Well, we have our house inspection tomorrow. I am really not afraid. Is that arrogant? I don't mean it to sound like that. I'm just pretty sure that we've seen worse in our KC house or neighbor's houses.I mean, can an inspection be too much worse? Perhaps not. We've fixed everything that was wrong in KC, which is actually kind of amazing.
Perhaps I am writing this strictly for posterity, so that if something goes wrong, in hindsight, I can laugh at myself for feeling this way.
There are a few things that I don't know very much about. Like how radiant heat really works, despite trying to read about it online a lot. And I don't know how to soder copper pipes, either. It also seems the tile in the bathrooms will be harder to replace, almost as if it was built in 1909 like the rest of the stuff in the house. But that should be ok. I think this house is going to be OK for us. Here's hoping!
Thursday, June 30, 2011
Sunday, June 26, 2011
Obsession
I'm absolutely obsessing about the house right now. Where will I hang the paintings? Where will we put the furniture? Which bedroom should be the spare bedroom? which bedroom should be the office? Where should I store the Christmas decorations we're bringing back from KC in September? Which tools should stay in KC and which tools should come up to Minnesota? Will the tenants renew their lease with us? Will the underwriters care a lot about the duration of the second lease? Should I bring the planters back to Minneapolis now or wait until spring? When should we start buying all of the wonderful kitchen gadgets we've been dreaming of? Will we have enough money to buy all of the furniture that we'll need for this place?
Ok, those are the most pressing questions. I guess I'll wait for the appraisal to come back, just in case the house ends up being worth less than the offer price. Back in the day, things like that never happened.
Ok, those are the most pressing questions. I guess I'll wait for the appraisal to come back, just in case the house ends up being worth less than the offer price. Back in the day, things like that never happened.
Saturday, June 25, 2011
Seriously?
I haven't felt this happy in a long, long time. I didn't even know it was possible to feel this happy again. Holy hell.
We found a house, put in an offer, had the offer accepted and now we're just waiting for the appraisal and the inspection and everything to come back ok. And the underwriting, of course, since we still own our KC house.
Is this real life? Is it legal to be this excited about something? We are both looking over our shoulders, trying to figure out what the next weird thing to happen to us might be. Is it possible that there won't be a bad thing about to happen right around the corner?
We found a house, put in an offer, had the offer accepted and now we're just waiting for the appraisal and the inspection and everything to come back ok. And the underwriting, of course, since we still own our KC house.
Is this real life? Is it legal to be this excited about something? We are both looking over our shoulders, trying to figure out what the next weird thing to happen to us might be. Is it possible that there won't be a bad thing about to happen right around the corner?
Sunday, June 19, 2011
Marathon Status: completed
Yeppers.
I did it! It took me 6 hours. 3 bathroom stops.
Just completed my first marathon. I don't know for sure if it will be the last that I run, but I know it's the last one until I turn 30 or more. Definitely think that a 13.1 is much more manageable and will run the half marathon in DSM with my husband this fall.
Grandma's Marathon up in Duluth had about 8200 participants, the 17th largest in the country. It was cloudy and about 55 for the whole race, which was really what we wanted. I was pretty slow, since my training was "run one long run every other week" and I took the last 2 weeks off entirely at the end. I didn't really get any of the 3-5 milers in at all, which was dumb.
I should have trained more for it, but felt so miserable after each long run that I didn't feel up to it. Obviously the reason I was feeling so miserable after each long run was that I only had water to drink, didn't carry powerade or gu or gels or anything, which threw off my electrolytes quite a bit. I felt better after finishing the full marathon than I had after any of my training runs. So now I know how important those alternate sources of energy are for the longer runs and hope to pull in a faster 13.1. Would be great to be under 2 hours, but I'll need to really work hard for it.
My splits were about 33 minutes at the 5k mark, 1 hour at the 6.5 mile mark, 2:34 at the 13.1. I was about a full mile behind my pace expectation around mile 20 and never was able to catch back up with my pace time. I think miles 15-16 were the hardest for me. They were out of gu by the time I got to each rest station. I physically ran until about mile 24, when I really had to resort to walking. At mile 25.5, I couldn't see the finish line (there were lots and lots of turns at the very end of the race) and noticed that I was really about to miss my last-ditch goal time. I was practically hyperventilating at that point and started to cry and shake. The medical aid came to me and walked me across the finish line and gave me the superman cape early since it was so cold.
While I was running, I was trying to establish if this was physically the hardest thing I've ever done or not. I feeling good, so I couldn't say for sure, but the last mile got me to say "yes, this was the hardest thing I've done." Since I was slower, most of the crowd had left and the cheering was much more sporadic near the finish line. Had I been in a 4-5 hour pace time, it would have been a bit easier to focus on the finish line and run through. I think my last 2 miles were nearly 20 minute pace!
