Tidbits

I don't like to go days or weeks without blogging, but sometimes it seems we go days or week without anything newsworthy happening. Or else I'm lazy or I forget. :o) We had friends over for lunch today. We bought a grill last week, put it together yesterday ("Assembles easily with only a screwdriver!" ... Liars!). But it works (though there was one fireball incident), and we've cooked three straight meals out there. Yes, even breakfast this morning. Who knew that buying a grill would get hubby so excited about cooking that I may well have a personal chef all summer?! Money well spent.

Tomorrow we're planning to see movies; the boys will watch the new "Star Wars" and Amy and I will see something else. Maybe "Sisterhood of the Traveling Pants" or "Madagascar" or "Monster in Law."

Speaking of movies, we joined the Blockbuster Online DVD rental program. We used Netflix last year and were really happy with the service. The movies came next day, which is the best turn-around one can hope for. However, they jacked up their price about the time that the new TV season was starting last summer, so we cancelled the service. Now that the TV season is over, we're ready to start again, but thought we'd try Blockbuster this time. They're $3/mo cheaper than Netflix ($14.99 rather than $17.99) and you get two in-store rentals each month. Since we have a BB about a mile from us, that's really convenient. HOWEVER, the movies they sent Friday didn't arrive today (Saturday). They'll probably come Monday, which means they have a TWO-day turn-around. That may be a significant issue. We'll see how we feel after the free trial.

I think Amy and I will go for a very early morning horseback ride on Monday. Then Ken and I have to go to the sheriff's office to have our live scan fingerprinting done for our Notary Public commissioning. I'm pretty excited about the Notary thing. We passed the test and are now working on our signing agent certification. Could be a great way to make some extra money. We'll see. Anyway, the process to get commissioned isn't a cakewalk; takes time and hundreds of dollars for seminars, testing, supplies and miscellaneous expenses. But it's pretty exciting to learn something new. I really miss school. I loved buying school supplies and new clothes and learning who would be in my classes and all that excellent stuff that goes with education. Ken thinks I'm crazy when I get all worked up over pencil grips and Trapper Keepers. If it paid well, I'd just be a professional student. *sigh*

We're spending more and more time lately fantasizing about owning property, something that is completely out of reach in Southern California. I can't imagine having a $600,000 mortgage for a 1,200 sq. ft. house built in 1971 on a postage stamp-sized lot. It's just sickening. I keep hoping that my company will go virtual so that we can move somewhere affordable. But right now we're in a good situation with high-cost area incomes and fairly low cost housing here on campus (low cost is relative; our rent is about $1,200/mo, which is more than most of my out-of-state friends pay on their mortgages). But if we have to move off-campus for any reason, we'll probably have to leave the state, because we can't afford to pay $2,500/mo rent for a comparable space off-campus. God-willing, by the time we have kids, we'll have at least five acres for them to play on. Kids need dirt to play in and animals to play with, pools and treehouses and forts. Good stuff. I miss that.