houses

i think this house looks cute. i want them to upload inside photos. though they do mention the neighborhood requires flood insurance. hmmm. i like the front porch.

this one is the one i was looking for last night when i was killing time between work & dinner. i didn't find it because i didn't know what street it was on. i think it's very cute.

if those links don't work, you can visit gniarmls.com click "property search" on the left & enter listing numbers 187210 & 183712.

as a side note - i think they've lowered the price again on the cedar lake house i was looking at.

bike!

isn't she cute? you can see april's bike in the photo, too. and yes, they're practically identical. they're different versions of the same model. and different colors, of course. :) we rode them around for a bit on tuesday before going shopping for wedding clothes.

i did my best to take a photo of myself in some of those new clothes yesterday. really, i did. but they're all pretty bad. the ones that are in focus still don't look very good. so you'll just have to imagine that i looked cute for my blind date. chocolate brown capris & a cute cream top with brown & pink designs, empire sash that tied in the back. not too shabby. and the date went well. we had a lot of fun. we went to house of kobe ... yumm-o. i learned that i'm a fan of the california roll. not a fan of the ginger dressing.

i have my itunes music divided into two playlists. "today" for all the music i currently listen to and "yesterday" for all my old school cds. i'm currently letting it randomize the "yesterday" list & am listening to 'by myself' from pfr's album 'goldie's last day'. i remember very much liking this song early in high school. i'll do my best to keep you updated as the songs change.

actually, i have three playlists. i have my 'rent' soundtrack as a separate list so it's not shuffled with everything else.

my brother thinks i should hire a singing bear to attend my reunion in my place. i find that thought quite funny. i'm quite pleased at the reunionizing the world of blogging has done for us. you guys are great.

song switched - 'strangers in the house of the lord' from three crosses 'jefferson street'

i got my vacation approved for july. yay for a long weekend at erin's! i canNOT wait to see her new house. the photos look absolutely fabulous. and i'm SO stinkin' excited to see her again. it has been way too long. i already told her i expect to cry when i see her again. good tears. i'm looking forward to them. :)

song switch - 'then & only then' from out of eden's 'more than you know'

plane ticket bought! yay! i about freaked out because i went through southwest.com & all the decent prices were unavailable for the times i wanted. but i went through expedia, got the same flights at $150 less. yay me. i'm going to texas. erin, details will be e-mailed along with the other details of which you spoke. some things aren't made for blogs.

song switch - 'red april' from madison greene's 'departure' - not my favorite recording of the song, but still i really like the song.

song switch - 'boycott hell' from newsboys' not ashamed'

does anyone else remember thinking the newsboys were so dreamy? they have such cute aussie accents.

random

i asked my house-dwelling friends about motion lights & alarm systems. everyone seems to think the alarm is a very good idea, most agree the motion lights can be annoying. joanie mentioned a driveway alarm, which i'd never heard of, and an automatic timer on inside lights, which sounds like a good idea. julie mentioned an automatic timer on the porch light, also not a bad thought. erin mentioned a chain lock, which i like because i think they're fun, and an automatic garage door opener - i've never parked in a garage & i like the very idea of possibly having one.

i want to buy a house. i don't want to answer all the questions necessary to decide what i want in that house. i want to look at houses online & see one that says "buy me, 'becca! i'm perfect for you!" and i haven't seen that house yet. i need to talk with someone who's smarter than i am about things like "i make $x a year, how much house can i afford & still enjoy life?" i need to not over-commit myself - i want to do things besides make a house payment. i don't want to mess this up. none of that negates that fact that i do want to buy a house.

i switched browsers recently - from safari to firefox. mostly because firefox will correctly load the maps from mapmyride.com. safari will not. by switching browser i had to re-confirm my identity for my online banking. i'm sure i should appreciate this extra step to protect my financial information. i just see it as an extra step.

i have 106 messages in my in-box. a good chunk of them are phone numbers from the bunco gals. i need to bring my cell phone downstairs & enter those numbers. fat lot of good they do me sitting in my e-mail. :)

if you like to travel & don't know about travelzoo.com, you should visit it now & subscribe to the top 20 e-mails. each week they'll send you the 20 hottest travel deals available online. i hear the offers can sell out really quickly, so if you see something you want - act fast.

i plan to start the process of getting my passport. i will need it when i see a fabulous trip to paris on travelzoo.com & need to book it right away. i'd hate to book the trip & then not have a passport to actually get on the plane.

i very seldom write in cursive. mostly only when i'm signing my name. as a result, my cursive looks like a young child wrote it.