The aftermath is pretty tough. It's hard for me to stand up and move around easily, though we did walk it out for about 3 miles today. I also managed to get pretty sunburned even though it was overcast the entire time. My face, shoulders and chest are BRIGHT red. We were planning on the post-marathon massage to help with the intense muscle aches, but they shut down by the time I was done. They were also out of oranges and chocolate milk and all of the food you should get when you finish the race. Guess I was too slow! I had a massage scheduled for Saturday, but they just called me to cancel. PAIN!
But well worth it.
I did it! It took me 6 hours. 3 bathroom stops.
Just completed my first marathon. I don't know for sure if it will be the last that I run, but I know it's the last one until I turn 30 or more. Definitely think that a 13.1 is much more manageable and will run the half marathon in DSM with my husband this fall.
Grandma's Marathon up in Duluth had about 8200 participants, the 17th largest in the country. It was cloudy and about 55 for the whole race, which was really what we wanted. I was pretty slow, since my training was "run one long run every other week" and I took the last 2 weeks off entirely at the end. I didn't really get any of the 3-5 milers in at all, which was dumb.
I should have trained more for it, but felt so miserable after each long run that I didn't feel up to it. Obviously the reason I was feeling so miserable after each long run was that I only had water to drink, didn't carry powerade or gu or gels or anything, which threw off my electrolytes quite a bit. I felt better after finishing the full marathon than I had after any of my training runs. So now I know how important those alternate sources of energy are for the longer runs and hope to pull in a faster 13.1. Would be great to be under 2 hours, but I'll need to really work hard for it.
My splits were about 33 minutes at the 5k mark, 1 hour at the 6.5 mile mark, 2:34 at the 13.1. I was about a full mile behind my pace expectation around mile 20 and never was able to catch back up with my pace time. I think miles 15-16 were the hardest for me. They were out of gu by the time I got to each rest station. I physically ran until about mile 24, when I really had to resort to walking. At mile 25.5, I couldn't see the finish line (there were lots and lots of turns at the very end of the race) and noticed that I was really about to miss my last-ditch goal time. I was practically hyperventilating at that point and started to cry and shake. The medical aid came to me and walked me across the finish line and gave me the superman cape early since it was so cold.
While I was running, I was trying to establish if this was physically the hardest thing I've ever done or not. I feeling good, so I couldn't say for sure, but the last mile got me to say "yes, this was the hardest thing I've done." Since I was slower, most of the crowd had left and the cheering was much more sporadic near the finish line. Had I been in a 4-5 hour pace time, it would have been a bit easier to focus on the finish line and run through. I think my last 2 miles were nearly 20 minute pace!
The aftermath is pretty tough. It's hard for me to stand up and move around easily, though we did walk it out for about 3 miles today. I also managed to get pretty sunburned even though it was overcast the entire time. My face, shoulders and chest are BRIGHT red. We were planning on the post-marathon massage to help with the intense muscle aches, but they shut down by the time I was done. They were also out of oranges and chocolate milk and all of the food you should get when you finish the race. Guess I was too slow! I had a massage scheduled for Saturday, but they just called me to cancel. PAIN!
But well worth it.
Thursday, June 16, 2011
Here we go!
We are about to embark on the scariest trip of the year.
The marathon trip.
2011 Grandma's Marathon
Duluth.
26.2 miles
7:30 AM
53 degrees
50% chance of rain
Run to all the aid stations
walk through them to get the water
Drink the powerade at every other station
Goo at mile 7, 15, and 20
Stay in the running stance and atmosphere as much as possible
Stay in the mental game
Do not fear
Do not be afraid
Suck it up
I can do this
I will do this
These are my running mantras for tomorrow
I hated every minute of my training, but I knew I had to do it to live the rest of my life as a champion. --Ali
-For the kingdom, for the power and the glory
-One step closer to the end
-Obama 12
The marathon trip.
2011 Grandma's Marathon
Duluth.
26.2 miles
7:30 AM
53 degrees
50% chance of rain
Run to all the aid stations
walk through them to get the water
Drink the powerade at every other station
Goo at mile 7, 15, and 20
Stay in the running stance and atmosphere as much as possible
Stay in the mental game
Do not fear
Do not be afraid
Suck it up
I can do this
I will do this
These are my running mantras for tomorrow
I hated every minute of my training, but I knew I had to do it to live the rest of my life as a champion. --Ali
-For the kingdom, for the power and the glory
-One step closer to the end
-Obama 12
Sunday, June 12, 2011
The Return
I think the graduation party was a success. We had a TON of food and a TON of leftovers. I was surprised at how many of my sister's friends that I knew and was pleased to meet some of their parents for the first time. People brought their grandparents, their aunts, their twin babies, their kids and it was a regular jolly holly reunion. I brought a vase of fresh stems from the Farmer's Market, where I visited with Tammy. Tammy treated us to lunch at Dos Rios and I had to bite my tongue to not give some practical business advice to a lady selling beautiful appliqued shirts. I just wanted to tell her to put it on the back of the tshirt and put it on some v-necks. Anyway, I digress. The point of this paragraph is......?
