It started with Ben waking me up 8 days ago with a HAREBRAINED IDEA, in the middle somewhere there was about 10 minutes when I thought we’d be stuck in our bedroom FOR THE REST OF OUR LIVES and then ends with me covered in paint and READY FOR BED.

We started with this:

And ended with this:

The journey along the way was… terrific.

Somewhere in all this terrificness we accidentally bought this too:

It’s pretty awesome and will go in the living room to get rid of the horrid gold pool table lamp the previous owners had. We don’t have a pool table and I REALLY HATE gold fixtures and after 2.5 years I will not be sad to see it go. At all. It’s been ruining perfectly good pictures for TOO LONG.

It will be here in a week and because it has to be installed in the middle of the ceiling TWO FLOORS UP, we are going to pay our badass (and cheap) handy man to install it. We don’t have a ladder that goes that high and honestly, if we take eight days and 75,398 cuss words to install ONE DOOR, we really have no business being that far off the ground. With electricity.

GOOD NIGHT!

- Thank you for subscribing to my RSS feed at aflux.net! - Drop by and leave a comment on In which I want to punch every HGTV host who’s ever said “You can do it, it’s so easy!” right in the face.. - If you have a blog, please let me know so that I can learn about you too. - Check me out and add me on twitter, facebook, flickr and more.

I have all these things, these material things that sit unused on shelves, or tucked into little corners of the house or shoved under the seat in my car. Thousands of dollars worth of THINGS. Unused, uncared about, unnoticed and completely unnecessary. Last weekend, on a whim, I ransacked my closet and got rid of anything I couldn’t remember having worn in a year. There was a lot more I could have gotten rid of, but, baby steps. Then I made Cassidy do the same thing and she got rid of more than I did. Off to the Goodwill it all went. I always have Cassidy go with me when I donate stuff. I think it’s important that people she be a part of that. I did some searching the other day though and found a battered women’s shelter in a nearby town so this weekend, when I do another purge, that’s where we’ll be taking them all.

Then I’m going to move onto some of the big ticket items. I realized on a daily basis I carry around about $2300 worth or stuff between the purse, DSLR + accessories, Flip, iPhone, etc. It’s silly. But, unfortunately it’s all stuff I’d feel lost without. The spare iPhone that’s been sitting there unused for a year, the two Window’s smart phones, the HD mini camcorder… not so much! I don’t need five Coach purses, I don’t need 10 pairs of black strappy heels, I just don’t. So I’m going to start getting rid of these things. Sell some on Ebay, Craigslist, some of it I’ll just give away. We could use the money right now for sure, bit good karma can be just as important.

There is so much more though. The guest bedroom is full of boxes we haven’t unpacked since we moved a year and a half ago! THINGS! I haven’t used my desktop for anything other than data storage and a print server in over a year. THINGS! We have a cat house that the cat’s haven’t cared about just sitting there (although, moving it upstairs where they always are might help), extra dog crates, the list just goes on and on and on.

After The Purge, The Decorating will once again commence. Looking at Brittney‘s pretty pictures of her house inspired me. The clean, uncluttered, pretties are what I want in a home. Keyword: UNCLUTTERED.

I can’t wait. And of course, I’ll take lots of pictures along the way.

- Thank you for subscribing to my RSS feed at aflux.net! - Drop by and leave a comment on Purge. - If you have a blog, please let me know so that I can learn about you too. - Check me out and add me on twitter, facebook, flickr and more.

We have a badass backyard.

When we first moved into the house we had a pond in the back. I was so looking forward to getting it all fixed up and running and the sound of the water and the frogs and possibly fish and… no. It was just one disaster after another. First the pump died so we had somebody come out to install a new one. (Actually, something good came out of that step! We bought the shopvac which we’ve since found a ton of uses for.) Then once it was all up and running and pretty and stuff it started leaking. And just GAH! We tried to track the leak, thought maybe it was just a hole in the lining, so one Saturday afternoon we started digging to find the hole and pretty soon the hole was four feet deep and five feet wide and IS THERE AN END TO THIS DAMN HOLE! And it’s not just the digging! There’s the ROCKS! There are SO. MANY. ROCKS.

Then it sat. For probably a month it sat.

We tossed around the idea of trying to fix it or just fill it up and sod over it or just throw a couple gallons of nitroglycerin in there and hope for a very strong wind to blow through and in the end sod seemed like the most logical, cost effective and dog friendly solution.

Ben spent a LOT of time over the next two or so weeks filling up the hole with trucks full of dirt, ripping out monster grass plants that were determined to stay, prepping the rock hard clay around the pond area and cussing. And buying tools. And sweating. He was dirty and sweaty and cussing and I have to admit here that a small part of me kind of liked coming home to that. heh ENOUGH OF THAT! Get your minds out of the gutter, people!

