Calgon! Take me away!

This has been one of those days. Nothing bad, mind you, but I've been in turbo boost mode all day. Wake up, pack Ken's lunch, eat breakfast, input corrections for the magazine, dust and pack up the (100 lb.) keyboard, gather all items for shipping that we sold on eBay over the weekend, load into truck, shower, dress, input more magazine corrections, drive to Paseo Mail Stop in Camarillo to have items (keyboard, amp, bass head, pedal board) professionally packaged for shipping, drive to Oxnard to meet Ken for lunch and pick up pick-ups which also have to be shipped, drive to work to finish magazine and package two other items for shipping, rush home to print/scan docs for 4 p.m. loan signing, drive back to Camarillo to fill out shipping request on keyboard and pedal board, drive back to Newbury for the loan signing, drive home to triple check and pack docs, drive to Westlake FedEx to drop docs, drive back home. I really don't feel like cooking supper. :o)

Back in School

I had my first bass lesson with Master Ken this afternoon. It's pretty fun. He says I have the key skill of a good bass player — rhythm. I knew that already, but it was good to hear. :o) Figures I'd suddenly decide I'm interested in playing bass the day the bass head and cabinet are set to close on eBay. Oh well. Ken will keep his primary bass (he sold the Marcus Miller last weekend), and we can plug it into a guitar amp (with headphones in the new place). So, we'll see if my interest holds up. Bass isn't as intimidating as guitar, so I think I'll be safe against getting too overwhelmed.

Well, we did it!

Today we put 3% down and turned in our escrow paperwork to buy the condo. We're really excited, because in addition to a nice, new place to live, it's likely to be a money-maker. New construction appreciates about 50% faster than existing housing in the first five to 10 years, and since we're only planning to stay about five years, then it should work perfectly. Nothing's guaranteed, of course; nothing ever is. But it's a pretty good bet. Now we wait for the lender to contact us to start loan processing. After that, we just sit and wait for the construction to complete (maybe September?). We'll probably close escrow and move in November/December. Sooner would be nice, but the delay gives us that much more time to save money!

Brookshire

Ken and I are planning to buy a condo. They're new construction, slated to be ready in November. Here's the ground floor of the first building; our unit will be on the far right side of this photo.

Stairway to Heaven

The tall thing sticking up is the staircase leading to the second floor, where our unit will be. The three windows you see right above that orange post will be duplicated directly above; that's the Great Room windows.

Yesterday was my birthday, and I had a really great one. Mom had the beautiful flowers delivered to my office, which was a real treat, because who wants to work on their birthday? My boss also took me to lunch, which was wonderful. I'd been craving curried tofu. When Lori and the kids were here, they bought this gorgeous blue table setting and had it all arranged like this when I came home from work one day. What a fun surprise!

And Ken got me this totally cool apron I'd been eyeing at Anthropologie. Plus a certificate for an hour massage. And we ate at Claim Jumper. Yum!

Happy Birthday to ME!

I can't believe I'm 32. Where does the time go? Am I who/where I should be right now? I guess I never really made a plan for my life, so I can't be off schedule, right? I decided a long time ago that making plans is pointless because God always stirs the pot and laughs at my agenda.

I'm pretty content. I love my job. I love my husband. But I still have room to grow spiritually and financially. Perhaps those will be my goals this year. Maybe this will be a pivotal year — buy a house? have a baby? Or maybe none of that will work out and God will lead us in an entirely different direction that we can imagine now.

Today I'll have a massage; part of my birthday present from Ken. Perhaps I'll have lunch with my coworkers. Then tonight Ken and I will go to dinner. I haven't decided where. Then I think I'd like to see "Failure to Launch." A little Matthew on the birthday can't be a bad thing, huh?

Summary of Recent Stuff

Sorry for the long silence. We've been busy! Besides regular business, we have a lot going on, and yet not much at all. Many pots on the stove, but nothing ready to eat, so to speak. Ken's parents visited for fives days a couple weekends ago. Then his sister and her kids came for a week during their spring break. Had a great time with them; only wish the weather would've been better for touristy activities.

We're in the process of trying to buy a condo. It's new construction, and won't be ready til November, at least. We're just hoping to get in, because there's a long wait-list. The prices goes up by $15-20K with each phase release, so we need to get a contract soon before we're priced out.

Ken and eight or so of his co-workers got laid off a couple weeks ago. But then the company realized how stupid it was to let him go, so they've hired him back (with some sucking up and a raise). He'll probably get some overtime, too. In fact, he's going to work today (Sunday) after we enjoy the Sunday brunch at the Alamo.

We're headed to Hawaii for 10 days in May (5 in Oahu and 5 on the Big Island); can't wait for the night-time manta ray dive! Then Ken starts school after the trip (Computer Network Systems Engineering). That's a reasonable summary of our latest adventures. :o)

Sandy

Went to Loma Linda recently to a family reunion (at which I took no photos, unfortunately). Then to Redlands to visit Sandy. She's enjoying her dietician work and spending time with a nice guy. I spent the night at her place and then to IHOP for breakfast. I think it was IHOP, anyway. I've already forgotten.

Pretty Sunset

Saw a pretty sunset while driving home from work recently.

Ken's sister, Lori, and her kids, Lauren and Brendon, came to visit for the week of their spring break. Most days the weather was bad. This day we went to Malibu; the wind was fierce, but at least it was sunny. Lori's keeping a watchful eye on the swimmers.

