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Month: November 2013

yay internet!

yay internet!

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today the cable guy came over and got the internet working! woo! what does this mean? this means i’m writing this post on my laptop! maybe tomorrow i’ll have my imac setup and i can actually use a decent keyboard. what a concept.
anyway, update on the house: we are still squatting. i got an email today from the loan officer and she said she is 100% certain that we will have approval by friday, so the closing is scheduled for 9 am on friday. i am STILL nervous about this, though, even though i’ve gotten multiple reassurances from my loan lady. i will be one sad sucker if i have to pack everything up.
also got a message from my landlord, and it sounds like he found a renter for december, which means some extra moola in my pocket for that month. pretty handy for christmas. or just more presents for me…haha!

Big pile of the money
awesome stock photo with watermark through it!

i went through the crap left in the garage, and i have minimal boxes left to unpack, mostly books and dvds. i just need to set up my bookshelves, and those should be easy to unpack. then some stuff that needs to go in the basement for storage, break down the boxes, and hopefully my car can get in the garage by the time snow flies.
i feel like this kablpomo’s posts have been inundated by houseblog. boo. i need something substantial on here!

annual shopping redefined

annual shopping redefined

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for the past 5-6 years, my mom and i have gone shopping on veterans’s day, mostly because there’s sales and no black friday crowds. in st. cloud it was so easy to just pop over to what we needed – every place we visited was mostly in a square mile.
not so in rochester. it was an experience, that’s for sure. besides having to drive 6 miles to get to BN from target, it seemed like there were NO people anywhere. it was so weird shopping without the crowds – almost like it didn’t count. and it seemed very non christmassy; in cloud town, we never had that problem. mom and i were wondering if rochester even celebrates christmas! it was all just a very odd experience.
we only got to target, BN, and macy’s (which had a pretty piss-poor xmas selection), but got a lot done. jane came with us for lunch, target, and BN. as much as she hates shopping, i think she had a good time 🙂
mom and i have to go back shopping again to hobby lobby (anti-gay!!!) to get some decorations, which will hopefully put us in the mood.
overall, got a lot done, but it didn’t feel quite right 🙁 hopefully it rights itself.

internet internet where are you?

internet internet where are you?

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yesterday i went to my mom’s to use her internet to write a kablpomo. today i’m thumbin it on my phone. internet doesn’t show up til tuesday 🙁 i might have to go wardriving tomorrow with my laptop.
in other news, we get quite a few tv channels with our lame-o antenna! considering we’re out in the boonies, this is pretty impressive. maybe 5 pbs channels (that’s all that counts, really) and a few abc and sports channels. we’re pulling some wisconsin channels too!
still no word on the loan; veterans’ day the govt is probably closed, so i’m not expecting anything til tuesday at the earliest
boo 🙁

short video tour

short video tour

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i took short video on my phone of the house. it’s still messy and stuff all over, but this’ll give a somewhat decent sense of how it looks!
http://youtu.be/7HrORw0U6bY
ps – i’m still beat. ugh. i slept for 9.5 hours straight last night, and i don’t think i moved once.

long day

long day

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nate woke up at 6 am for some reason, and so i ended up getting up by 6:30 because the bedroom door was open and he always makes a ton of noise. so we were out unloading the truck by 7 am. it’s been a long day, to say the least.
i still have a ton of kitchen stuff to unpack, and i’m almost out of cupboard space, so hopefully i’ll be able to get my parents’ hutch tomorrow.
if i could get myself out of bed, i’d take a picture or two, but i think i’m down for the count. maybe tomorrow. instead, here is a pic of the pan cover holder i got for easy access.

20131108-223430.jpg

so tired

so tired

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Sorry for the lame-o post, but I am wiped. We packed up today and have yet to unpack the truck, but the cats are moved and soon the bed will be in the house, so I might get to crash soon. Now would be a great time to have friends.>:(

house on hold – a houseblog update. (or, grrrr)

house on hold – a houseblog update. (or, grrrr)

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i have been living around boxes for a month now. after packing for moving last weekend, this week i had to root through boxes to find clothes to wear to work. let’s just say the week-long delay has not been fun.
then, i got a call from my realtor today saying that they STILL hadn’t gotten the RD loan approval yet. my loan officer had sent in three RD loans at the same time and has gotten then other two back while nate’s and my loan is still waiting. unfortunately, RD offices aren’t accepting inquiry calls (of course), so she can’t call to figure out what’s going on.
this was seriously like deja vu all over again; last year we had the same problem trying to get into our apartment. what is wrong with my karma??
i had a truck lined up, my days off (again), and assumed everything was well because i hadn’t heard anything monday or tuesday. arrrgggh!!
after a convo with the loan lady, and given a date of NO LATER than three more days, she said, well, this is ridiculous. she contacted our realtor to see if we could get in tomorrow anyway, since the house is vacant. after waiting about 45 minutes, i got a call back from the realtor, telling us the builder said yes, we can move in as long as we assume responsibility if anything happens between tomorrow and when we actually close. (and transfer all utilities over to our name.)
so, we’re on for tomorrow again. ready to move! tonight i packed up some more stuff, and there’s still a ton of stuff that needs to be packed up. i have more stuff than i thought.
(ps – tomorrow i will be posting from my phone, unless i can get over to my mom’s house to use her internet. internet comes on tuesday – ugh, what a wait!

