Another Saturday Night.......

Just to let you all (I mean y'all) know how exciting of a life I have, I'm back at Panera for the 2nd time today because I'm an internet junkie and I need to feel connected to something/someone since I have no connection to the outside world at home except my radio. Ugh. I spent the afternoon at Hobby Lobby and Home Depot (I actually saw Isaac in the millwork department again today - we're on a first name basis at this point and he remembered that I was from Minnesota!). I am so pathetic in that store, that in about a month, I will be on a first name basis with the entire staff. Both the Lowe's and Home Depot in Arlington are WONDERFUL and their staff is top notch and gave me all the answers I needed. I'm going to become a home improvement guru pretty soon! In a year, you can all (sorry - y'all, I need to starting learning how to talk down here so I stop getting made fun of) call me and quiz me!

Today my purchases were new locks for the front and back door, a different size of plexiglass to work with the doggy door installation, grippy stuff for the stepstool for the doggy door (I don't want Maggie to slip on the stepstool in the rain), nails for hanging decorations (once they FINALLY arrive), and I think that's it. Soon I'll be done with all this start-up shopping (yeah right) and I can actually keep my bank account steady. :)

I was soooo proud of myself today (I know you're all going to groan) - I used my new 6' ladder and changed lightbulbs and fixtures myself!! I realize that that sounds ridiculously easy, but I'm kind of new at this whole home improvement thing and it was a small victory and definitely a confidence booster. Tomorrow I'm going to attempt to change the locks myself - yikes! If anyone wants to hear a lot of swear words, just come to Arlington and you'll hear a ton, I'm sure of it.

Random Texas Observations:

1. There is a store between my house and Panera that is called Condom World - it's an entire store for condoms (well, I'm sure there's more in there)! I'm going to take a picture now so that I can post it when my cord gets here.....

2. People have horses in their yards in random residential neighborhoods - very bizarre!

3. I live down a side street from the new Dallas Cowboys stadium that is being built right now, as well as Six Flags Over Texas, Hurricane Harbor water park, and the Texas Rangers baseball stadium. All of those places are about 10 minutes away. Anyone want to visit????

4. The bluebonnets are in full bloom in the ditches along the freeways!

Well, I guess I need to sign off - Panera closes in 15 minutes. :(

Weekend in Limbo

OK, the things I do to stay connected. I don't have internet access hooked up yet, so I'm sitting in Panera just so that I can get WiFi access - I'm a junkie, I admit it.

I am officially in my new house now, but only with the stuff that I brought down here in my car (including Maggie and her new duck toy from Grandma and the doggy raincoat that Allison sent her from Minnesota!). Once I get my camera cord, I'm going to post a pic of Maggie in that yellow raincoat - it's HILARIOUS!! She hates it, just like she hates any kind of clothing besides her collar, but I don't care - I think it's funny. :)

Today my fridgerator and washer/dryer arrived and I love them. My fridge seems a little small, but I had a height limitation to work with (there's a built-in wine rack above where the fridge goes and it's about an inch and a half lower than the clearance for a 'regular' fridge, so I had to get a little bit smaller one). But for those that know my cooking habits, it shouldn't be a problem. :) I love it though, it's the kind that has the freezer on the bottom as a drawer and then the whole top part is the fridge at eye level. Yay! And my washer/dryer are very pretty and they will work out perfectly. My new bedroom furniture comes on Tuesday and the moving company is going to arrive either Monday, Tuesday or Wednesday - I CAN'T WAIT!!!!!!!! The sandals arriveth!!!

The garage door opener guy came as well, but he said that my garage door is bent up and he couldn't install the opener the way it is. Sooooo, now I have to buy a new garage door ($500-$600 or so) and have that installed and then I can get the opener people out here again. It seems to always be something! I was at Lowe's last night until they closed at 10pm, and I got lots of cool stuff - a garden hose, a stepstool for Maggie to use with the doggy door, contact paper for my cupboards, a bathtub stopper, a towel rod, a fiberglass ladder (a 6' ladder fit completely in my little Mazda!), a welcome mat for the front door, a mat for the back door, etc. etc. etc. I was watering my new mystery flowers at 11pm last night - I feel like my crazy Grandma Larsen that used to trim her hedges in the middle of the night!!! Oh well - who cares - no one ever said that the Larsen women were sane............

Update on Maggie - she's a bit confused that we moved again and that there's no furniture (her favorite napping location on the couch hasn't arrived yet), but she's enjoying the carpet (she has traction now) and the staircase (up and down and up and down and....). She is going to the back door to go potty already, so she understands the system. Pretty soon I'm going to change the system and have the doggy door installed - but she's an expert at that too - she's been practicing. :) What a smart wiener I have. She is going to be a very protective wiener at this house. I had a plumber/electrician out yesterday to get some small jobs done around the house and she barked when the doorbell rang, which was good, but every time he went out to his truck and came back in, she barked like he was an intruder. I have the most attentive watchdog known to man!!!! I guess it's a good thing, especially since I have a 2-story house and she hears what's going on downstairs while we're upstairs - those stealth orange ears!

Tomorrow I'm going to try out a church that is here in Arlington (Joel Osteen's brother-in-law is the pastor). We'll see - I've heard great things about it, so I'm optimistic that I'll like it....

I'm a little bit lonely at home over the weekend since I have no furniture, TV, Internet, etc. The only piece of furniture is my air mattress. Yesterday it was 75 and sunny, so I just went out on the back patio and laid on the concrete to soak up some sun and get my overdue dose of vitamin D!