according to the hanover97 website, my 10-year reunion is only 53 days, 20 hours & 57 minutes away. i will not be attending that reunion, but i give you the link so you can see our pictures & remember how young we once were.

update: the great 28

this update doesn't cover any huge amount of success. everything's been fairly stagnant, but i figured i should post it anyhow. this past month has been consumed by work, and that doesn't always leave time for the things on the list. when work stresses me out i don't accomplish much of anything at home. i find myself watching a lot of tv, simply because i want to zone out & forget the day. i'll spend a lot of time on weekends sleeping & surfing the net ... only to realize on sunday night how much i could have accomplished if i'd tried. but that's okay. sometimes i need a few weeks to do that. it's good for me, so long as it ends & i start being productive again. :)

1. visit 3 places i've never been before. mel & dan's new house. jennie rae's restuarant.

2. lose 40 pounds. i was down 14 punds at my last weigh in - with a lot of yo-yo-ing during the last month. i'm hoping the bike riding will help me get excited about exercising again.

3. havbe a booth at a local craft fair. we've been officially accepted for the popcorn festival. come see us on setpember 8!

4. take 2000 photos.

5. eat a gallon of mustard in one week. i haven't scheduled this yet.

6. enter 3 items in the county fair. i need to figure this out in the next week or two.

7. finish 3 quilts. i'm spending mucho time quilting this weekend. yay for long weekends!

8. take an art class. nothing scheduled, yet.

9. be able to play Christmas Rhapsody on the piano by Christmas. yeah, i should sit down & start working on this.

10. be able to play a song on my accordian. again, i should start working on this.

11. bake something new once a month. february - triple-chocolate peanut butter cookies & jalapeno lime coconut sugar cookies. march - nothing. april - lemon coconut oatmeal cookies. may - okay, it's wasn't new, but i made another flourless chocolate cake & it was really yummy.

12. update my portfolio. haven't touched it, but i have been good about brining pieces home to add to it.

13. make my halloween costume. i have some ideas. but you'll have to wait & see.

14. cook dinner once a month. in january i made green pork burritos with cilantro rice & black beans. february was baked macaroni & cheese (patti labelle's recipe). march was pretzel chicken & homemade potato chips for girls night. april was baked chicaken parmasan. may was garlic pasta with chicken & veggies for mother's day.

15. redesign my online portfolio. again, haven't touched it.

16. hang out with old friends. check! not as in "accomplished, so i don't have to do it anymore", but as in "being accomplished on a regular basis ... and i LOVE it!" i should be seeing marisa next month. and seeing erin in july. dave - we should figure something out.

17. learn to use my screen printing supplies. i may set aside a weekend to do this.

18. catch up my thumbnails. i need more paper.

19. read 3 new books. 1 - bob greene's total body makeover.

20. eat breakfast at lynn's paradise cafe. twice!

21. finish bob greene's total body make over. i may jump back into this. just to have a clear set of goals.

22. take a trip by myself. nothing planned.

23. finish the plastic purse. no work done. but thanks for the brown bags, julie!

24. files my taxes early. DONE!

25. work on a scrapbook. nothing started.

26. send Christmas cards. no pressure for them to be handmade, but i want to send out cards.

27. homemade Christmas presents. this is just a space filler, really. i know i'll make the Christmas presents. i even have a little bit of an idea of what they'll all be. but there's nothing wrong with setting a goal i KNOW i'll achieve, right? :)

28. secret. this one is fabulously exciting, but i can't tell you about it. yet.

taltree arboretum

more questions ...

1. When you're home alone, do you still close the door when you use the restroom? yes.

2. If you have to go grocery shopping, would you rather go alone or with someone? with someone.

3. It's your best friends birthday, do you buy them a gift even though they didn't buy you one for yours? if i had the perfect gift, yes. but usually i don't buy gifts.

4. You win the lottery. Lump sum or small payments over a period of time? lump sum.

5. Do you like your music loud or at a reasonable level? i listen to music louder than i realize most of the time. unless i'm at work.

6. Are you a beach person or a snowy mountain person? beach.

7. When do you brush your teeth? when they feel dirty.

8. Can you watch scary movies alone? i don't do well with scary movies anymore. the last one i tried to watch was probably 5 years ago, i was in my living room watching it with a guy who could totally protect me from the actors, and i still left the room.

9. Soft bed or firm? firm.

10. Would you rather stay home all day, or be out and about with some friends? currently i'm spending more time out with friends.

