Sliding Glass DOH!

Nate and I are in the process of renovating our condo to get it ready for sale sometime in the next 3-12ish months and we've been doing pretty well. This weekend we began deconstructing the sliding glass door between the living room and the enclosed balcony. We popped the sliding piece out in no time at all and I think we both thought we were something pretty darn special.

So we moved on to the stationary part of the door. Hmmm, interesting. Well maybe we could try.....no. What if we.... no, nevermind. I know! we need to separate it from the wall since it is pretty well attached with putty. Once we do that it should pop right out! So we proceeded to pry the putty away and drumroll......... it won't budge. We tried pushing it, realllllllly hard... no dice. What is the point of this narrative, you ask? Well, it shows you how sometimes I get pumped up to do something and maybe don't think through whether I really have any idea how to do it and it also serves as a not-yet desperate plea..... If you, or anyone you know, has extensive sliding glass removal experience, please contact us. We'll pay you.... in cookies :)

Good food.... no matter what :)

So one of the aspects of married life that I have had fun with is being able to cook normal meals a couple of times a week. This week I made crawfish etoufee and in the past couple of weeks I've made anything from spaghetti to jambalaya. It is very satisfying to find out that you are good at something that you figured would have more of a learning curve. I only got to make one meal this week, the reason for this leads me into part two of this blog which I title, the best food "week" (really 8 days) ever :)

Three meals make this the best food "week" ever. I will cheat a little and go back to the office lunch I had last Thursday that served as a joint b-day lunch for me and a guy whose b-day was at the end of January. We went to Pappadeaux and I got blackened Mahi Mahi with crawfish etoufee and dirty rice (fabulous). Tonight, for Valentines Day... and because we had a gift card :), Nate and I are going to Americas (both of our first times :) and I am super pumped. On Friday, we are celebrating my b-day early by going to the Melting Pot... talk about the icing on food week!

A p.s. from the last post, I had a weird thing I remembered this morning that I thought deserved a spot, so here is oddity number 7. It drives me nuts when people have their windshield wipers on higher than they need to be. I am constantly adjusting mine to get them to the right speed for the current conditions. Now, this is a weirdness in that it doesn't just bother me if they're on too high when I'm in the car.. If I can see that the car in front or behind me while I am driving has them on too high, it bothers me just as much. If mine are on higher than someone around me then I always reevaluate whether mine need to be slowed down. Anyways, I have enough weirdnesses to do one a day for quite awhile, so I will cut it off there :)

The beginning of baby...

Ok, don't freak out. I'm not pregnant, let's just start by saying that. Ok, now I get to blog :) This weekend, 5 different people asked me when we were going to start having kids. Whoa there, we just got married! Not that it's too early to think about kids, but it should be too early to have people asking us when we are going to have one already :P We avoided the "when are you going to get engaged?" question by having a fairly quick courtship, so I guess I'm not used to this line of questioning. Let's just say this... I won't keep you, my adoring public, waiting too long for kids but I don't even know when that'll be right now. Oh, and believe me, you'll know when it happens... I'm not much of a keep-news-to-yourself kind of person :)

Top 10

I was thinking about it last night and decided to make a list of the top ten things that it would be nice to have your parents still pay for. Funny how when you were a kid, every cent you earned could go towards clothes and entertainment....

10) Vacations- Hotels, rental cars, it adds up! Although I can't complain... with my parents becoming ex-pats I've been blessed in the vacation realm :)
9) Clothes- Anybody miss back to school shopping?
8) Food- I could do so many more fun things with that money
7) Appliances- It's shiny and I can appreciate that... it also costs $100 to deliver it, gulp
6) Repairs- Whether it's your car or your home, it's so much less traumatic if the bill is sent elsewhere
5) Taxes- Curse my income and the fact that the IRS can claim as much as they do!
4) Rent/Mortgage- Remember when "home" was free (to you)?
3) Electric Bill- Run that AC!!
2) Insurance- I'm sorry, how much is my warm fuzzy going to cost me this year?
1) Medical stuff- deductible, schmeductible... not my problem :)

The Name Game

Elkins to Ezell.... doesn't seem difficult, does it?? Well, I started the process last Friday when I spent 4 hours getting a new driver's license and social security card. I actually made a new friend, Stephanie, in the process. We discovered each other about an hour into our wait at the DPS which gave us another 2 hours at the DPS to get to know each other :P She was also changing her name and was two numbers ahead of me, so we finished at the same time and went over to social security for the much more pleasant 1 hour wait. Point- You shouldn't have time to make friends and exchange numbers while waiting for your license.

Well, I got home and thought "All right, I've gotten it changed". Well, you know at least the hard stuff.... right? It was just about then that I started counting just how many other entities I had to contact to change my info. Still, it's not too bad... I'm wonder woman, i'll start right now. I log onto my online savings account..... they need a copy of my marriage license. Ok, I log onto my checking account...same thing. My credit card doesn't tell me how to change my name and doesn't offer it as an online service, so I assume I will have to mail them something as well. Ok, no biggie... I'll just change over some more minor stuff. Oh wait.. I need to change my cc account before I can change any of my automatic payments. Ummmm, I know! I'll get started changing it at work! Oh wait, I need to change my checking account first so that it won't screw up my direct deposit. Ummm, ok I've got it!! I know what I can accomplish right now! So I headed for the kitchen, got an ice cream sandwich and called it a day :P

P.S.- I called Nate at this point and told him that the next time we get married, he has to change his name :)

Hello?

So it's been awhile for me...... (3 ish weeks) in which I celebrated Christmas, got married, went on my honeymoon, and installed two lighting fixtures and some wood blinds. I was holding off writing my first entry back because I felt it needed to be spectacular. Well, forget that :) I figure only a handful of faithful followers are continuing to check this after my long absence anyhoo, so the magnificence of my first entry back is not quite as important as I thought. On that note I will reward such faithful blog checkers with a few quick pics...

Me and the bridesmaids~

Me and my brother~

Me and Nate~

St. Croix~

The view from our balcony (the picture doesn't do it justice)~

Us post-snorkling~

For more honeymoon pics~ http://abbyjoy.shutterfly.com/action/ I will post wedding pics to this site once I get the professional ones back :)