Well, that's about all I know right now - I feel like my head is spinning and I have so much to do, but really, I'm on/ahead of schedule and things are coming together. This is just a TON of freaking work for one person, but I'm so stubborn and a control freak, so I'm going to do it all, even if it kills me!! It's the Larsen way. :)

PS - Sorry there aren't any pics today - it's freezing in this restaurant and I want to get out of here!

Confidential to Golnaz & Dan - HAPPY BIRTHDAY yesterday!!!! I wish I was there to celebrate with both of you (in MN and OH)!!! I hope you had fabulous birthdays!!

Confidential to Tammy (if you are reading this) - THANK YOU THANK YOU THANK YOU for letting me be a part of your family and your home for the last month. I appreciate it more than you know and you have shown me tremendous kindness, generosity and hospitality. Your kids are beautiful and so well-behaved and Derrell is an awesome guy (tell him thanks for the salsa and margarita mix!!) If there's anything I can do to help you guys (sorry - y'all), just let me know. And I really want to invite Katie down for a playdate with Maggie - the doggy door should be installed very soon. :)

Little Pink (...or brick) Houses

Well, it's official - I'm a homeowner!! I closed on my house at 10am and got the keys by noon. I went down there to drop off some stuff and just check it out again, and realized that somebody planted flowers and put mulch in the front of the house around the bushes so it looks pretty and nice. I'm not sure who did that, so it's kind of a mystery! I will probably change it a little eventually, but what a fun surprise!

Thanks to my wonderful friend Beth who supervised, the moving truck was successfully loaded up on Tuesday in Toledo. I guess the driver is adding another load somewhere on the route on Friday, then he will drive to Texas over the weekend and I will have an arrival date of Monday, Tuesday or Wednesday next week. They said that they would call with 24 hours notice...So the end is in sight!!

This Saturday will be super busy - I have lots of deliveries (washer/dryer from Home Depot, fridgerator from Sears, garage door opener installers from Home Depot, and possibly Ashley furniture with my new bedroom already). I will also be doing some grocery shopping (once the fridge is cold enough), Walmart trips, changing locks, trying out a church, planning out where all the furniture is going, etc.

Random Texas Observations:

1. No state income tax coming out of my paychecks is AWESOME!!!

2. Did I mention that it's REALLY windy here???

Confidential to the BBC Club - I miss you guys - enjoy the Bloomington Applebee's for me!! I hope you're continuing my around-the-world-tour of that Applebee's location!!

Almost Paradise

I'm sooooo close to being a homeowner! WEDNESDAY at 10am is the magic time of the closing and I'm a little nervous, but not as much as I thought I would be. I think I've done all the panicking already - I don't have any nerves left so maybe I'll walk into the closing with a margarita in my hand so I can celebrate as soon as I sign away my life. :)

The moving company is loading up the truck in Toledo tomorrow (Tuesday) and it will arrive in Arlington sometime between this Friday and next Wednesday (I know - very large delivery window). I cannot even express in words how excited I am to see the light at the end of the tunnel and know that my stuff is on its way down to Texas. I think I'm going to kiss the boxes as they come in the door!! This has been a very trying process and I'm soooo glad it's almost over. Today I prematurely celebrated moving by going to PetSmart and engraving a new metal collar tag for Maggie with her new address and my new cell phone number. That makes this all official, right??

Well, this weekend was a VERY busy one. My Mom came to visit in Arlington, on her way through the Dallas/Fort Worth area on her way to Minnesota for the summer at the lake. We stayed at a hotel near Six Flags and the Rangers baseball stadium. During her visit, we accomplished a lot as a team: I bought a washer, dryer, fridgerator, garage door opener, doggy door and a whole new master bedroom suite!! We also drove up to Flower Mound where I've been staying so Maggie and my Mom could see each other and play for a while. Then we went to Irving so I could show her where I work. Then it was off to Dallas to go to Sam Moon to do some hard core jewelry/purse shopping. We ate out, hung out in the hotel, and in pure mother/daughter fashion, we went shoe shopping too!! Hey - we have priorities (and I got the shoe addiction from her, so we're dangerous together in a shoe store!!).

For those of you that are in Toledo, you might know that I'm obsessed with finding a new bedroom suite since I sold my other furniture to a friend. I insisted that I would find a four-poster canopy bed and I wouldn't settle for anything less. Well, I bought the furniture at Ashley and I think I'm going to love it! Here's a link to the pictures of what I bought:

http://www.ashleyfurniture.com/Showroom/Showroom.aspx?PageId=Showroom&CategoryID=17&ItemNo=B551-72&SetDomTab=1&SeriesNo=B551&CollectionId=&style=&PageNumber=1&IsClicked=1&CatPageNumber=7

Random Texas Observations:

1. A common phrase that I have heard several times down here is "I tell you what" - and then nothing after it. That's the complete sentence - it's very funny to hear and I usually laugh out loud when someone says it.

2. You get made fun of for calling pop "pop". Down here apparently it's all "Coke" and then the waitress/waiter will ask you what flavor of Coke. This just seems insane to me. I will stick to calling it pop - I'm being true to my Minnesota roots. :)

3. There are virtually NO basements in Texas. People just do not have them - something about the clay and the humidity or something. Anyway, nobody has them. However, EVERYONE has central air conditioning - don't even have to ask, it's just a given.

