Stimulating the Economy

Wendell and I had a busy, busy day today. We had all kinds of plans to work on our house, clean up, organize, paint, rearrange, make it more "us". That was the plan anyway...

It started with a quick trip to the bank since I needed to send some cash via snail mail, I need my CA driving record in order to get my DL here, AND, I'll have to take the written test....DUN...DUN...DUUUUUUUUUUN!!! I am oh so excited about that, NOT!

At the drive-thru window Wendell asks me if I want to go shopping. As if he ever reeeaaalllly needs to ask me THAT question. We were in dire need of a new comforter since our old one was left in the dryer too long and the corners shriveled up and the rest of it ended up with patches of discolorment (is that even a word?). I've been wanting a new one since I pulled it out of the dryer in its horrid state last October. But, pretty things aren't necessarily at the top of Wendell's priority list, so after asking him 3 times that day if we could buy a new one, I hadn't asked again. So, you can imagine my joy when he asked if I wanted to go shopping for a new one!

My first thought was "Pottery Barn" as my heart pitter pattered at the idea of their lovely colors and patterns, but I knew Wendell wasn't looking to spend big bucks on "just a blanket". So Target it was. As usual, we couldn't agree on color nor pattern, so we headed for Wal-mart *sigh* I wasn't too upset that we left there also unable to agree on a color or pattern. So I suggested Bed Bath & Beyond. Wendell was all for it, and it didn't dawn on me that he had probably never walked into a BB&B to realize that the price tag was bigger than those at Target or Wal-Mart. We found several we liked and actually agreed on, however, we didn't agree on the dollar amount. Again, after store #3 we left empty handed.

Today was especially warm (which I just loved) so by this point with only a minimal breakfast in our bellies, we were famished. Choosing a place to eat can prove to be just as much of a task as agreeing on a comforter, if not moreso. Luckily for us we found a nice looking Mexican restaurant tucked away behind some other food places. It was a well needed meal (and a beer for Wendell and a Margarita for me). And now that we were refueled, onward we marched....back to Target.

We decided we needed to pick up some additional items, and well, we just love Target. So back to trying to find a comforter set we could agree on. Forest Gump's momma was right, miracles do happen every day. We found a comforter we had looked over on our first trip that we both liked...SCORE! I don't know about you, but I can never go into Target for a single solitary item without making a round of at least half of the store, just in case there's something else I don't really need that I absolutely must have. So, we picked up some TV trays and a movie.

So, after a long day spent running around town, Casita Hess is still a disaster area, no painting got done, and we can look forward to another busy day tomorrow instead of being a couple of amoebas and doing nothing (well, maybe).

Oh yeah, did I mention we bought another car? Another Kia. Nothing fancy, so I haven't taken any pics. It was really just a replacement for our other car that perished in the fire and which 0 of 2 insurance companies will cover. We were just going to pick up our plates for the Soul and our car salesman worked his magic and got us an incredible deal we couldn't refuse. And we've decided that the Soul is mine and Wendell gets the Spectra.

And that my friends is how Wendell and I did our part to stimulate the economy today....Tadaaa!

Three.....O!

Friday, April 10th it happened.......I turned 30. 30? I've really been here THAT long?

Of course I got the old lady jokes all day. Wendell kept mentioning that 40 is just around the corner and 50 will be here before I know it. And one of my sisters and brother-in-laws called to sing me their rendition of "Happy Over The Hill Birthday", all while cracking themselves up.

Originally I was to spend my 30th in L.A., but for some unfortunate circumstances we weren't able to make the trip. We are however, planning a trip for the summer! (sunny beaches here I come!) Instead we opted for a night on the town as dancing is one of my many passions, though it is near the top of the list. And it had been a while since my feet graced a dancefloor.

Despite being stood up by a couple of friends (I won't name names, *cough...Chris & Chey...cough*) we had a grand ol' time. We bellied up to a bar and had several drinks, some even on the house since it was moi's birfday. It was a very, very rainy and stormy night so I basically had a dancefloor to myself....SCORE! We were entertained by a group of characters at the bar and we even made a couple of new friends, which still being farily new in town, we could use.