11. What are some of your worst memories? i'm trying to be more positive. answering this question won't help.

12. Do you like to keep the peace or be confrontational? i'm with jody - i'm usually a peace keeper, but sometimes i have to let all the confrontation out.

13. Are you more likely to be with a large group of people or a few close friends? a few close friends.

14. What are your plans for October? i'll probably be completely stressed out for the first week, but after that i plan to take some time to breath.

16. What is your ideal profession? handmade goods store owner.

17. Are you close to your Mom and Dad? yes.

18. What is one fear that you can't seem to overcome? needles. not sewing needles, i'm fine with those. but the big jagged pieces of metal the doctors shove into my arm.

19. Are you a good math person? yes.

20. Do you kiss on a first date? i have, yes.

21. Is there anyone that you regret ever meeting? i don't think so.

22. Rate your life on a scale from 1 - 10 right now: just an over all rating? i'd say a 7.

23. Would you rather have roommates or live alone? live alone.

24. Do you like to drive? yes.

27. If you found out that you were going to be a parent, what would you do? wonder if i have esp because i totally dreamed about that last week.

28. Do you give money to homeless people when they ask? i have, yes. but in general, no.

29. A weekend in Las Vegas or Miami? vegas.

30. When you go to the store, do you have a list or just buy random things? grocery - list. otherwise, i'm just wandering about, usually.

31. What do you wear to sleep in? weather-appropriate 'jamas. :)

32. You have 3 months left to live, what do you do? quit my job. travel alone. take a lot of photos. spend a lot of time with family & friends.

33. You're having a bad day, whats one thing that can make your day better? food.

34. Tanning bed? no thanks.

35. Is there anything you would change about your body if you could? sure.

36. You wake up in an unfamiliar place, what is your first reaction? a big stretch. i always stretch when i wake up.

37. Is there anything that you should be doing right now? not really. i'm doing some laundry so i have clothes for work tomorrow ... so this is pretty productive.

39. What is your favorite breakfast food? biscuits & gravy.

40. Your phone rings at 4am, who do you expect it to be? my dad's employer.

two kinds of people ...

Dog or cat people: dogs, hands down.

Coke or Pepsi people: pepsi, though i don't drink either.

Morning or night people: night, i suppose. once i get in the groove though, i make a pretty good morning person.

Coffee or tea people: chocolate-covered coffee beans?

PC or Mac people: mac.

David Letterman or Jay Leno watchers: letterman.

Jerry Seinfeld people or, well...everyone else: i'm an "everyone else". i don't find jerry seinfeld to be that funny.

Bath or shower people: shower.

Heels or "sensible" shoe people: "sensible".

Pie or cake people: pie. especially the homemade kind. i had this fabulous mixed nut pie a few weeks ago. i'm not a fan of pecan pie ... but this mixed nut pie was wonderful.

Beach people or mountain people: beach.

Beer or wine people: i'm not a big fan of either.

Sleep with the window open, or window-closed people: closed, usually.

Sail boat or power boat people: i'd like to try a sail boat.

Toilet paper roll "over" or "under" installers: over. i'll switch it at other people's houses. over just makes more sense to me.

Foreign- or American-made car people: my last 6 have been american. if you're wondering, that's every car i've driven.

Cooks or microwavers: cooks.

Sweet-tooth people or salt cravers: salt craver.

In-a-glass or out-of-the-can people: i always drink my v8 out of the can ... though in a glass makes it easier to add salt & pepper.

Breakfast-eaters or breakfast-skippers: eater. i love breakfast.

Black ink or blue ink people: i'm currently using only blue pens/markers/highlighters at work. until i feel less blue, i shall only write in blue.

Glasses or contact lens people: currently i wear glasses all the time. i'm thinking of switching though.

mostly responses

bar louie does $1 burgers every tuesday. for $1 you get the burger, the bun & some lettuce. then they charge $1 for every add on (pepperjack cheese $1, guacamole $1 - that's both an example & a good burger). get a basket of fries for $3 (enough for 2-3 people with burgers) and you make out pretty well. plus, i totally recommend ending the meal by splitting a piece of the chocolate, chocolate, chocolate cake. yumm-o.

the date is next wednesday. we're going out with the mutual friends who are setting us up. i will keep you informed.

