Backyard Oasis

So, our house (yes, the one that my relatives don't know about) has a pool.

I have never lived in a house with a pool.  I have lived in a couple apartments with pools.  One summer in college my BFF and lived in this townhouse right off campus.  Our apartment was right in back of the pool.  It was pretty sweet.  The guys next door though, hated us.  They had these two iguanas.  They would kind of take over the whole pool and let the iguanas swim around.  But, they hated us. HATED.

The last year at FSU, I lived in a complex, where the shared pool was at the building next door.  So, I didn't use it as much.  One night, we were hanging out in the apartment drinking with a friend.  The FP and the friend walked to the store to get more beer.  I think there was a tropical storm or something, but they walked because we were drunk.  On the way back, I don't know if they both jumped in the pool or what, but I seem to recall that the friend pooped in the pool.  Needless to say, I never went in that pool again.

And then our first apartment in New Orleans (Metairie)  had a pool.  We used it a lot.  Since then, no pool.  I love the beach, and I love pools.  We used to go to Palm Springs, a couple hours away, mainly to lay by the pool all day long.  We always went to the same hotel.  It was a nice big pool, and it was usually pretty quiet, unlike some of those boutique hotels with the music blaring by the pool and the people who dress at the pool like it's a fashion show.

Anyway, I know nothing about pool maintenance.  I just remember seeing our family friends take pool water and swish it around in test tubes and put chemicals in the pool and clean it.

So, I started reading forums on the internet a little when we were in San Diego looking at houses online.  A lot of people were of the hole in the ground that you throw money into consensus.  Others were like, it's easy - just check the level, get an automatic vacuum, it's so worth it!

Anyway, we have a pool.  We have owned a pool for four days now.  And we have not been in it.  Really.  We fantasized about going to the house on the first day and just jumping in.  But, it's dirty.  It's got a creepy crawly vacuum that's been in it all week, and it doesn't work.  I'm not sure why we haven't bothered to take it out.  Like it's going to start working all of a sudden!

So, the first couple days, we had no time to think about the pool  Finally, yesterday, we had time to buy chlorine and test strips.  So, the levels were all off - except for the water hardness.  So, we had to shock the pool.  So, it got chlorinated, but everything else was still fucked up.  So, today I had to go back to the store and buy more chemicals.  I dumped them in, and a few hours later, it seemed to be evened out. So, hopefully the chemistry will still be okay tomorrow, and then we can clean the damn thing and finally use it!

Ridiculous.  Something will probably happen though, to prevent us from actually using it.  That's how some things seem to be going.

The Cats Are Suffering

So, the past several days we have been neglecting the kitties.  They are used to us being around all day, or at least coming back to the apartment every few hours.  Sometimes they don't really come out, but I think they still like knowing we are here.  Since I stopped working they really get used to lots of attention, and they act up when they don't get it.

So, where the fuck have we been?  Well, we closed on a house on Tuesday.  We have been shopping, doing stuff at the house, shopping again, doing more stuff at the house, staying there late, and then coming back here exhausted.

Now, this house was in way better condition than most of the places we saw in the same price range.  But, we've never owned a house, and there is so much about home improvement and maintenance and repairs that this will be a struggle for us.

The weird part, is that.... shhhh... it's kind of a secret.  Well, mostly from my family - as in my dad and all relatives on his side.  My sisters know.  So, please don't go blabbing on facebook, or call my dad and tell him.  

Yes, it may seem weird to you, but this is not the forum for discussing serious family matters.  My Personal Story is the blog for that kind of depressing dark shit!

Anyway, it is very exciting.  I spent a lot of my life not expecting to necessarily ever own a house.  We kind of have moved a lot over the years.  I think we got so used to living in apartments, that it was just our way of life.

I don't recommend moving to a new city that you know little to nothing about, and immediately looking for a house, and putting an offer on the first one you like.  There's a lot of things we might have done differently if we knew more about the area.  Okay, maybe not.  But, it's like, every little thing one needs to do to set up a house, we know nothing about.  Like, I had to google what the electric company here was.  I had to google a lot of stuff.  I found out on the very helpful and explanatory City of Hollywood website, that you need a permit for a shed.  I didn't know that.  I thought that people just go to Lowe's, load one in the back of their truck, assemble it at home and then they've got a shed.

