show. His uncle goes to all of the car shows, so we thought we go check it out and get out for a bit. Well, his uncle ended up winning the mall basket giveaway w/ over $200 worth of stuff. He was nice enough to give it to us. One of the certificates in the basket was for a Salon. So I'm going to use the cert up to get my hair cut. The place is called Fantastic Sams. It's a small chain, but I'd compare it to Great Clips. I'll get a real look and feel for it tomorrow and see how it goes. I figure at least I can get a free haircut out of the place. As I've gotten older my hair just isn't what it used to be. I've fallen out of the 'take care of myself' mode over the years; that or it's just age and it's the downward slope.

Tuesday, October 7, 2008

Big Food


Today was another miscellaneous day. Ate my breakfast, did my walk w/ Tory, got ready for the day, did some home decor shopping at Kirkland's, had some lunch, did some minor unpacking of crap that I don't know if I should throw it away or stash it somewhere, watched my soap opera, sat next to the pool, did my walk w/ Tory to the mailbox and got ready to hit up Costco. For those of you who haven't been to Kirkland's, it is one of my favorite stores. The one in Omaha was way out in Village Point so it wasn't convenient for me. This one is about 20 minutes from me, across from the Chandler Fashion Mall and next to my other favorite store, Bed Bath & Beyond and in front of Costco. So it's in a great location! I've been to Kirkland's twice in one week buying home decor accessories for the house. I love to decorate and I love their prices. They always have a ton of items on clearance and if it's not on clearance it's still a great price and looks fantastic. I highly recommend this store to anyone :) My sister bought us a Costco membership and a $100 gift card for our house warming gift. This was just a thoughtful-fantastic gift! We were going to buy a membership anyway, but this worked out fine. Tonight was Costco night! We picked up Uncle B and headed up there. We had to get our cards and get our picture taken. We decided to get an American Express Costco credit card too. You earn a percent back off of any purchase and there is no annual fee. The Costco gas is $3.15, so when we use our AMEX card we'll get an additional 3% off of gas. Not too shabby. This was J's first experience w/ Costco and he's only been to Sam's a couple of times. So we went down every isle so he could get a good look. Two hours later we checked out then stopped to pick up supper at their food court. $1.50 for a hot dog w/ a drink-what a deal! What a night! Last night we purchased our plane tickets to come back to NE for a wedding. Southwest had a great deal, $98 one way. Jim and his girlfriend, Stephanie are coming to visit us this Friday. It will be nice to visit w/ friends!

Monday, October 6, 2008

So Much To Me

Another day is passing
And still there is no word
On how your life is going
And who is in your world

I pray you will consider
These words I write to you
I liked you in my life
Yet maybe now it's through

I don't want to see
our relationship come to an end
And I don't want to find
our lives standing still

We are moving towards the end
And we really ought to wait
Because God planted something special
Deep within our hearts

I know your life is hectic
You are busy all day through
My life is busy also
But I still think of you

I want to send my love
And remind you of these things
Just so you will know
You mean so much to me

Sunday, October 5, 2008

Curtain Please

That NE game last night sucked! I didn't watch much of it anyway, it was boring and embarassing. I tried out our oven today. I popped in some frozen cinnomon rolls and we had breakfast. Oven works-check. After breakfastTory and I went for a walk down the block. I'm going to continue to take her for walks in the mornings to try to get her into shape. J got the curtains in the dining/sitting room hung. It's starting to look nice and homey. Just need a few more accessories in there and it's complete. It was another beautiful day and it went by so quickly! Tonight I made mashed potatoes and gravy to go along w/ the chicken J grilled up. Stovetop works-check. We also discovered our pool has a light. It is so cool! It looks like it's glowing! I'm sure having a hard time getting used to the time change. I still haven't adapted to it yet.