Finally, last week he was able to switch to topsoil and finished up prepping the area so that Saturday we could lay down the sod. And we did. We laid that sod GOOD. We kicked that sod’s ASS.

And I spent the next two days laying on my back and alternating between cooling pads, the massager and heavy doses of pain killers because, dude, that sod KICKED MY ASS. Did you know that a little roll of sod weighs over 50 pounds and we moved 15 of them from the pallet to the back of the truck, then the back of the truck to a spot in the backyard, then a spot in the backyard to where they were finally laid to rest for ALL OF ETERNITY. And they really have to guesstimate the weight because the wetter they are, the more they weigh and we had a few that were REALLY wet. So with the guestimate weight and the number of times we had to move it we lifted a combined total of 2250 POUNDS OF GRASS. And if that sentence were, like, you know, about “grass” *wink wink nudge nudge* I’d probably feel all happy right now but it wasn’t, it was, you know… GRASS. So after going to pick up the 2000th pound of grass I must have lifted wrong. Or maybe it was swinging the mallet into the four inch thick tree posts, all eight of them, so that I could pull them out of the ground. Or maybe it was the way I threw myself into the chair when I took a break but whatever it was, my ass: KICKED.

I’m okay now though because WE HAVE A BADASS BACKYARD.

Ben had to go yesterday and get one final roll of sod to fill in some of the edge spots and he’s been dilligently watching over it and watering it three times a day and it looks AWESOME. He’s also pulled out some more of the crappy looking plants and “installed” a new plant where the old waterfall used to be. He did a great job of building that place back up with rock and planted some ground cover there with PINK FLOWERS that will eventually “flow over” that rock and look beautiful.

When we first moved in I was SO in love with the backyard. I couldn’t imagine how it could possibly get any better but, MAN, has it gotten better. And I love it. And it’s only going to get better. And Ben has been the driving force. And have I written lately about how much I love that man?

- Thank you for subscribing to my RSS feed at aflux.net! - Drop by and leave a comment on The grass REALLY IS GREENER!. - If you have a blog, please let me know so that I can learn about you too. - Check me out and add me on twitter, facebook, flickr and more.

• I have a very small hairline fracture on my ankle. That in itself isn’t painful. The severe sprain has me still limping around in a brace over a week later. I wish there was some awesome story or explanation how I was doing something REALLY COOL and REALLY FUN and REALLY NEAT but there isn’t. I fell getting out of the truck. In front of people. Who just watched me fall, severely sprain my ankle, and fracture it a little, and then they all turned around and walked away. THE END!
• Cassidy is totally turning into a TWEEN. There are a lot of things I looked forward to when I became a mom… first steps, first words, first day of school, it was going to be all fun and smiles and swings and cartwheels. Then she turned 10 and was all HA HA JOKES ON YOU, SUCKER! There’s too much to post about this under the scope of a single bullet. THE END!
• KC the cat and Hans are complete and total lazy asses. Hans spent ALL DAY SATURDAY on our bed asleep. KC hasn’t moved off the same couch cushion in two days. THE END!
• Ben is the most patient, understanding, ball of fantastic ever to grace the face of our fine planet. And also, falling asleep next to his warm body is the highlight of my day. THE END!

House Updates:

• We ordered blinds from Home Depot. Yes, I own Home Depot a letter of apology. Six blinds to go on the upper windows all over the top of the living room. We also paid for installation because ladders, heavy awkward wooden blinds, and blond don’t mix. I’m really excited for them to get here and be installed. They will help a lot with the sunlight that you can’t escape in the afternoons and also keep the heat out some in the summer.
• We also have a quote from a landscaper to come in and fix some sprinklers and clean out the pond, install a new pump and get it all up and running again.
• We’ve been slowly cleaning out the yards. Trimming bushes, mowing lawns, cutting down trees, this list is really endless so I’ll just stop there. It’s looking good and will only be getting better as the weekends pass!

Misc Updates:

• I forgot to mention the severe hives attack I had for about two weeks. It sucked. I went an ENTIRE WEEK with ZERO wheat, the hives went away, I laid in the bed in a fetal position and cried. I’ve very slowly started introducing some back into my diet, but not much. MUCH less than I was eating before. Being allergic to wheat is about a fun as having your teeth knocked out one at a time. With a jackhammer.
• I have become slightly obsessed with YouTube. Specifically, makeup guru videos. I have a few favorites and I have a blog post half written to point you to some of the best ones. Also, I finally broke my six month No Makeup Buying Binge and got a few things. I also have a blog post partly written about that because I’ve found some AMAZING stuff for AMAZING deals and I want to share.
• If I were a teenage girl, I’d totally have a poster of Adam Lambert on my wall. Best Idol by far this season. He makes it seem as if singing is just… effortless. TEAM ADAM!
• If you haven’t yet, check out Castle. Nathan Fillion is so awesome. I’ve had a nerd crush on him since I fell in love with Serenity and Firefly and he’s every bit as awesome in Castle.
• Heather Armstrong is going to be in Mountain View tomorrow and I’ve been trying to fit her book signing into my schedule but it’s so late and 40 miles from home where I’ll be then. It’s only 12 miles from work but I’d have to find something to do for five hours before the signing. DILEMMA!
• I need to charge the DSLR batteries. For serious.
• THE END!