There's no place like home.....There's no place like home......

Well, I used that Wizard of Oz reference in this post's title for two reasons:

1. I'm going to have a home next Wednesday and I have waiting so long and wanted this so bad - cannot wait!

2. Some tornado activity rolled through the Metroplex (what people around here call the Dallas/Fort Worth area) last night and we had 70 mph straight-line winds, roofs were torn off, and a couple 18-wheelers were actually overturned by the wind. It was insane - but strangely enough, Maggie and I slept through it all!

Update on the house:

Everything is falling into place for me to buy/close on the townhouse in Arlington next Wednesday! I had a home inspection done on Tuesday and there were some things that need to be addressed, but we're going to ask the seller to pay for some of them. Otherwise my financing, the title company, State Farm, the two realtors - everyone is on board and I think things will go really smooth. The closing is on Wednesday and I am having the moving company load everything up in Toledo on Tuesday, which would put the delivery window at next Friday to the following Wednesday. So next weekend I might actually be reunited with my couch and all my shoes!!! Yay! I cannot wait to have my own place down here - it will be nice to stretch out and enjoy getting unpacked and settled. I'm chomping at the bit (ha - a horse term!) to decorate the new place!! I think Maggie will go through some sort of depression when we leave Tammy & Derrell's house here - she loves the kids and their dog - all the action. It will be very quiet for her again at my new house - not sure how she's going to react....I think down the line I'll have to get another wiener......

Well, tomorrow is an exciting day - my Mom is coming to visit on her way through Dallas/Fort Worth, onward towards Minnesota for the summer! I got a hotel room in Arlington and we're going to have a slumber party for the weekend. I am going to take her to Sam Moon (super cute, inexpensive purses and jewelry!), probably the Sixth Floor Museum (located in the building that Lee Harvey Oswald killed Kennedy out of) and the grassy knoll where Kennedy was assassinated, maybe the cattle drive in Fort Worth, driving around Irving and showing her where I work, playing with Maggie, appliance shopping, looking at my house, trying out a church in Arlington which is only 5-10 minutes from my new house (the pastor is Joel Osteen's brother-in-law). I'm glad she'll be here to keep me occupied so I'm not counting the minutes until I get into the house!

Other than that, things are pretty quiet - still love the job and Texas!! Keep me posted on what's going on in all of your lives!

Home Sweet Home?

It sickens me after all this time of waiting for the house I posted a long time ago (6 weeks to be exact!), but I could not wait any longer. Teresa and I went house shopping on Sunday in a vain effort to pacify me and my incredible impatience and I found a different house that's not a foreclosure that I really really liked! The picture above is the front of the house - it's a townhouse/duplex (3 bedrooms, 2.5 baths, 1602 sq. ft., 1 car garage, fenced in backyard, all new carpet, all new interior paint, ceramic tile in kitchen and bathrooms, loft on second floor with extra seating area, fireplace, laundry room - completely move-in ready and very cute!). It's part of a HOA with the monthly fees only being $47 and that includes all maintenance of the front yard and includes a community pool one block over! The house is being offered as a rental or to buy, so I put both internet ads below as links - there are tons of pictures! I was at Teresa's house until 10pm on Sunday night drawing up the contract - this one would be a little cheaper and it's only about a mile or two from the other one, so the same commute to work. I think the utilities would be cheaper in this one too. Take a look and let me know what you think! The two realtors were counter-offering back and forth today, so we should have a done deal by tomorrow and then I can do a home inspection and the tenative closing date is next Wednesday!

http://www.realtor.com/search/listingdetail.aspx?zp=76014&mnp=18&mxp=16&bd=4&bth=4&typ=7&sid=1f5c3c810ad94ad188dd51cbc5481728&lid=1087903990&lsn=1&srcnt=3#Photo

http://www.rentalhouses.com/view_listing.php?id=186853

OK, on to other things.....

Well, last week I signed up for Match.com and went on 3 first dates and 1 second date. I don't want to go into a lot of details on my dating life here on this public forum, but it's been a fun and interesting week, even though I don't think any of them are 'the one'. I did, however, get to tour the Dallas Cowboys headquarters at 11pm - private tour of the team locker room and I got to see Jerry Jones' office (the owner of the team)! Also, another of the dates was in downtown Fort Worth, which is beautiful at night. We walked around and saw the courthouse, live bands on the streets, went to Billy Miner's (a bar - it wasn't anything that unique to me, but apparently it's a big deal to go there), and then took a horse carriage ride through Sundance Square - it was so much fun and very pretty!

Random Texas Observations:

1. The definition of a "honky tonk" is any bar that has live music played inside of it.

2. Geckos are cute and fun on Geico commercials, but they are actually pretty gross looking in person (I say that because I saw my very first real live gecko last night at Teresa's house - and it was almost white! It was tiny and man, do they move quick! I heard a rumor that if their tails get cut off, they can grow it back - EEWWWW!!

OK, in the time it took me to write this post, I bought a house! I just got an email from Teresa that they accepted my offer and I will be a home owner in about a week!!!! I'm so excited and scared at the same time!!!!!

Random Act Of Kindness

Man, this week is flying by. My cold is pretty much gone, so I'm feeling much better and I have my energy back - yay! And my week started off great when I received a special delivery at work - my fabulous Mom sent me a basket of flowers at work!!! She even remembered that I don't like pastels very much and specifically told them to put all bright colors and especially red in the basket! Thanks for being so great and being there on the other end of the phone whenever I need you, Mom!