You have to have a permit for almost EVERYTHING here.  It's ridiculous.  But on the other hand, when we were doing the inspection and stuff, we were given a record of permits on the house from as far back as they would go online... sometime in the late 80s.  This was very helpful, seeing as how the house is almost ready to receive social security!  It looks like the people who lived in the house loved it and took care of it.  And the realtors who bought it last, did some nice work on it.  It's not perfect, but it's cute and charming, and it is now ours.

We did a marathon painting session.  We bought some paint on Tuesday evening, after we closed on the house.  We painted the master bedroom that night.  There was a definite learning curve.  I have never painted textured walls, and let me tell you, it's not as fun as it sounds.  Let's just say, it's not the most precise job, but I'm happy enough with the results.

The next day, we painted the one wood panelled wall in the dining area.  Then the FP went out and got more paint, and we painted the Florida room, and then we did the studio last.  The studio by far looks the best.  Which is funny because we were so tired and over the whole painting process.  Today, we finished up the edges and blaring naked spots.  Like I said, it's not anywhere near perfect, but it's... charming.  I'm sure the FP's mom will hate it.  I love it already though.

I won't post pictures yet, because I want to kind of wait to unveil the finished product.  So, with that, I shall take my leave to catch up on some reading and maybe spend some quality time with the cats, if they will have it!

Peein on the Porch

So, we had a nice welcome into the new neighborhood today!  We were meeting the buyer and our realtor to do a pre-closing walk through.  The realtor was already there, in her car smoking and talking on her cell phone.  These two guys with... big dogs... I can't remember what kind - maybe boxers or boxer pit mixes - something scary looking when being walked by unsavory characters, were walking around the front looking in the window and peeking by the fence.  There were some papers stuck to the door and window also.  What the fuck was going on?

So, I was just going to sit in the car, like the realtor was doing.  For whatever reason, the FP got out.  So, I guess they asked him if we were looking to buy or something, and they asked how much it was going for.  I'm not sure what he answered, but then they walked away.

That was when the FP noticed that one of them let a dog piss on the porch.  Nice.  I guess they are the Hollywood equivalent to the welcome wagon?  Maybe they will give us some dip when we move in?

Really, the neighborhood isn't that bad.  It is a little annoying that there's that weird apartment building next door.  But hey, if I disappear, you've got the dog guys and the apartment next door to look at for suspects.  Anyway, I am scared of almost any neighborhood when I first move there.

So, I guess I will just have to get a chow, a pit bull, a rottweiler, a german shepard, a husky and an akita.  That's a joke, BTW.  These dogs raise insurance rates, and I don't need anything else to raise the premiums!  I do want to get a Shiba Inu though, and not to be snotty, but he or she will not be fraternizing with the pit boxer dogs!

Stress In A Good Way?

House hunting.

That's 99.999% what's on the brain.  Loved the 2 houses we saw.  Thought about it for hours.  My sis asked how old the roofs (rooves?) were.  One had the roof replaced 4 years ago, the other was admittedly in need of a new one, although, there were no leaks.  I looked up roofing on the old google.  It could be thousands, or thousands and thousands.  Of course, we could ask the owner to replace the roof.  But it seems like a bad idea to ask the owner to replace it, because he's just going to find the cheapest roofer, right?

I really love both equally.  They both have pros and cons.  Cons and pros.  I think if we put a bid on one and it falls through, if the other is still available, then we will put a bid on that one.  That's how much we love them.  The FP loves one more than the other.  But in his gracious and adaptable and compromising nature, he will agree to the other.

You know, I am so horrible at making decisions, that it just can't be easy.  And I always ALWAYS second guess myself.  I rarely think I've made the right decision.  Barely ever.

Fuck it.  People put bids on houses and close on houses every day.  Deals fall through and people buy money pits every day.  That is life.  All we can do is take and action and then once it is taken, see what the results are.  Let's see.  We have to start the process somewhere.

Who Dat?!

We are here in the "apartment" watching the Saints Giants game.  Well, right now, it's a blowout.  Geaux Saints!

Anyhoo,  we've been looking for houses.  As you know.  So, it's not quite as fun when it becomes reality.  It's like a big deal, as those of you who have houses already know.  

Tomorrow, we are actually going to go inside houses at actually look at them for the first time.  There's one main one that the FP really loves.  I love like 80% of it.  There are little things that are easy to fix, but I also am not going to get all crazy over a place until I have all the facts.  So, we will see.

We do realize though, that if we get a place for a good price then we will have more $$ to personalize it sooner then later or never.  We also realize, that a fun coat of paint can change one's whole perspective.   If you ever saw our place in Nola on Magazine Street, you know what I'm talking about.  So, we'll see what we come up with.