- Thank you for subscribing to my RSS feed at aflux.net! - Drop by and leave a comment on In which I use bullets to distract you from the fact that I haven’t posted in a month.. - If you have a blog, please let me know so that I can learn about you too. - Check me out and add me on twitter, facebook, flickr and more.

We’ve been busy, busy, busy working on the house. Ben’s been painting the garage and I’ve been trying to get the last of the unpacking done and the back yard cleaned up more. There’s pictures of all of it if you click on one of the flickr photos up there.

Other than that, things have been pretty much normal and everyday grind type of stuff.

Weekdays: Get up, work, gym, homework, dinner, sleep, rinse, repeat.
Weekends: Get up, work on house, eat, work on house, eat again, work on house some more, pass out exhausted on the couch, watch TV, sleep, rinse, repeat.

I kinda feel bad about not blogging as much though so I’ve decided to start video taping more and posting them here and there and all across the web for you awesome people to enjoy. Here is a little gem that happened Monday after school.

Happy Wednesday! FOUR DAY WEEKEND AHEAD! YAY!!

- Thank you for subscribing to my RSS feed at aflux.net! - Drop by and leave a comment on Hard work has a future. Laziness pays off now.. - If you have a blog, please let me know so that I can learn about you too. - Check me out and add me on twitter, facebook, flickr and more.

I deactivated Intense Debate. It hurt my heart a little to do it because all the folks there have been REALLY AWESOME with my constant desire to FIX THIS! AND NOW THAT! But aflux’s load times with ID deactivated is MUCH better. Much.

Also, it was causing about 111 validation errors and apparently that’s like, really, really important to some anonymous people on the internet. *nods*

Unfortunately, the process to import all those comments back into the WordPress database via the control panel is causing a memory error and until I can call my host to have that fixed, they have all disappeared. If I get time I’ll do it today but I just wanted to let you all know I haven’t deleted you! Just kinda hidden you in the back of a closet till I can find the time to organize you all neatly again.

I also got rid if IZEA’s ad over there *points right*. It was a “test ad” that they used to create some data points. I will miss it though because it was bringing in some decent money but, meh. It was causing validation errors also, and again, VERY IMPORTANT to be XHTML compliant if the original theme developer puts a link there!

And yeah, I need to add some kind of styling to the tweets and delicious feeds but they’ve taken a pretty big back seat to all the damn house drama. I’ve neglected pretty much every online project and community over the last few weeks (excluding Twitter of course, I’m busy, not DEAD).

By the way, did I mention?!

WE ARE HOMEOWNERS! We got keys yesterday and found a reason to get over to the house last night and took some clothes and food over with us. There is SO MUCH I want to write about the process of buying our first home. SO. FUCKING. MUCH. But today I need to just concentrate on getting work done, then getting home to pack the last of the stuff up before the movers come tomorrow.

Happy Wednesday, all!

- Thank you for subscribing to my RSS feed at aflux.net! - Drop by and leave a comment on If you don’t want to do something, one excuse is as good as another.. - If you have a blog, please let me know so that I can learn about you too. - Check me out and add me on twitter, facebook, flickr and more.

OMG WE JUST BOUGHT A HOUSE.

Thank you all for the kind words and encouragement in the comments of the last post. I REALLY needed to remember that there was actually reason for all this misery because I was being a whiny brat.

Now I’m going to go drink a glass of wine. Or nine.

- Thank you for subscribing to my RSS feed at aflux.net! - Drop by and leave a comment on Das Ende.. - If you have a blog, please let me know so that I can learn about you too. - Check me out and add me on twitter, facebook, flickr and more.

If anybody told me that it was going to be an stressful as it is, I don’t know that I’d have followed through. It’s one fucking hoop to jump through after the other, which in normal circumstances wouldn’t be so bad, and I’m so over hoops. And it’s not just, “Oh hey, we have this hoop we want you to jump through.” Instead it’s, “Hey we have this flaming hoop and we need you to jump through it backwards while doing a headstand on a three legged retarded giraffe, okay? No biggie. But if you could just get that done 10 minutes ago and fax me the proof? THANKS!”