Saturday, October 4, 2008

Game Day

Today has been another busy, adventerous day. We started the day off w/ a nice breezy walk around the neighborhoods. It was garage sale day around here. Our neighbors down the street were having one. So we stopped by and chatted w/ them on our walk through. We've met alot of our neighbors and we've already been informed about the New Years Eve neighborhood party. Everyone is really nice, small town feeling. We continued our walk and turned the corner where two little girls were selling popcorn balls and carmel apples for $1, I really wanted a carmel apple, but we kept walking. We passed a small park area where there are basketball hoops and a volleyball net and some park benches. Down the way from that we walked down the greenbelt. The greenbelt runs between the houses through the neighborhoods. It's landscaped w/ trees, bushes, grass, flowers and rock. We passed a small playground then at the end passed an elementary school and walked upon a public park. This was a huge green space w/ a baseball field, a large playground and included basketball hoops and horseshoe. As was approached closer to home, we passed another small playground. Along all of the sidewalks are trashcans that hold doggy bags; those are convenient! I made the first big grocery trip to Bashas around 12:30. It's such a nice store and the service is extremely friendly. Back home Jason started putting up the shade for the master bathroom window. I took Tory down for a walk to the mailbox. When we stepped outside it was sprinkling. It's been sprinkling off and on for the past few hours. The high today has been 80 w/ a breeze and cloudy all afternoon. I got the grill ready for our first grill at the house. Nothing like some good grilled grub to watch the NE game with!

Friday, October 3, 2008

5 Days Down

Well, time has sure flown by since Monday and we've come along way w/ the house already. Last night's Mexican restaurant was awesome! It was a nice, quaint restaurant off of Chandler's main street. Their main street is lined w/ x-mas white lights and the buildings are made to look like old buildings. We didn't get to look or walk around it yet though. Today's high was 91. Yesterday it was 100, so today was a cool off. It was beautiful though! To me the 80's and 90's is perfect weather. Today was filled w/ all kinds of action! I finished unpacking and organizing my closet, put together my desk area and started to unpack the electronics so I'll probably get the surround sound hooked up in time for the NE game. The pest guy named Bob came to spray. Crickets are a nuisance down here. The landscapers came at 11 and left at 6. We had lots of overgrown trees and plants that needed to be taken care of. There was also weeds growing between the rocks and the backyard grass was overgrown. They also took out that tin shed that was on the side of the house. This yard looks amazing now! The mexi's started drinking Bud Light in the afternoon. I took off in the afternoon and headed to Bed Bath & Beyond. The drive was pleasant and quick. Took me about 20 minutes to get there. Which means it will only take me 20 minutes to get to the mall! I spent some time there and purchased several items then went next door to Kirklands to get some house accessories. I hit the jackpot there! That place is always awesome and they had some great items on sale. For pleasure tonight, J and I went to another shopping center down a few miles to a car show. J's uncle has 3 cars he takes to the car shows. So we met him over there and went to Old Chicago for some grub. We met a few folks from NE too. That is the 3rd person I've met since I've been here that is from NE. The first one was the chick standing behind me in line at Super Target. Then it's back to home to get ready for bed. We have fallen into "old folks routine" already. We've been getting up between 6-6:30 AZ time and then we're ready to sleep or we've gone to bed by 9. Although the time difference is messing us up.

Thursday, October 2, 2008

Randomness

The pool boy came today. Sorry ladies, he's not a looker, but he's nice. Today was filled with more unpacking. The kitchen is completely done! Tomorrow I need to actually buy some food from the grocery store. We've gone to the Albertsons down the street the past two nights and it was mostly to buy something to drink and donuts for breakfast. My sister bought us a housewarming gift that will arrive on Monday. A Costco card! We were going to get one anyway, but it sure makes an excellent gift. Tomorrow I'm going to check out The Chandler Mall. The mall is really big and looks nice. I'm mostly going over there to go to one of my favorite stores: Bed Bath & Beyond. I'm going to hopefully get a blind for our master bath and price out some curtains and rods. Today we also got our mailbox keys. It had to be re-keyed since all of the mailboxes are located in a central location. Yesterday we also met a couple of our neighbors, Jay and Andre. They both have kids and a bunch of dogs. Well, I've put out all kinds of randomness in this blog. We're going to head out for some Mexican food!

