My Journal- Recent

Tuesday June 3, 2003

The low news... well, OK. (sigh) Well, I was told two weeks ago today that I was being laid off. Half our IT Department got the axe when the CEO decided on a whim not to take the company down a certain path, so our project was suddenly cut, and so were we. So I'm unemployed. They had me work through the end of May, and gave me two weeks severance after that, so at least that's something, but I need to find another job, and FAST. Fortunately this layoff had absolutely NOTHING to do with job performance, and my boss assures me only the best references. He even claimed he'd help us find jobs, although I don't know that I believe him.

But surely you understand the consequences this has on our house construction. Well, not so much the house construction as getting the mortgage once the house is finished. I was warned not to switch jobs during the construction, so that I would still qualify for the home mortgage once the house was finished. Of course, this was totally unvoluntary. So I need to find something else permanent right away, and obviously in the DFW area. If anyone out there can help by referring any hiring companies to me, that would be soooo much appreciated. My resume is online, and I can email you a copy of the word doc version if you like, just let me know.

I think this could be a sign from God saying he doesn't want me to remain a web developer; but if so, this is really bad timing. I wonder if I could bargain with him that if I could just get another job for a while to keep the house, then later when I'm financially stable, I would venture out to a new career. But what other career might I move to? I have nothing else in mind that I've really been wanting to do. I know the ideal career is something one would really enjoy doing. What do I enjoy doing? Vacationing? Eating chocolate? Watching Sex in the City? I mean, come on... I can't make money doing any of those things. I do love to write, maybe I could write a book, maybe kids books?? I think that market is oversaturated, and I don't have the patience to write an adult novel. I do love stuffed animals. Maybe I could come up with my own line of stuffed animals?? Hmm... well, I'm not even CLOSE to an artist and I can't even draw stick figures so they're recognizable, so I guess that is out of the question. Do you have any suggestions? I have a feeling it should be something unique. A few friends suggested that I become a personal trainer, but I'm not really into that. I like working out, but I only like working out myself. I don't think I have the patience and the disposition to be a personal trainer. I would get too frustrated with people the second they didn't do what I told them. I have enough stress with my OWN failed physical goals, much less being stressed out by OTHERS failed physical goals.

I think it might be fun to be a doctor, but that's just out of the question because it involves too much schooling. Not that I couldn't handle the schooling or not that I don't think it's worth the wait, but the cost involved in GOING to school is way out of my realm of possibility, not to mention the lost salary I wouldn't be making since I was PAYING to go to school.

So, all roads come back to being a web developer. As much as I'd like to say money doesn't matter, it does. I've got to be earning a decent income to afford the things I like. I know that may sound shallow, but I don't care. This is my life, and I'm living it the best way I know how.

Ok, so on to the HIGH news... bet you almost forgot there was some HIGH news, eh?

Well, the HIGH news is that I'm going SKYDIVING this Sunday! Yup, I put the payment down for it a month ago, so it's a done deal. I'm really looking forward to it. The only thing that bums me out about doing it at all is the fact that I'm afraid nothing else will be as fun once I do that. I mean, isn't skydiving the ULTIMATE rush? How will any bungie jump or rollercoaster ever compare? It won't. I know it won't. But oh well... I don't care, I'm still gonna do it, cuz I know it will be amazing. I've always wanted to do it and when two of my friends said they were gonna do it, I was IN. Funnily, though, we couldn't find anyone else but the three of us who wanted to do it. We almost had Wes in, but his wife, Tonya, begged him not to cuz she said his insurance policy wasn't big enough to lose him at this point. HA, funny how people really think of death when they think of skydiving? Don't you realize you have a bazillion more chance of dying due to disease or a car crash than during a skydive??? And besides, I'm at peace, cuz I figure if I'm the one in bazillion that's gonna die during my skydive, that I just don't care, cuz at least I'm gonna die doing something FUN rather than dying some other way like in a car crash, from cancer, or in my sleep from old age. I mean, dying from old age in your sleep is way over-rated. Don't you think? ;-)

Monday May 19, 2003

Just wanted you to know I took some more pics of the framing this past weekend. Be sure to check them out; things are really shaping up! David just called to tell me that already today most of the windows and sheething are up (sheething is the plywood that goes on the ouside of the house so it isn't see-through anymore). I can't believe how fast those framers work! WOW! So no doubt there will be a whole batch of NEW pics taken this upcoming weekend.