We were supposed to close yesterday but instead we were thrown this curve ball and it’s been hoop after hoop after hoop today, and assuming that no other bullshit hoops get thrown in our path, we should be able to sign by Friday. Please keep your fingers crossed for us… We really need the extra love right now.

- Thank you for subscribing to my RSS feed at aflux.net! - Drop by and leave a comment on Stress: The confusion created when one’s mind overrides the body’s basic desire to choke the living daylights out of some jerk who desperately deserves it.. - If you have a blog, please let me know so that I can learn about you too. - Check me out and add me on twitter, facebook, flickr and more.

I just wanted to let you all know what was going on on THAT front. So far so good, and when I know more, I’ll let you know too!

But that’s not what I sat down to write about.

Ben and I are SO HAPPY about this house. And even if we don’t get THIS HOUSE and it ends up being another one, we’ll still be SO HAPPY because eventually we WILL find The One. And it WILL probably be in Morgan Hill or Gilroy. And goddamnit I wish people would stop making this ALL ABOUT THAT LAST POINT.

Of the 40 people I’ve told about ths house, 32 of them responded with:

- Wow, that’s so far.
- That’s a LONG drive.
- Gilroy is so far away.
- Man, you’re going to get tired of that drive.

And seriously people, JUST STOP. When a woman tells you she’s pregnant you don’t respond with “OMG you’re going to get FAT!”. If you did she’d probably smack you upside the head. I don’t know why some of you think that it’s okay to respond to such life changing event, like buying your first home, in such a negative way. PLEASE DON’T DIRECT YOUR NEGATIVITY AT ME.

The thing I don’t get is that a lot, if not all of these people know how Ben and I met. How he used to drive 1000 miles a WEEK to see me. How he’d leave work at 3:00PM on a Wednesday, drive 240 miles to eat dinner with me, sleep, then wake up at 4:00AM to drive 240 miles back home to work. Then he’d be back again on Friday night and gone again Monday morning. 1000 miles a WEEK. To see me. You think he’s going to let a 20 mile commute keep him from something he loves? Something he want’s so badly? If you do, you really don’t know either of us as well as you think.

My dad and Cherie have been SO helpful in this process. Seriously, we would not be where we are now in this process without their constant guidance, support, and 10 billion emails and phone calls back and forth. He’s voiced his opinion about my commute, but also been SO POSITIVE and suportive and encouraging. THAT is what I want. I want people to, of course, DISCUSS the issues with me but STOP making it all about how sorry I’m going to be when I have to drive to work every day. For the record, as soon as the inspections are passed and we are a positive go on the house, I’m going to seriously start looking for jobs in either that area or southern San Jose.

Yes, we are going into this whole home buying thing blind, but we aren’t complete fools. We have REALLY thought out the pros and cons of moving farther south then we already are. We have spent many long discussions hammering out these details and thinking this stuff through and please, JUST BE HAPPY FOR US.

PS – This is not directed to any of my online girls, you all rock hardcore and have been so supportive. This is people in real life that have been, in general, not very thoughtful when reacting to the news.

*Title quote: Thich Nhat Hanh

- Thank you for subscribing to my RSS feed at aflux.net! - Drop by and leave a comment on People deal too much with the negative, with what is wrong. Why not try and see positive things, to just touch those things and make them bloom?. - If you have a blog, please let me know so that I can learn about you too. - Check me out and add me on twitter, facebook, flickr and more.

It’s THE HOUSE. Ben and I both loved it and I seriously figured we’d have to look at 179 houses over a year period to find a house we both loved because we can have such differing taste when it comes to this kind of stuff. We found it much sooner though, it was around house 17. It’s actually the second house that we put an offer on but I don’t really want to go into the FIRST house because it was stressful and FAST and all could have been made much better if the lending company hadn’t put a wrong loan amount on our offer letter. I mean, being a little off is one thing but they sent a letter showing that we had $300,000 LESS FUNDING than we actually do. It was just a big mess. BIG MESS!

Anyway, we put an offer on this house and I have my fingers crossed and this post is really just to ask you to do the same because I REALLY WANT THIS ONE. Alot, alot.

Maybe tomorrow I’ll post the expense progression post. Every time I look at homes around here I’m reminded what a cool deal we’re getting (assuming we get it) and how much I’m looking forward to our family moving into this new home and seeing where this new adventure will lead us.

*crosses fingers*

- Thank you for subscribing to my RSS feed at aflux.net! - Drop by and leave a comment on This suspense is terrible. I hope it will last.. - If you have a blog, please let me know so that I can learn about you too. - Check me out and add me on twitter, facebook, flickr and more.