Parental Visit

Mom and Dad Adams came for a visit a couple of weekends ago. It was so nice to have them here; we wish they could've stayed longer. But now we can look forward to their next visit!

While they were here, Ken and Dad replaced the faucet in the kitchen. The new one has a pull-off hose and doesn't soak us everytime we turn it on. Nice touch.

Dad the handy-man wriggled his way under that dirty old sink. He showed the patience and perseverance of a saint.

VolunteerMatch: Where Volunteering Begins

VolunteerMatch: Where Volunteering Begins is a site where anybody (individuals, groups, young, old) can look up opportunities for helping others. Ever feel like your life just revolves around yourself? Wonder where the people who sometimes appear on Oprah get the ideas for their service projects? VolunteerMatch is a good starting place.

Nescafe Rain

The morning started off right. It's sunny and the birds are singing. It's cool out, so I thought I'd make my sissy coffee drink, half hot chocolate, half instant coffee. Ken is a coffee snob, so the instant stuff is just for guests and me. Anyway, you know how granulated stuff seems to settle and needs stirred or shaken to make sure you're getting an even spoonful? Yes, well, I decided shaking it would be easy, but didn't think to secure the flip top. I shook with a burst of gusto that only a bright, sunny morning inspires, and now the counters, sink, and floor, my hair, sweatshirt, the water filtering pitcher that I had filling in the sink — all covered in mounds of Taster's Choice crystals. Fortunately for me, Ken had left for work moments before. This is the sort of incident where he would half-heartedly try not to be obvious about wondering how on earth I got to be such an idiot, especially when I burst out in hysterical laughter. :o) Anyway, wish I had taken a photo before I cleaned it up.

Fred's 40th Birthday Party

Fred and Andrea, friends of ours from church, invited us along on their celebration of Fred's 40th birthday. They rented a couple of limos to transport everybody to Tra di Noi in Malibu. It was a lovely evening; 24 or so of us, I think. The food was good, but no better than, say, Buca di Beppo. BUT, I had a raspberry tart for dessert that was to die for. Anyway, a delightful evening with lovely people.

Ken and I, looking sleepy after enjoying some good eats!

Taylor T5

Ken got a new toy Friday — a Taylor T5 acoustic electric guitar. He's been lusting after it since it came out and finally decided it was time to get one. He likes it except for the off-balance neck (which is very heavy, so it ends up pointing at your toes if you don't support it). He says that might be a deal-breaker, and he's got 30 days to return it. Today he bought an amp to go with it; they'll either both stay or both go. Now we have to get all his other gear listed on eBay to pay for these lovlies. :o)

A Summit on Identity Theft Solutions

Thursday I attended A Summit on Identity Theft Solutions presented by the state. The draw was a meeting for notaries, but it ended up being presented by the NNA and was much a repeat of my notary training class. But I also attended two other seminars ("Identity Theft Protection Tips for Consumers" and "Protecting Your Privacy Online") which both contained useful info. For consumers, Mari Frank recommended using credit cards rather than the Debit Mastercard/Visa cards as they offer better protection. She also recommended checking your credit report annually from each of the three bureaus. You can do it online at AnnualCreditReport.com. To protect your privacy online, panelists said that you MUST run both a firewall and antivirus software — and keep them up-to-date. They recommended the Zone Alarm Suite. It just really boggles my mind how people can be such snakes as to steal identity.

Fresh air

It's sunny out today, albiet windy and cold. But we decided to get a bit of fresh air anyway.

and a little song....

We decided to do a little singing whilst enjoying the sunshine.

Martha and Jim's 40th

At the end of January I flew to Baton Rouge for my sister's 40th anniversary surprise party. It was delightful; her kids put a TON of work into it, and the whole thing was a roaring success. Here Martha and Jim cut their cake (which was almond, and so very good).

Cheesecake Bistro

Ned, Merilyn, mom and I ate lunch Monday before I headed out. As you see, we'd parked the car under a tree that was apparently very popular with the birds.

New Orleans

Ned drove me back to the New Orleans airport for my flight out. We had some extra time, so we drove through some of the flood-damaged parts of the city. Here you can see the FEMA markings and the waterline just under the rooftop.

Taylor Guitars

During the annual North American Music Merchants show in January, Ken enjoying touring the Taylor Guitars booth (if you can call a 2,000-sq. ft. room a "booth"). These are a few of their artsy pieces...

RKS at NAMM

The RKS team spent many hours finishing about 50 custom pieces for the show, and the booth was a huge success.

Open Source Office Suite

These are two recommended software packages: the first, OpenOffice, is much like Microsoft's Office Suite. Except it's free. I haven't used it myself, but hear it gets excellent reviews. The second, CutePDF, has a free PDF writer. Save yourself the Adobe Acrobat purchase of $250 or so bucks if all you need is to create PDFs.

This has been one of those days that I feel like I've had a metaphorical dump truck of manure unloaded on my head. But, this, too, shall pass.

Podfitness :: Your Music. Your Workout. Your Way.

Podfitness. How high tech are we? This site is set to launch EOM and I'm really interested to see what it's like. I assume it'll be much like a workout version of iTunes, and I would hope the cost wouldn't be much more than that, either. I applied to Beta test it; waiting to hear if I qualify. Guess I'll have to borrow hubby's iPod (or get my own!).