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Month: September 2013

just say it

just say it

often in the middle of a writing practice you feel muddled; you are not really saying anything. Try this: don’t even wait to finish your sentence – right in the middle put a dash, then write, “what i really want to say,” drop to a deeper level, and keep going. or you can start right off with this as the topic: what i really want to say is…
what i really want to say is something meaningful. something that will stay with people. i want to say something that will strike a chord, trigger a memory, jar a thought. what i really want to say is something that i’m not necessarily able to pull from my writing depths on a daily basis. what i really want to say is sometimes cloaked in humor or veiled in sarcasm. what i really want to say is sometimes hard to say – so i write it. what i really want to write is sometimes hard to write, so i will avoid it until it is an obvious time to put it into words and easily flows from my brain to type. i cannot say what i want to say until it is the right time to say it.
i’m reading the book “quiet” by susan cain. she writes:

studies have show that, indeed, introverts are more likely than extroverts to express intimate facts about themselves online that their family and friends would be surprised to read, to say that they can express the “real me” online, and to spend more time in certain kinds of online discussions. They welcome the chance to communicate digitally. The same person who would never raise his hand in a lecture hall of two hundred people might blog to two thousand, or two million, without thinking twice. The same person who finds difficult to introduce himself to strangers might establish a presence online and then extend those relationships into the real world.

commence houseblog!

commence houseblog!

nate and i met with the realtor today and the loan lady. we got approval to get a rural development loan which lets us not have a down payment, so yay for that. i don’t know the exact amount we were pre-approved for, but she gave us three scenarios with the highest at about $175,000 (which is too high anyway). after signing some papers, we went to look at a house, which i might be ok with, if not for the fact that it’s on a gravel road (nate is worried about wintertime and snow).

here is a permalink to a realtor listing with more pictures.
http://www.flexmls.com/share/8Bhc/21377-County-102-Chatfield-MN-55923
i love the view and the yard. house needs some cleaning and cosmetic work, but that’s easy. the basement is huge and unfinished, with much potential. saturday i am meeting with the realtor and we’re looking at some more houses. woo!

progress pictures

progress pictures

so this morning i hit -60 lbs. i’m holding off on a huge post when i hit sub-200 lbs, but here’s an update in a couple photos. i started taking them when i’d already lost 30 lbs, so this is just -30 through -60 in 10-lb increments.
BEWARE – flabby fat pictures of kate in her underwear!
from the side
from the front
i personally don’t see a huge difference from the front, but i see it from the side!

realtor appt.

realtor appt.

nate and i have an appointment with a realtor next tuesday at 4:30, and the loan officer is getting our crap together before that. so, we’ll see what happens! woo!

yum

yum

this thing
pdp_limeaid_item
is amazing. limeade sparkler from taco bell. and no devil’s syrup!
called the realtor today and left a message. i called at 4:30, so either he was out for the day or out looking at a house with someone. hope he calls me tomorrow.

fair round 2

fair round 2

august was an epic fail whale on blogging every other day! september shall be a fresh slate. we’ll see what happens.
after much deliberation (well, not that much), i decided i had to go back to the state fair because the first time was so hot and gross and i didn’t find my deep-fried milky way. i called up jane and said, hey! let’s go to the fair again! so we did, this time in the evening so we wouldn’t be so hot.
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first i got a footlong hot dog because i hadn’t had supper. then we went to the ag/hort building again and found the internet seed art thats making the rounds on reddit. also found an awesome krampus piece.
afterward, i finally finally got my deep-fried milky way. it was glorious. heaven on a stick. wonderful, gooey nougaty, caramelly, chocolatey donutty fried goodness. *drool* (i should’ve gotten two).
took a little stroll and ended at the food barn where i bought my coworker some taffy and some cheese curds to split.
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we walked to the horse barn after i had a mouthgasm and checked out the horses since nate can’t peruse the horse barns (allergic) and jane missed them previously.  then off to the midway!
 
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then, and i’m still not sure how i managed this, i convinced jane to go on the skyride across the fair to the other side (it was closer to the place where we had to catch the bus, maybe?). totally worth the $4/person cost! we went across the fairgrounds at night and saw all the lights. here’s jane scared outta her wits.DSC01595
 
we ended on a high note of some lemonade and tom thumb donuts, then had to leave because i still had to drive back to rochester that night (work the next day). definitely worth the second trip.