#firstworldproblems
#firstworldproblems

)
[see – i closed my parenthesis!]

kablpomo's pintertests

kablpomo's pintertests

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once i actually get into my house, i’ll be able to do some pintertests. these are things i find on pinterest that i want to try out, and i report my findings here. there are always some duds with these, but then there are real winners (cheesy buns, anyone?? *drool*).
this year, i want to try a few things if i have the time.

  1. homemade microderm abrasion
    ba
    baked alaska
  2. deep pore cleaner (i obviously have a hangup on my skin)
  3. hair repair (will it make my greys go away? haha)
  4. a couple crapfts with tin cans, mason jars, and cookie cutters as ornaments
  5. jalapeño poppers suggested by nikki
  6. candles with cinnamon sticks tied around them
  7. shaped bokeh
  8. pumpkin fondue
  9. cheesy bacon-wrapped hot dog
  10. BAKED ALASKA????

if you want to view all my pintertests, you can check them out on my kablpomo pinterest board.

holding off (or how i handle instant gratification)

holding off (or how i handle instant gratification)

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there was a study done recently about instant gratification and how it is related to the first letter of your last name. remember in grade school when you lined up to go to gym class by the first letter of your last name? my arch-nemesis nicole bibus was always first, and i was always stuck at the end.
this study found that people whose names started in the first part of the alphabet were better at waiting for things, while those who had end-of-alphabet names had real trouble with holding out. this doesn’t apply to married names, so any ladies who married up in the alphabet still have an issue if they were low-enders in their childhoods. i’ve talked to all my siblings about this and we all agree we have a real issue with instant gratification. we want stuff NOW.
this is such a complete 180 to our lifestyle growing up, however. we were poor as dirt and had a real reason to wait for things. if something still worked, there was no reason to throw it out or give it away for something new.
so you can imagine how these two polar opposites work against each other in my grown up life. there are things that i need RIGHT NOW and will buy, but other things i angst over (usually large purchases involving much money) until i come to a conclusion.
case in point: last year around this time i was waffling over whether or not to buy a new winter parka. i had a parka i’d bought from old navy in 2004; it was perfectly fine. it zipped up. it kept me warm. but at this point, it was too big and was 8 years old. not only that, i had the money to buy a new fancy coat. there was no reason NOT to buy the coat. but waffle i did, for about a month, before i finally caved and bought the coat.
on the other hand, i have no problem with impulse purchases when it comes to household items, books, things for nate, weird food, restaurant visits, etc. it seems to be only personal purchases i have a problem with – like buying full-price pants that fit me. i don’t get it.
all this to say, i’m having a weird time right now because 1. it’s coming up on christmastime, and i spend a lot of money at this time of year anyway 2. buying a house puts a real dent in the pocketbook and 3. i’ll need more new clothes soon if things keep going the way they’re going, which means i’ll have to come to grips with buying myself stuff that’s not from goodwill. :/

versus versus

versus versus

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i got a great suggestion from my sister jane today for my kablpomo post today.

for kablamo (that’s how i read it in my head) you should write about the differences between nano and kablamo. what you like, don’t like, what you miss about nano that you can’t find in kablamo, etc.
kaBLAMo!
nanowrimo and kablpomo are two different beasts for me, and each has its own place.
1. kablpomo can be short and sweet or long and heavy.
2. kablpomo can change topics every day
3. kablpomo can be pictures, lists, youtube embeds, etc. it doesn’t necessarily NEED to be words. it’s all about the blog post, and blog posts
what does nanowrimo have that kablpomo doesn’t?
1. i don’t NEED to write nano every day. if i miss a day of kablpomo, big ol’ FAIL on my part. sure, i can get behind on nano, but it’s all about the final word count at the end of the month.
2. accomplishing nano is HUGE. to push out 50,000 words in a month is HUGE. the feeling of finishing nano vs. kabl is about 500x more of a high.
3. there’s something about finishing a story that used to be in my head. look what i pulled out of my head and put into words.
kaBLAMo! pow! pow!