i haven't named the bike yet, though i am sure she's a she. and she's actually a blue bike. a little disappointing, i know, but i really like the bike. it's a trendy muted blue with brown & tan accents. brown leather seat. they call it a "hybrid" bike - between a cruiser and ... something else, i suppose. it looks like a cruiser, but the tires have a bit more tread to them than a cruiser tire. did i mention it's really cute? :)

i took her out for her first ride tonight. drove her over to the jail trail & went from the government center to route 30 & back. if i mapped it correctly on mapmyride.com it was about 3.75 miles. i was guessing 3 miles, so i guess i'll believe it. i definitely felt it in my quads - which was good. i was fairly pooped when i was done. and i totally know what jody means about "biking legs" now. i cannot imagine running after jumping off a bike. more power to ya, triathalon trainees. more power to ya.

a group biking excursion sounds like great fun though. i got a bike rack, so i can haul two bikes. as long as everyone knows i'm just starting to ride again, i'm all for it. tonight was my first time on a bike in 14 years.

i'm starting to feel like a social coordinator ... but check your calendars for saturday, june 23. if you're free that night, i may have a fun idea. $10 a person - amazing food, sparkling beverages, piano playing, fire dancing. maybe we'd want to do a ladies' night out & split a hotel room? anyone interested?

yes, i said fire dancing.

i bought a bike!

hey - i think you people love me. :)

i bought a bike today. it's super cute. i tried getting a photo of it ... but it's late, i'm tired, and it's hard to take a photo of right now as it's just sitting in the walkway in the basement. so you'll have to wait until i take her outside for a decent photo. so just trust me, she's cute. i think by my describing it as "cute" you can safely assume that it's not a sporty/racy/serious bike. it's a fun bike. and a cute bike. and i also bought a bike rack so i can take her with me everywhere i go. yay.

tonight was $1 burger night at bar louie's. good times.

i'm going on a blind date of sorts next week. i think i'd be fairly petrified at the idea if i'd let myself think about it long enough.

what, i'm alive?

i'll have you know that i'm tired & want to sleep ... but instead i'm feeding your desire for some 'becca bloggin'! (hey - did you know that blogger now saves your drafts automatically? that's very kind.) so now i expect you to show your gratitude for my bloggin' by posting this survey on your site, too. i mean, what better way to come back to the bloggin' world than with a survey?

the "no questions about work" survey ...

1. what time do you get up on the weekend? i can still sleep until 11a.m. pretty easily. i try to do that whenever possible. :)

2. do you spend more time inside or outside on the weekends? inside.

3. do you spend more time in your front yard or your back yard? front yard.

4. do you mow your own yard? i did when i was younger.

5. do you have landscaping/flowers in your yard? where? we have daffodils, tulips, irises, lilies and lilacs in front of the house. more irises and daffodils on the side. other plants/flowers in the back including a snowball bush & a couple of hydrangea bushes.

6. what did you do last weekend? slept in. ate some sausage. hit my head on a house. met brody. watched julie buy a digital camera. bought some cute black capris. played some bunco. hugged some good friends. ate a fabulous mom-made sunday dinner, went for a walk. ate some pasta salad. went to bed by 10:15 (which isn't happenining tonight. ugh, i'm tired). that list isn't all inclusive.

7. what do you plan to do this coming weekend? i'm not sure yet. i do plan to spend a fair amount of time riding my new bike, which i plan to buy tomorrow. and i got 2000 soda bottle caps in the mail last week, so i plan to string some of those into jewelry. and i have a serious need to do some quilting.

8. describe your "dream weekend": one that never ends? :) i'd say a weekend on the shore somewhere. not necessarily a sandy beach getting sun ... but somewhere i can hear the waves crashing as i take photos.

9. to make a three-day weekend would you rather have friday or monday off? friday. when i take off monday i feel like i'm a day behind when i walk in the door. next week i'll be off monday (holiday) and tuesday (personal day) just to extend the weekend & ride my bike (april's taking tuesday off, too, so we can ride together). i'll feel buried on wednesday, but i think it will be worth it.

10. would you work four 10-hour days to have a three-day weekend every weekend? yes. i think that would be grand.

11. what time do you go to bed on the weekend? late, usually. i like to squeeze every moment out of the weekend possible.

11. is your bedroom at the front or back of the house? front, but it's in the basement. (why are there two 11s?)

12. are you a light sleeper or sleep like a log? i usually sleep like a log. if i'm sleeping somewhere new it will take me awhile to get to sleep ... but once i'm asleep, i'm out.

13. how about your bedmate? my pillow usually sleeps like a log, too. (bedmate? i don't think i've ever heard that word.)

14. how many times a night do you get up to pee? usually once. sometimes twice.

15. do you turn on a light for number 14? no. well, i do in the bathroom ... but not getting to the bathroom.

16. who's the first person up in your house on the weekends? my mom.