My sister got a scholarship to ISU for the fall and had her scholarship essay on display. 8 semesters of tuition scholarship as long as she maintains a normal GPA. So far, it sounds like the cheerleading squad in Cyclone world is going to take over most of her life. Practice goes from 430-1030PM each day. That doesn't seem realistic, but she said it has built-in study time into it. We've already planned our ISU game visits for the season so we can watch her on the field. That part seems unreal, but I'm going to love being back at Jack-Trice for some more games this fall.
Jade has changed a lot in the last 6 months. I can really see a drastic maturity level switch for her, which is lucky. It took me a lot longer to reach her level of maturity. She's really quite lucky to have found the zen place for herself at this age. My brother has joined the airforce and will be an enlisted member later this winter! We can barely believe the changes in life, but it's really mostly relieving to see all of these positive changes for everyone this fall.
The house in Ankeny is on the market and we are still house hunting up here. Holy hell, 4000 property taxes are unreal. Just paid our KC taxes for $1402.00. Though I knew KC was an anomaly, it's going to be weird to make our escrow payments on a new mortgage.
My sister got a scholarship to ISU for the fall and had her scholarship essay on display. 8 semesters of tuition scholarship as long as she maintains a normal GPA. So far, it sounds like the cheerleading squad in Cyclone world is going to take over most of her life. Practice goes from 430-1030PM each day. That doesn't seem realistic, but she said it has built-in study time into it. We've already planned our ISU game visits for the season so we can watch her on the field. That part seems unreal, but I'm going to love being back at Jack-Trice for some more games this fall.
Jade has changed a lot in the last 6 months. I can really see a drastic maturity level switch for her, which is lucky. It took me a lot longer to reach her level of maturity. She's really quite lucky to have found the zen place for herself at this age. My brother has joined the airforce and will be an enlisted member later this winter! We can barely believe the changes in life, but it's really mostly relieving to see all of these positive changes for everyone this fall.
The house in Ankeny is on the market and we are still house hunting up here. Holy hell, 4000 property taxes are unreal. Just paid our KC taxes for $1402.00. Though I knew KC was an anomaly, it's going to be weird to make our escrow payments on a new mortgage.
Friday, June 10, 2011
I can heeeaaarr yooouuuu
Yes, yes, I can.
I'm getting ready to go to my sister's graduation party, our last event on 1126 for awhile. It's the only house my sister can remember and the only time I remember having people there is for grad parties. The funny thing is, I can hear my grandma's voice, talking about what we need to do to get ready for the party. I can hear her telling me that I need to do all of this cooking or cleaning or something. I can hear it and it's weird, the ony thing we talked about at the last party was CD rates and played cards. We will expect her there tomorrow, but it will just be her ghost.
Regardless of who is there in the past or extraterrestrial or imaginary, this party is going to be pretty darned fun, I can say that much for sure. My sister's friends are funny as hell.
I'm getting ready to go to my sister's graduation party, our last event on 1126 for awhile. It's the only house my sister can remember and the only time I remember having people there is for grad parties. The funny thing is, I can hear my grandma's voice, talking about what we need to do to get ready for the party. I can hear her telling me that I need to do all of this cooking or cleaning or something. I can hear it and it's weird, the ony thing we talked about at the last party was CD rates and played cards. We will expect her there tomorrow, but it will just be her ghost.
Regardless of who is there in the past or extraterrestrial or imaginary, this party is going to be pretty darned fun, I can say that much for sure. My sister's friends are funny as hell.
Tuesday, June 7, 2011
Flowers at work
Ring Ring
This is the florist calling. We have a delivery for you!
Me:But it's not even my anniversary. Or my birthday? I turned to my coworkers: Do you really think someone would delivery flowers to me TWICE? (earlier this year I had a mysterious delivery, which later revealed itself)
So I went downstairs and there was the most beautiful bouquet of flowers of bright pink, bright yellow, deep purple and blue. All in vase, for me.
From the senior vice president. For a job well done.
I went back upstairs and found 50 emails congratulating me for implementing a moment of the core values at work. And one email from the senior vice president, who sent an email to everyone in the building today telling them about my job well done.