OK, I think I experienced a HUGE Texas milestone the other day......I said "y'all" by accident!! I didn't even mean to and I wasn't trying to say it on purpose to be funny or trying to talk southern or anything - it just slipped out when I was talking to my new friend Jason on the phone. He's from a small town in Virginia, so he has a THICK accent - I guess it's starting to wear off on me since we have talked a lot on the phone in the last week. I'm not sure whether to pat myself on the back or to shriek in horror?!

House update: OK, this is getting ridiculous (I feel like a broken record!)...apparently the seller's realtor, the title company and the seller's bank all met yesterday at 2pm - to do what, I'm not sure, but they met. My realtor, Teresa, thinks this is all going to happen and that I'm going to get the house - but you know me, I'll believe it when I see it! I'm getting pretty anxious since it's now April and I'm paying prorated rent to have my stuff sitting in the Toledo house every day that the bank putzes (is that a word?) around. IMPATIENCE ALARM! IMPATIENCE ALARM! My tolerance level for this crap is going WAY down each day now....(Dandar & Danielle - EXTREME Lauri is out in full force - beware!)

A tidbit for anyone at the SeaGate Centre - I drive past the IAAM headquarters about 3-4 times a week while I'm staying up in Flower Mound. It's a pretty building in Coppell - right on 635. I had to chuckle when I saw it!

Random Texas Observations:
1. People here apparently don't call parking ramps, parking ramps. They are only parking garages. If you say "I parked in the ramp", they look very confused because they think you are saying you parked on the off-ramp from the freeway. PS - it takes a whole conversation to straighten out the misunderstanding. I know from experience.
2. You will hear some grown Texan adults (mostly women) call their Dads "Daddy" for their whole lives.
3. You have to take your car to a mechanic to get a "state inspection" (and pass the inspection)before you can renew your car tabs/tags and get the new stickers. Also - you don't put any stickers on the license plates like you do in MN & OH (I guess they have had problems with people peeling them off of cars and stealing them) - you have 2 big stickers that you put on the inside of your windshield on the driver's side.
4. The temperature can swing 30 degrees in one day and nobody bats an eye - that's perfectly normal here.

Update on Maggie: No update to report - she is keeping up on her doggie door skills and I get the feeling that she doesn't miss the snow and cold one bit!

Update on the job: Still really enjoying the job and the people!

Now it's a countdown until my Mom comes to visit me for a weekend on her way through the Dallas/Fort Worth area, heading back to Minnesota for the summer. I think she will be arriving next Friday! My first visitor!! Although we are probably going to get a hotel room since I don't know what's going on with the house - but who cares, my Mom is visiting me!

Waitin' On a Sunny Day

OK, so I shouldn't complain about weather AT ALL, considering that most people who are reading this are in Ohio or Minnesota and it's still pretty crappy there....but it's pretty gloomy the last couple days, which has brought my spirits down a little. I'm still doing OK - learning my way around, exploring, running errands. I continue to really enjoy my job and the people there - I'm very thankful that I found such a great company to work for! Maggie continues to do well and is being a good little wiener dog.

This week I have had a sore throat and as of yesterday, I have a full-blown cold so I'm not feeling well at all physically (I'm still in my PJ's in bed at 1:30pm!), but I'm sure it will pass in time.

OK today's edition of:

RANDOM TEXAS OBSERVATIONS

1. Texas has an amazing way of saving space on their freeway system by building UP, meaning many upward layers of overpasses - it's amazing! See pics below:

2. Texans have a LOT of pride in their state, culture, sports teams, way of life, etc. You either live here and like it, or you can get out. And you definitely can't say anything bad about the Cowboys or I'm pretty sure you could get shot. So pretty much everyone likes it here! I love it!

3. Texans/Southerners come up with the funniest "Southern-isms" - little sayings that I think are hilarious. My realtor Teresa is originally from Alabama, and we saw a bug in one of the houses we looked at and she said "Man, that bug is so big you could put a saddle on it and ride it!" I think it's hilarious when they say things like that. Most of the time you can figure out what they are trying to imply, but occasionally I have to think about it for a while......

4. Apparently if you have license plate frames on your car, you can get a ticket if the frame covers up the word "Texas" on the license plate - I guess they are very serious about that here, so I will have to retire my Minnesota Vikings license plate frame once I get Texas plates. :(

Update on the house: I might be a little bit closer to getting the house. The bank finally took my paperwork off their pile and looked at it! Teresa called me Wednesday night and told me that the bank thought that the offer was a little low considering the original list price, so they sent an appraiser over on Wednesday to do an appraisal. The seller's realtor went through the house with the appraiser and pointed out any and all deficiencies so that we could keep the value down. I guess the bank talked with the seller's realtor and he told the bank that there had been 90 people that went through the house, but this was the best offer because I didn't ask for any closing costs, down payment assistance, etc. So he's trying his best to make this go through and he thought that if he could convince the bank on the price, that I could close in 2 weeks or less. AGH - hurry up! This is ridiculous! I put my offer in 4.5 weeks ago! I know that these short sales and foreclosures can take a couple months in some cases, but come on. I'm getting pretty frustrated that this is all taking soooo long - I just need some stability in my own home sooner rather than later. This is hard to have everything new and unfamiliar here - I just want the familiarity of my stuff near me. Man, am I ever glad that I took my favorite blanket with me! (Maggie is happy about our favorite blanket too - not the ones in the pics, but you get the idea)




I was "forced" to go shoe shopping in the meantime (I had no other choice - hee hee) since it's getting warmer here and I didn't bring any sandals with me in the car. I bought several pair of super cute sandals and they were so cheap - all under $10 each! I'm really going to need that 3rd bedroom in the house for my shoe collection!! I figure there are worse addictions to have in this world besides shoes, Diet Mountain Dew and wiener dogs!!