Wednesday, October 1, 2008

Drivers License

Tuesday morning it was off to the DMV to register J's car since the plates expired this month. First you have to go to Emmissions. This takes about 5 minutes and is required to have done for a shocking-waste-of-money $27. After the emmission inspection it's time to go nextdoor to the DMV where we sit for another 5 minutes for the out of state inspection. Parked the car and time to head inside to grab a number, fill out the paperwork for a drivers license and sit and wait. Our number was called after some good people watching and we both got new AZ drivers licenses and his car registered. We sat at a work space with a man who used two fingers to type up everything. My name was called to have the picture taken. She told me it would be one more sec so I just stood there and waited. Then she tells me it's ready. I just kept smiling and looked straight. There wasn't a flash and I had no clue when she was taking it. Wouldn't you know it, this was the worst picture I've ever had for a DL. First off, the left side of my head is darker due to the lack of light and the topper- my eyes are looking to the side!! UGH! But better yet, I don't have to re-new my license until I turn 65! YES this is true, my license expires in 2047. So that $25 for the DL will sure be well worth it, lol. We then headed to Whataburger. Once again, another first for me. It was also good. Anyway, the rest of the afternoon I decided to venture out for some shopping and an unpacking break. I headed to Super Target which is less than 10 minutes away and across the street from there is Walmart. I was so excited to see a ton of stores in that area so close to me!

Part Three


Monday morning we headed over to see our house. This baby is huge! We may have filled up a 26 foot truck, but we need more stuff to fill up this house and make it our home. After the big unload with help from J's uncle I started doing some unpacking and arranging. J and his uncle B went over to Lowes in the morning to purchase our new fridge. We already new what we wanted when we looked back in NE. They decided to pick it up later using the Uhaul since Lowes wasn't sure if it could be delivered next day. Later that night they went to pick it up and attempt to bring it in. This took a couple hours, some doors taken off and decided to put it into the garage where it would sit over night until they could figure out how to get it into the house. At 9:30 uncle B had left tired and sore as J and I headed to eat. We decided to try out Jack in the Box. This was our first experience and the food was good. Back home to sleep off the busy day.

Part Two


Saturday at 12:30 we began our drive down to AZ. Going through western NE was very pretty. I didn't know what to expect. We arrived in Colorado around 6ish and decided to stop outside of Denver in a town called Castle Rock. We got a room and set down the street to eat at Rockyard Brewing Company and caught the last 7 minutes of the NE football game. This place was fantastic! (I compare it to Lazlos) We were so tired, we just went back to the room and crashed. The next morning we awoke around 7:30 and ate some breakfast from the hotel and headed back out at 9:00. The rest of the drive through Colorado was so beautiful. I was surprised with the lack of poverty between Colorado Springs and the border. Lots of shacks and double wides. I wasn't even sure if people really lived in most of those dumps, but I guess this stuff is everywhere. We passed by tons of ranches. When we hit the New Mexico border the scenery was still beautiful from the mountains and trees. The trees were already turning colors. We stoped just inside the NM border and grabbed a bite to eat, or lets say I grabbed a bite to eat. Afterall, it was 1:00 Central time, time to eat for me! Many, many, many hours later we arrived at the Arizona border. The sun was beginning to set and it was 7:30 in AZ time. We kept going until we ran out of daylight, then stopped at Holcomb for a bite to eat, a tank fill up and some stretching. Midnight or two Central we arrived at our home destination of Chandler and parked the Uhaul at his uncles where we stayed for the night.

Part One

It's recap time! Lets start with last Friday. J and I packed the 26 foot Uhaul from 9:30 a.m. until 9:00 p.m. The truck was a brand new one and it wasn't so bad looking I must say. We loaded up my stuff first from the storage unit. That was a piece of cake, but moving his things weren't. First off going up and down three flights of stairs is not fun and I thought my legs would thank me for it, but they weren't. We were supposed to have a "friend" come after he got off from work and help us load up the truck. We mainly just needed help with the heavy leather couch, a recliner and the T.V., so we weren't asking for much. That help was a no show, no call. I was so upset and felt betrayed. Luckily, the couple on the second floor was moving also so the guy's brother ended up helping J with the couch. Thank goodness for that! Then a co-worker stopped by around 7 with her husband as they were going to buy my full size mattress and J's recliner. They ended up helping us, which was such a blessing since it was a big time saver! I think they felt bad for us, but they left with J's years worth of Playboys for free and found a bookcase by the dumpster, so they made out like a bandit! At 9, I said we needed to stop and go to bed. We already had our "weekend bags" packed and had planned on sleeping at my parents for the night. So we headed down to Plattsmouth. We awoke to some nice breakfast of eggs, bacon and toast before heading up to finish the final touches. We finally left the apartment at noon on Saturday for the long haul down.