The VP sends one message a week, and I was the good employee this time. She doesn't feature employees in her email messages very often, so I feel even more special.
But really, I was just lucky. The right person at the right time intersected with me and was happy. God bless them.
This is the florist calling. We have a delivery for you!
Me:But it's not even my anniversary. Or my birthday? I turned to my coworkers: Do you really think someone would delivery flowers to me TWICE? (earlier this year I had a mysterious delivery, which later revealed itself)
So I went downstairs and there was the most beautiful bouquet of flowers of bright pink, bright yellow, deep purple and blue. All in vase, for me.
From the senior vice president. For a job well done.
I went back upstairs and found 50 emails congratulating me for implementing a moment of the core values at work. And one email from the senior vice president, who sent an email to everyone in the building today telling them about my job well done.
The VP sends one message a week, and I was the good employee this time. She doesn't feature employees in her email messages very often, so I feel even more special.
But really, I was just lucky. The right person at the right time intersected with me and was happy. God bless them.
Sunday, June 5, 2011
Saturday, June 4, 2011
MIT
My friend just got her MBA. From MIT. God, I feel stupid.
I'm having an mental debate between pushing myself to get my MBA and study or just resting for a little bit longer.
Reasons for MBA-
Tons of jobs in my company require it and my advancement opportunities then skyrocket
I would probably learn something
It would be mostly free through work
Reasons for not getting my MBA
studying for the GMAT isn't that much fun
I'd feel really stupid
I have to re-explain the classes that I failed while in my funk
I'd have zero--literally--zero free time
I'm still feeling pretty exhausted
I don't think I can handle the stress of it right now
That's it. I am beating myself up about the stress part of it. Having the mental debate about whether or not I should push myself and feel stressed out or if I should just enjoy life right now. I definitely spent the last 3 years of my life living under a cloud of stress. Sometimes people mention an event that I was attending and all I can remember was feeling stressed out while I was there. Why? Because I knew I should have been working hard on something else that was either at my second job or volunteering.
Or I can't remember being there at all--and it's because I wasn't--I was back at home working instead.
Part of me wonders if this problem would just be resolved if I had a Xanax prescription. I think about going to the doctor sometimes, it's been about 4 years since I last visited any type of doctor and about 6 since I had any type of exam. I'd just beg for Xanax and explain my antsy, stressed out emotions.
I don't want work to overwhelm my life but I also don't want to feel lazy and lame, either. Someone just shoot me!!
I'm having an mental debate between pushing myself to get my MBA and study or just resting for a little bit longer.
Reasons for MBA-
Tons of jobs in my company require it and my advancement opportunities then skyrocket
I would probably learn something
It would be mostly free through work
Reasons for not getting my MBA
studying for the GMAT isn't that much fun
I'd feel really stupid
I have to re-explain the classes that I failed while in my funk
I'd have zero--literally--zero free time
I'm still feeling pretty exhausted
I don't think I can handle the stress of it right now
That's it. I am beating myself up about the stress part of it. Having the mental debate about whether or not I should push myself and feel stressed out or if I should just enjoy life right now. I definitely spent the last 3 years of my life living under a cloud of stress. Sometimes people mention an event that I was attending and all I can remember was feeling stressed out while I was there. Why? Because I knew I should have been working hard on something else that was either at my second job or volunteering.
Or I can't remember being there at all--and it's because I wasn't--I was back at home working instead.
Part of me wonders if this problem would just be resolved if I had a Xanax prescription. I think about going to the doctor sometimes, it's been about 4 years since I last visited any type of doctor and about 6 since I had any type of exam. I'd just beg for Xanax and explain my antsy, stressed out emotions.
I don't want work to overwhelm my life but I also don't want to feel lazy and lame, either. Someone just shoot me!!
Cafeteria
I caught myself nearly asking someone that works in the sales department of General Mills when their stock price would go back up. Complete stranger. Yep. Good idea to ask her about the stock price of her company while at a bar on Friday night when she's clearly trying to pick up men. Great idea.
We ate cotton candy, celebrated Lee's birthday, met her phantom boyfriend and had a lovely time. I heart MN and I'm glad we have entered permanent summer, where we will go camping three times and tomorrow, I'm going to the beach.
The water will be too cold, but what the hell. I hope the baby Scarlett likes it.
Thursday, June 2, 2011
Dessa poetry reading
here it comes.... I should go now.
I will not let work rule my life, I will not let work rule my life. I will stop obsessing about work. I will stop obsessing about work.
I will not let work rule my life, I will not let work rule my life. I will stop obsessing about work. I will stop obsessing about work.
Wednesday, June 1, 2011
William Butler Yeats
Reposted here!
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