Have a great weekend everyone - I miss you all like crazy!!

Confidential to Dandar, Danielle & Jeff - in honor of the circus coming to the SeaGate Centre, make Troy do the clown thing!!!

The sun is high in that Texas sky.....

Anyone know what song that Title line came from? Whoever comments with the correct answer wins.....hmmmm......some stale Peeps?? Hint - it's a George Strait song, my favorite country song ever.

Anyway, on to my post:
Well, the sun MUST be high in this Texas sky because the tulips are in full bloom right now - imagine that - in MARCH! I remember in Minnesota every year it was Mother's Day weekend in mid-May when those silly tulips would decide to show their pretty faces above ground. They are so pretty here - lots of flowers and lots of sun here. I keep hearing that the famous bluebonnets are going to be here soon - decorating the ditches along all the freeways (Lady Bird Johnson, LBJ's wife, started that whole trend, apparently).

I would really like to be taking pictures of all the things I'm blogging about, but unfortunately I was an idiot when I packed up my house and I put the cord that connects the camera to the computer into a box that is still sitting in my Toledo house! Agh!

Well, I have been occupying my time in the evenings this week with furniture shopping - a new bedroom for Lauri! So far I haven't found 'the one', but I am VERY picky about bedroom furniture so that doesn't surprise me that I have struck out so far. I found one set that I liked, but I don't know that it's 'the one'. Oh well - I don't have a house to put it in yet anyway, so what's the rush?! (House lack-of-update: No update to report - no word from the bank. Damn.)

Because this house issue is taking much longer than I had imagined, I didn't pack very many short-sleeved shirts and I didn't pack ANY sandals. This is going to start being a problem, as it will be 83 degrees by Thursday. Ugh. I might actually have to go buy some clothes just because all of mine are sitting in boxes in Toledo -annoying! Oh well, twist my arm, I'll have to go shopping and get into my 'zone'. (Beth - there's a JC Penney Outlet right by where I'm staying - I'm going to go there this weekend and I'll probably get lost in there for hours with no one there to check up on me!! hee hee)

Update on my Maggie-Poo: She continues to excel at doggy-door skills. She is pretty comfortable pushing the flap open on her own now. However, she did have an accident upstairs in the bathroom the other day. Bad wiener dog. She is really going to miss Katie (her doggy friend here) once we have a home of our own!

I'm going to start a new little feature on my blog - I'll call it RANDOM TEXAS OBSERVATIONS. There are just things that I notice that are very different from other places I've lived in the north. For example - here are my first few entries:
RANDOM TEXAS OBSERVATIONS:
**Groceries are cheaper
**They have very unique restaurants
**The sky really is much bigger in Texas - not sure how that works scientifically...
**The sunsets are way bigger here - again, not sure how that works.
**There are sooooo many people that live here that are from other places in the country!
**Sales tax is HIGH - 8.25%
**The freeway entrance/exit system here is SCREWED UP. It is not for people who don't already know where they are going.
**They paint red lines all over the parking lots here for Fire Lanes - like along the curbs and along the backs of parking spaces - like your car cannot be longer than a certain length or apparently the fire truck can come by in the 'fire lane' and clip off the back end of your massive pickup truck.
**Everything is closed earlier here - lots of stores and business close at 6:30pm, 7pm or 8pm instead of the traditional 9pm retail store closing on weeknights. That's annoying.
**Almost everyone is SUPER SUPER friendly and helpful. My theories on this vary, but I have to believe that a lot of it comes from the fact that a TON of people here are transplants, so we all know what it's like to be the new guy and not know what you're doing or where you're going, so it's all of our duty to pay it forward and help the next newbie out. I'm sure a little bit of it is the whole 'southern hospitality' thing, but I also think a big part of it is that there are a lot of Christian people here (Bible Belt - I think the belt buckle is right here in Dallas!) and they know how to treat people.

OK, done with that segment - let me know what you think of my new blog feature.

Well, I think I found a new friend at work - she just started today and she'll be working in Accounting too. Guess where she's from???? Yep - Minnesota!! She grew up in White Bear Lake until she was 9 years old, then moved to Texas. So her formative years were in the greatest state in the country - the land of 10,000 lakes, but she also has a Texas accent since she's been down here for quite some time. She's a Vikings fan, so I think we're going to be fast friends - what a treat! She even lived in Brainerd and Bemidji for a while - someone in Texas knew how to pronounce Bemidji correctly!! I think tomorrow I'm going to give her a quiz and see if she can pronounce Wayzata and Mahtomedi - we'll see if she's a true Minnesotan. Uffda - you betcha!

HAPPY EASTER (TOMORROW)!!!

I love it - a gorilla with an Easter basket!!!

Is Big Butter Jesus melting??

This post is dedicated to Iris - what is happening to Big Butter Jesus with all this rain in Ohio?! Is he melting???