I missed being around familiar faces for my birthday as birthdays are always a big deal back home, but Wendell made my day (and night) grand. As did those I celebrated with. I had a damn good time.

I got to go shopping for a new outfit and stuff and I got my hair done too! It wasn't cheap....and to top that off Wendell got me a new iPod and hard drive since my last one crapped out on me, and then to top even that he also got me a whole 10" Godiva Chocolate Cheesecake from the Cheesecake Factory. If you're a chocoholic and you haven't had a slice of one of those......you are missing out! Your eyes will literally roll into the back of your head, it is not for the faint of heart (or diabetics).

Here's a looksie at moi all gussied up for a night on the town:

Sadly this is the only picture we got of the WHOLE night. But drinking more than your usual will do that to you.

We ended the night with a cab ride home with a driver who was nice enough to pull over (maybe more than once) so that I could exorcise some of the fun I had through the course of the night (sexy, innit?) I woke the next morning with tangled hair, almost fully dressed....with a desert in my mouth and a head that weighed about 10 tons. And it only took me 2 days to recover.

My hair didn't take to what was done to it, so I had to have it redone. Because when you pay as much as i did for hair, you can bet your ass that it's what I'm going to get no matter what! The salon was awesome though and gave me no fuss.....and here's the finished product:

And on a final note.....I so don't feel 30! I swear at times I still feel 16 (minus the insecurities and uncertianties). I think I'll always be one of those people who hangs on to youthful qualities, whether or not I'll keep looking youthful is another story.

"Growing old is a requirement, growing up is a choice" - I don't know who said it, but I like it!

FIYAH!

We had some excitement on our block at 3:30am last Wednesday morning. It all started with a BANG, literally. The bang startled me. Growing up in the 'hood, my first thought was "gunshots"....until I smelled smoke (it was a couple of transformers that blew). We got out of bed and looked out the window and our eyeballs were greeted with bright oranges and yellows. Then we noticed the bright colors raining down on our car. And all we could do was watch. (it was too smokey and fiery to get pictures of that).

It didn't take long for the Fire Department to show up and begin battling the blaze. We continued watching the fire rain down on our car, hoping and praying the damage wouldn't be too terrible.

Look at the house across the street, the vinyl siding is melted. This was one HOT fire.

And that's our (old) car under the water hose.

Here we have the bulk of the damage to our car: scratches, gunk melted on, and stuff just melted.

A close up of the headlight...crazy!

This was at about 10-11am (approx. 7 hours after the fire started!) We still couldn't move our car, it was apart of a crime scene.

Here's what's left of the building. I couldn't get a shot before the boards went up. They had even replaced the pole by the time I got this shot, it was charred badly.

The fire was deliberately set and according to an eye witness the molotov cocktail went through the front door.

And this is the debris we must deal with as it has not been cleaned up. Since we've had two windy storms blow through our neighborhood, a lot of this stuff has ended up in our front and back yard.

The house was being used as an office building, so thankfully no one was inside. We really feel for the guy, he's a Pastor at a church across the street who works with troubles youths. However, this is the 3rd or 4th building he owns that has been set on fire, including the Church itself (maybe he tries to help pryomaniacs?). And that was only about a year ago. He has most recently purchased the house right next door to ours (the house between us and this building) and that makes me a little nervous.

Our house was filled with smoke for a good few hours, and filled with the smell of it for the next couple of days. Although we were approached by a sales guy advertising his company's services of carpet and uphosltery cleaning, all ambulance chaser like. I guess in this case you would call him a fire truck chaser.

Our new car no longer has that new car smell. We had it for a whole 2-1/2 weeks! We aired it out and bought an air freshener and now it smells like "beach scents". But, it being our first brand new car, I was hoping to have that smell for as long as possible (self absorbed much?)

On the "brighter side" we either get a car that'll look almost new, or get enough cash to buy a newer used car. And we got to meet a few more of the neighbors we hadn't met. Nothing like a raging neighborhood fire to bring the neighbors together eh?