Hopefully we will find at least one of the houses tomorrow are just what we are looking for.  I've been watching more HGTV.  There's the House Hunters series and Holmes Inspections and other shows.  I can't remember if it's on that channel or the green channel, but there's also the show where the people go into a house and show a family how to be more ecofriendly and save money too.  I really like that show particularly.  I would probably like it if we weren't looking for a house, though.  It's just funny.  Families are given specific instructions to follow for like one week.  If they comply, then they get their savings multiplied by a year, cash.  Some families can't stick with it.  I mean, if they have TV cameras on them and they stand to earn cash, how can they not do it?  Duh.

Anyway, that's all I got.  Here's a movie I made of pictures and video from our cross country travel.  I know.  I owe someone a CD.  I need to send that.  Only, I have a bunch of padded mailers, but I'm not sure where I packed them!

Thanksgiving Dinner

So, we didn't cook a traditional dinner on Thursday for Thanksgiving.  Our oven door is kind of fucked up, and we didn't feel like digging through all our boxes to get out everything we would need anyway.  So, we ate out at some fancy restaurant, and we went to the bar later, where the FP had wings and I had key lime pie.

Anyhoo, I mentioned to the FP that we should have a Thanksgiving dinner when we move into our new abode, whenever that is.  Hopefully sooner than later.  But anyway, I'm throwing this out there to those of you who are close friends and family, you are all invited to our Thanksgiving dinner, whenever that will be!

So, we drove around a lot today.  A LOT.  So, since the FP had his eye issues going on, I drove.  Which is fine.  Except we were delving into new unknown territory.  And the FP had his eye issue, so I basically had to drive and navigate most of the time.

Have you ever had an eye infection?  Well, it can hurt like fuck, and one can be very light sensitive, as the FP was this morning.  Kind of sucks when you are in South Florida!

Anyway, we drove down the coast to Miami Beach.  So, cool, and weird and strange.  I have a phobia of tall buildings.  I think I've discussed this before?  Anyway, I hate being enclosed by tall buildings.  So, like South Beach where there are just tall condos felt claustrophobic to me, but that parts where there were only condos on one side were what I liked.  It's so urban, yet on the water.  It's just like a foreign country, as my BFF described it.

So, I had made a google maps list of places to look at.  So, the first place was not wrong.  It was a place of business, not a house or condo.  It was somewhere right near South Beach on the other side of the water.  Anyway, it was probably a condo with a issues or something.   So, then we had lunch.  I needed a break from the driving anyway.

So, then we went to look at a house in El Portal.  Mind you, we know nothing about the area.  So, we got off the interstate, and the FP had to poop.  Because we had just had lunch.  So we went to one shady gas station, and the john was already occupado.  He waited for a while, then he gave up.  So, then we went to another one and he was good to go.  Both gas stations had cuban coffee, which one has to appreciate, even though they were shady, right?

Then we went to look at the house.  Which was right off the interstate near the shady gas stations.  So, we were driving down the scary street with boarded up houses and shady characters hanging out.  I thought about just turning around and not bothering looking, since the house was farther down.  But then the street got nicer, more manicured.  So I figured, I was right there, might as well keep going.  And the house was nice!  It was really nicely painted and had landscaping and stuff!  But there was no for sale sign.  When I came back and looked it up, it was an old listing!

So, then we went to Hialeah.  This is the suburbs.  But it's the suburbs of Miami.  And a friend recommended the area.  And indie bands come out of the area.  So we went there.  The first place was in a gated community, so we didn't go in.  The second one was in a non gate community that was very nice.  Very nice.  I wondered how there could be a place in our price range.  So, we drove down a winding road that kept changing number name.  And then we got to the street.  And the house number did not exist.  We tried to look it up on google maps and on realtor.com, but we couldn't find it.   Later when I looked it up, I found out we were on the other side of the subdivision.  I also found out that there are a few different properties in that area in our price range.

So that was it.  We looked at one house in a scary location that wasn't even for sale.  But it was good to drive around, no matter how nerve wracking it was.  I just need to get an automatic, damnit!  And maybe a GPS navigator.  It's difficult to look at printouts and grab the iphone while driving.  I want to be familiar with the area now, not later.  I guess all I can do is keep driving around.

We need jobs too.

Can't wait to get to that Thanksgiving dinner!