TGIF

Well, since I had Good Friday off of work, my realtor Teresa and I decided to look at houses in the afternoon - just to see if there were any other houses out there that I liked better and that could close quicker than the pokey house I have an offer on. We started at noon and ended up right back at my tenative house in Grand Prairie by 7pm. I think it's 'the one' and so I'm suspending all other searches unless something spectacular comes on the market. I was 'feeling the vibe' last night at the house and I really could picture it as my own. The other day I was just too emotional about it to really have any kind of feeling about it. However, everything depends on the home inspection too....

I am definitely a Property Virgin (has anyone seen that show on TLC? It's great - Sandra is awesome), I also realized yesterday that I was a Chick Fil-A Virgin as well. (LTL - aren't you proud - I finally went to Chick Fil-A?!) It was decent - nothing I would get all worked up over, but Lindsay has been on me for a few years now to try it and I finally did. I also took my picture (like the good tourist that I am) next to a big painted steer outside of Chick Fil-A (very similar to the frogs that are all over Toledo and the Snoopy's all around St. Paul). Dallas has big steers all over the place that are wildly painted and decorated - they are so cool! I also have a picture of me in front of a neat one at Cheesecake Factory from one of my house-hunting visits earlier this year.

Unfortunately, I cannot post any pictures from my camera right now because the cord that I use to connect the camera to the computer is in a box in Toledo right now - AGH! What was I thinking???

Well, I think I used for the first time the BEST invention ever made - the DOGGY DOOR! I'm staying with Tammy right now and she has one so her dog can go in and out to the fenced-in backyard - it's wonderful! They never have to let their dog out or deal with any of that, or worry about how many hours it's been since the dog went potty. I am going to be installing a doggy door as soon as possible at my new house - FOR SURE. Maggie is still learning the process and gets how it works, but when the flap is closed and not specifically opened for her, she thinks it's 'locked' or something. She just needs to learn that she has to push her nose against the flap and it will open. She is improving, though, with just about 12 hours here at their house. Yay for my wiener dog!!

Today I am going to do some furniture shopping - there are SO MANY furniture stores here and I'm sooooooo picky that I better start now so that I have a master bedroom suite by 2012!

Proof......

My fabulous friends back at SeaGate sent me these pics - glad to see that Troy still loves dogs and that I have visual proof people are reading my blog!

Miss you guys - and my Subway brick! Take good care of it - it was part of history. :)

Peep Humor

OK, so I'm not condoning strippers, but this was too funny not to post!

Thanks to Iris for sending this to me for comic relief!!

Learning To Fly

Things here in Dallas continue to improve - I'm getting more familiar with the area around my new job in Irving (partly by exploring, partly thanks to Mapquest and partly by asking anyone I see how I get to XYZ place). However, as of tomorrow morning, I'm going to be leaving the Extended Stay hotel and moving over to Flower Mound (a northern suburb - northwest of Irving) to stay with Tammy from work for a little while. If the house situation goes on longer than another week, I'll probably go back to the hotel near work. I'm becoming kind of a nomad and I'm not a huge fan of that, partly because it's a pain to keep moving/being mobile, partly because just when Maggie gets accustomed to a routine, I change it! I guess God is trying to teach me patience in a big way - or He has a really warped sense of humor! Agh!

My job continues to go well - I'm learning a lot and I really like the people. I think it's the right fit - what I've been looking for. I think I'll be able to enjoy it more once I have a place to live and everything calms down in other parts of my life. Once I'm settled, I think I'll be really happy here in the Dallas area!

Sidenote: It's pretty late and I found an amazing Tom Petty concert on public TV. It's AMAZING - he is doing part of the concert totally acoustic. He is just so talented and sounds fabulous even after all these years (his voice has faired much better than Bob Dylan's - that's for sure!) - no wonder they chose him to play at the SuperBowl this year.

I hope you are all doing well - email me updates on your lives! I get sick of just thinking about my own life - I really want to know what you are all up to! Keep the comments coming - I love to hear what you think (but remember to sign your name if you leave an anonymous comment so I know who you are).

HAPPY EASTER!!

I Love a Rainy Night

My Dallas adventures continue......with a great big rain/thunderstorm passing through. Maggie and I are hiding away in the hotel to avoid the whole mess. Tomorrow I will be looking at "my" house again - I can't remember what it looks like anymore! Still no formal acceptance of my offer yet, but I got 26 pages of various ways to sign my life away to a mortgage company (from my mortage company, not the seller's). My mortgage company said that we should get all of this paperwork out of the way so we're ready to go when the seller's bank approves the offer. They say that banks want to close almost immediately after approving a short-sale offer. So next week might be really chaotic - the closing date is either the 27th or 28th, so I'll probably hear for sure on Tuesday or something ridiculous. At any rate, I am meeting with Teresa (realtor) tomorrow night to look at the house (and I just talked to her and she's bringing me some homemade banana pudding too!). We're going to do some measuring of the spaces for appliances while we're there.

I had a fun adventure at the post office today - a co-worker of mine told me that the post office here in Irving has a machine in the lobby that is accessible 24/7 that can measure your package or box and print your label and then you put it in the depository to be mailed. I love that I can go to the post office after-hours and take care of errands! It's the simple things in life that make me smile, I guess. One more thing to check off the list of things to do!