17. what's the first thing you do when you get up on the weekend? smile because my alarm clock isn't telling me to go to work.

granted, this survey assumes you don't work on the weekends. but still, it had some questions i hadn't seen before. and you know i love a good survey. but seriously, if others don't anwer these questions, i may never blog again. or something like that. :)

cleaning the in-box

my in box hit 101 messages. i try to keep it below 100. it just seems like a good round number. so i'm cleaning out. and you get to hear the randomness. :)

i may have posted a link to the ruler game before, but here it is again. i just scored a 4600. not too shabby. of course, your score only counts if you have the timer on and are using an increment level of sixteenths. go ahead, try it out. it's crazy mathematical fun!

i need to find some good recipe software. i want to be able to input my recipes & then search them by ingredients, course, etc. if anyone has such a software to recommend, that would be great. because i could print the recipes in my in box, but i'd much rather have a good digital filing system, too.

stitchpixie.com has some rather fabulous stuff. check out the monster coin purses. how. stinkin'. cute.

create your own puzzles online, courtesy of the discovery channel. wordsearches, crosswords, math squares. all good stuff. and you may even get to see an ad for the mythbuster boys. they're so dreamy.

i totally missed my opportunity to get this free t-shirt from thinkgeek.com. nuts.

sandi was one of the winners in the button contest! i forgot to tell you guys that. thanks for voting! see all the winners here,

if it weren't for my aversion to motivational nonsense, i'd want to read books by john mason, i heard about him on a packet of soy sauce. or maybe it was sweet & sour sauce.

pandas apparently benefit from watching porn.

mental_floss recommends extreme hotels,

alright, i'm down to 17 messages. and i think only three of those actually need a reply.

tuesday

1. i read the paper as i ate my breakfast this morning. granted, it was yesterday's paper. but still, i read it. i learned that i may have a 1% income tax next year. i learned that people in pick-em-up trucks don't need to wear seat belts (yet). i learned that my town is, indeed, good enough to receive the get healthy magazine.

2. i read the paper at lunch today. today's paper. skyvalue airlines has pulled out of gary.

3. i switched toothbrushes, and my teeth feel impeccably clean. i mean, right now, i can tell i've eaten since my last brushing ... but all in all, my teeth still feel clean.

4. i did a lot of beading over the weekend. apparently it helps me keep my mind off of work.

5. some people have a very different view of "good news" than i have. or, at least, they have a very different view of what that good news will do for me. if you've just given me very bad news about subject A, following that up with good news about subject B doesn't erase the news on subject A. is that really so hard to understand?

6. three out of four people have tried their jennie rae's jam & enjoyed it.

7. i was told about a fabulous france/spain trip next spring that sounds absolutely wonderful. and while i know it's a very good price for the trip ... i haven't convinced myself i want to spend the money. it just seems like a big chunk of change i could be spending on a house instead. this series of thoughts makes me feel old.

8. april & i discussed submissions for the lake county fair at lunch today. we realized that we are beginner digital photographers, as we have not had our digital cameras for five years. this is exciting because the categories for beginner digital photographers are better than those for the advanced digital photographers. personally i think they should both have the same categories ... but apparently the fair folk don't agree.

9. my hair is just getting long enough to pull back into pigtails.

10. my niece puts on her sun glasses & calls herself a rock star. :)

11. i think i may go back to wearing contacts so i can wear sun glasses.

12. sun glasses? sunglasses?

13. i plan to request a desk change at work. my reasons are three-fold.

14. i finally watched "secondhand lions," this weekend. it's been sitting around since the beginning of december. it's a very good movie. i like when people recommend very good movies.

15. i finally watched "nacho libre" this weekend. it's been sitting around since the middle of december. it was not as funny as i was hoping for. i enjoy jack black a lot. "school of rock" is one of my favorite movies. but this was not as funny as i was hoping for.

16. my next arrivals from netflix should be "capote" and "delicatessen". i'm very excited about "delicatessen". i've waited a long time for it to come out on dvd with french audio & english subtitles. for awhile i could only find korean audio (sampled over the french) with english subtitles. and that's just ridiculous.

17. i think i'm going to buy a bike. i got a mailer from trek the other day - and i found one i really like. anyone want to offer advice on bike buying? is trek a good place to go? is there somewhere better? i know very little about bikes. but i'm thinking a trek bike is probably better quality than a target bike ... which accounts for the price difference. and i want a quality bike. i just need to be sure i'm going to really use it enough to make it a worthwhile investment. yes, investment. that's the key. i'm investing in a bike. i think it'd be fun to have a new exercise.