Also -Maggie achieved a doggie milestone today (a little late, but oh well): She finally realized what a mirror was and got all freaked out when she saw her reflection! The hotel closet doors are the sliding floor-to-ceiling doors that are all mirror on the outside. Well, I was getting ready in the bathroom and I look out in the hallway to see Maggie poking her nose on the mirror, then jumping back and yipping at her own image. She was amused/scared/angry all at the same time - wasn't this kind of thing supposed to happen when she was a little puppy??? I've held her in front of mirrors all her life, waiting for her to do this and she never cared - just didn't get it....until now! I had a good laugh at her expense.

One more Maggie tidbit - she is afraid of umbrellas that are sitting on the floor minding their own business and drying off from the rain. What an odd dog I have!

Workin' 9 to 5 (What a way to make a livin')!

Did everyone get the Dolly Parton reference in the title of today's blog entry??? I seem to want to always put song titles in that Title line......Oh well, I digress.......

So today was my first day of work at FT here in Irving, Texas. I'm staying about 4 minutes from the office, so it was a very short drive into work! Yay! The morning was spent with Tammy in HR (Allison's cousin) filling out paperwork and signing that I received handbooks, employee conduct agreements, sexual harassment policies, direct deposit forms, health benefits, etc. etc. etc. The benefits at this company are out of this world - they pay for my cell phone bill, money toward my home internet bill, they issued me a laptop so I can work from home sometimes, everyone kind of makes their own hours (most people don't get there until 9am-10am), jeans are the norm, etc. The health, dental, vision, life, ST/LT disability, etc. are fabulous as well as the vacation, sick and holiday time off. Everyone is so nice and the culture is tremendous. The afternoon was spent doing some invoicing/accounting and I ended the day by getting my parking permit on the way out! (A bonus is that we get Good Friday off as a paid holiday, so this is a short week for me - no work on Friday!)

When I got home, Maggie greeted me with wet, sloppy kisses and we went on our evening walk. It's about 79 degrees, so it's absolutely magnificent for walking and Maggie LOVES the warm weather. She wants to play outside as long as I'll let her and she doesn't shiver at all. Her legs don't cramp up in the snow like they did in Ohio either - I have one happy wiener dog here!! Right now she's so tired that she's curled up in a ball next to me on her favorite blanket with her toy monkey. I wish you all could see it - it's the cutest thing ever.

We are supposed to get super crazy rain storms tonight into tomorrow and through Wednesday, so I've got my umbrella ready to go. It was really cloudy and super humid all day, so I can feel it coming! But those of you who know me and my hatred for humidity - I can't wait until the rain comes so it will take the humidity away with it! YUCK.

As for the house, still no formally accepted offer, but my realtor and the seller's realtor agreed on a lower price today of $95K, which is amazing to me. I guess they are going to submit the offer to the very slow bank and have it replace the old offer (and refresh their memory that we are waiting for an answer). I think the seller is getting nervous that I'll pull out and just move on because it's taking so long....they keep offering to let me move in before closing...I say NO WAY - not until I have a home inspection and an accepted offer from the bank!!

One other cool thing I forgot to mention earlier - I have already ridden in 2 bona fide big, huge Texas pickup trucks!! One belongs to the guy that I am sort-of-pseudo seeing (it's a F-150, but it's the Texas Edition - I think that translates to big-a**-truck edition). The other one is my new co-worker Erin's (well, her husband's) and we went out to lunch in it. There was absolutely no graceful way to get in or out of it - it was HUGE!! And she's 7 months pregnant, so it was kind of funny to see her trying to get in and out of it - I bet it's uncomfortable...
Well, that's all for now - keep me updated on your lives and the goings on in MN, OH or wherever this might find you. I miss you all tons!

Arkansas folks need to get creative

OK, maybe I'm stuck up or maybe I overanalyze things, but does anyone agree with me that Arkansas folks need to get some serious creativity training in the naming of their cities?? For example, as I drove through the state, I drove through both "Arkadelphia" and "Texarkana". Boy - those two cities sound an awful lot like Philadelphia and Texas! What is the deal with Arkansas - can't you think of ANY city names, besides stealing the names of other cities or states as "inspiration"???

PS - Take a look at the picture above - they are actually thanking someone named "Buford" - I thought that was just in the movies!!!!

God Bless Texas!

Well, sorry for the delay in blogging - I was so tired when I arrived in Dallas last night that I didn't even order the wireless internet! I am all moved into the hotel today and my wireless is obviously up and running. Maggie is getting accustomed to being carted around and is being quite a trooper about it (however, I did hear her barking in the room as I left down the hallway once today- yikes!). I am all ready for my first day at work tomorrow (Monday) and I went to Kroger, so I have a stocked mini-kitchen all ready to go.

Update on the house: Still no approval, although it was supposed to be done on Friday. My realtor Teresa and the seller's realtor Tim have been talking almost every day trying to speed this process up and he offered to let me move in now before anything is approved or anything. Initially that sounds good, but I still haven't officially locked in an interest rate, done a house inspection, have an accepted offer & price in writing, etc., so I don't think that's a good idea. I have non-refundable hotel reservations until Friday and then I will probably stay with Tammy from work after that since she has an extra bedroom in her house. Teresa said that hopefully she'll hear something on Monday, but I'll believe it when I get that phone call! I am soooo impatient!!!

Walkin' in Memphis

Greetings from Memphis - land of everything Elvis (and a nice Marc Cohn song)! I am just outside Memphis at the end of Driving Day 1 of 2 at the Days Inn with Maggie. Other than constant rain throughout Ohio and Kentucky, the drive was pretty smooth and uneventful. I threw Paul's wedding ring out of the car window at the Findlay exit, as planned, and it was symbolic of moving on with my life - woo hoo! A new chapter in wonderful Texas!!

As much as I thought Maggie would be ready to run around and get some energy out, she's actually pretty tired and is already curled up in a ball under our favorite blanket that I took on the trip. I think it's because she was awake for most of the trip - the rain was loud and I guess she was just as engrossed in my book-on-CD story as I was. We are both pretty tired.

When I get to Dallas tomorrow (I have about 7-8 hours of driving left), I will be staying at an Extended Stay hotel right by my new place of employment - woo hoo! I'll probably pick up some groceries and get settled in the hotel and relax for the rest of the evening.

No word on the house yet, but Teresa (realtor) says it's totally normal for 2 weeks to go by and hear nothing from the bank in these silly short-sales and foreclosures. Ugh - annoying. But she called me and said that she has a few houses that just came on the market that I might also be interested in, so we will look at a few other ones while we're waiting too.

I miss all of you so much already!! I think the emotional piece of this big life change will set in once I'm there and have some downtime to think. I've just been so busy this week that I haven't dealt with the emotions yet....

Well, until tomorrow - wish me luck as I pass through Arkansas on my way to wonderful Texas!!

Slow banks are stupid

Another mini-update: Still no FINAL word on the house yet...I guess it's snowing in Dallas/Fort Worth and that apparently shuts down the entire world. Agh! But everything is in order for the house except the final OK from the seller's bank. As soon as that comes in and if everything is good, then I'll do the home inspection early next week and things will progress.

However, the bond market is acting really really crazy and so mortgage rates are fluctuating wildly all day every day. Please pray for/with me that I can lock in a decent rate and secure this wonderful house that I want so bad!!

ROAD TRIP!

Well, the time has come to plan the route that I will take on my road trip to Dallas with Maggie. We are both eternal tourists, of course, so I'm pretty excited about the final route! My friend Steve helped me choose the path to Texas and I get to go through 4 major cities that I have never been to before!


Here's the plan:


**Toledo to Cincinnati
(Iris-I get to see Big Butter Jesus one more time!)
**Cincinnati to Louisville
(I'm going to do a drive-by at the Kentucky Derby site)
**Louisville to Nashville
(Colby - want to go out for dinner?)
**Nashville to Memphis
(Hi Elvis!!)
**Memphis to Little Rock
(Home of the Clinton's - YUCK)
**Little Rock to Dallas
(Finally "Home" at the hotel!)


Whew - it will be an exhausting 2 days, but I'm excited to see some new sights along the way. I won't get to fully experience these cities as a good tourist would, but now I will be able to say that I have been to them.

Mini-update

Well, I got a call last night at 10pm from my real estate agent and she said that the contract for the house was executed yesterday (which I think that means that they formally accepted my offer). She is going to go over to the bank/seller's agent today and see the contract and pick up a copy in person to verify that they didn't change anything and that it's correct. I'm waiting to get the word that everything's a done deal.

Now if I could get the stupid mortgage guy to call me back and give me an updated "good faith estimate" on closing costs - I'm so annoyed that he's putzing around!!!

I guess the upside-down statue of St. Joseph that my Catholic co-workers gave me worked (you are apparently supposed to bury a statue of St. Joseph in your yard upside down in order to sell your home, but they got me one for my cube in the off chance it would help me buy a home). Thank you St. Joseph!!!!

Impatience - TIMES 10!

So I've been known to be kind of impatient (OK, a lot impatient) and I'm having a very tough time waiting to hear about this silly thing called a PLACE TO LIVE - a.k.a. A HOUSE. About 95% of my possessions are all packed up and things are almost all finished up here in Toledo (have to shut down utilities and get my hair straightened yet - and oh yeah - my going away party on Monday!). My realtor Teresa (who's the greatest) and I are still waiting to hear from the listing agent of the house and the owner's bank - basically a paperwork slowdown. It's almost a done-deal, but I still am apprehensive about thinking it's for sure until I see a contract, do a home inspection, etc. AGH! I keep waking up at 5am or so, wide awake and a million thoughts are going through my head so I can't go back to sleep (much to the chagrin of my little wiener dog Maggie). I'm still going to bed late at night since I'm a night owl by nature, so I'm running on very little sleep and TONS of stress. I'm going to crash soon and I need to stay healthy and rested for my big journey at the end of next week. I'm pretty sure I'm going to be in a straight jacket in a padded room by the end of this whole moving process!!

Any advice to calm the nerves (besides lots of alcohol??)

My **TENATIVE** new house

Well, I will hear tomorrow if I get my new house when I move to Texas! The picture above is the house in question and I LOVE IT. It's a short-sale, so if I get it, it will be a smokin' deal. Only $100K!! I'm putting a link on this post so you can check it out if you are interested. I am crossing my fingers and toes that I get the house. If not, then it wasn't meant to be and God has a better one out there for me. My real estate agent says that I should hear one way or another by TUESDAY - I can't wait!!

http://www.realtor.com/search/listingdetail.aspx?ctid=31352&ml=3&mnp=18&mxp=17&bd=4&bth=5&typ=1&sqft=9&pfbm=41210&sid=772e10bbdf36495299e657b4543d3ac2&lid=1088785426&lsn=1&srcnt=5#Detail

PS - If you take the MLS number and go to http://www.remax.com/ and put it in, the listing there has a few more pictures...