So you doing anything fun for Memorial Day Weekend? Of course, David, I and the gang are going to the Brazos River. Should be a blast, can't wait! Will be my first time this year out on a boat.

I bought the new Madonna CD (American Life) a couple weeks ago. It's decent, but not as good as I was hoping. Music was just SOOO good, so in my opinion, this one doesn't compare.

David and I have our third pre-marital counseling class with our Pastor tonight. Always proves to be interesting.

David and I had a great time in Austin a couple weekends ago visiting Janice and Mike. Avery is growing up so fast! She is such a cutie! While in Austin, I bought a giant stuffed palm tree. It has three smiling coconuts on it. It is soooo cute!! You should check out this lady's website who made it, Funny Friends, she's got some really cool unique stuff and it's all soooo soft! It wasn't until after I visited the site that I realized the plam tree I bought is supposed to be a child's growth chart. HAHA!

Sorry, back to the house again... David and I are having a hard time deciding on what kind of roof we want for the house. Even though a steel standing seam roof is more expensive, we're pretty sure it's the route we want to go. We're torn between picking Colonial Red (another shot of Colonial Red) or Medium Bronze (another shot of Medium Bronze). What do you think? We're leaning towards the Colonial Red, although we know it's bold. Oh, and so you know, we're planning on a light tan stucco, so the red would offset it really nice. The Medium Bronze would look really good with that color stucco as well. Ahh, decisions, decisions!

Hope you're having a good week!

Thursday May 1, 2003

OK, it occured to me that looking at these pictures is really going to mean NOTHING to you unless I kinda show you the floor plan. Now this floor plan is kind old, the kitchen and the master bath have been changed around some, but in general it'll give you the jist. Move your mouse over the floor links below to see that floor's plan.

[ Bottom Floor | Main Floor | Top Floor ]

OK, now that you sorta got the general layout, here's the pics:

Can't wait til they start framing the top floor! Goodness, this house sure looks like a monster! But it's sooo exciting! Promise to keep ya posted!

Wednesday April 23, 2003

Yes, it's true... they're finally doing the FRAMING for our house! WEEEEEE! The piers and foundation are FINALLY complete and the next step of 'framing' is on! David called me this morning and said the bottom floor framing is already almost done and they're working on the staircase to the main floor! And I guess the floor system was delivered today meaning they can start building the floor for the main floor. I'll visit it this weekend and get some pics up soon.

Did you know MapQuest.com now has Aerial Photos? I did a look up of our lot. The aerial photo must be a bit old cuz it looks to me like all the trees are still on our lot, when obviously many of them in the center have been taken down. The orange square denoting what I believe to be our lot.

Hey, I had a GREAT time in Playa Del Carmen, by the way. Probably my best two-tank dive EVER considering the amounts of awesome marine life I saw. Check out pics here.

Today I put down a deposit on our Honeymoon! That's right! We've chosen Sandals Antigua and will be there from Oct. 7th-Oct. 18th. 11 nights in BLISS. We actually leave the night of the 6th to go to Miami to spend the night there so we can catch an early morning flight to Antigua and be there by 1:30pm instead of 7:30pm which was the alternative if we left from Dallas the morning of the 7th. PERFECT! Gosh, I can't wait. We've heard Antigua is beautiful. And the Sandals resort there was voted the World's Leading Honeymoon Resort! How perfect! :-D

I'd also like to throw a HAPPY BIRTHDAY shout out to David, he's 38!! wow! So old! LOL! We're having a big party for him and his best friend who's turning 40 (goodness, Mark!) this Saturday. Should be a blast! He already got his gift from me and his family... a PlayStation 2 and 5 cool games which he loves! I was laughing SO HARD watching him try to play Grand Theft Auto 3 that I was crying! I couldn't stop laughing for a good 30 minutes. Watching him press a wrong button and accidentally get out of his car in the middle of the street to run around in circles was a crack up! Watching him crash EVERY car he drove no matter how hard he tried not to was hysterical. Watching him beat up and run over innocent people made me laugh harder. So WRONG, I tell you! At one point, he pulled some lady out of her car to steal it and after he pulled her out of the car, she kicked his ass and got back in her car and drove away. I thought I was gonna die!

Welp, Wish us luck on this framing thing. I hope everything goes smoothly. If all goes well, we could be done with the framing in three weeks. I'm just in shock this is really all happening, I think. Our lot is slowly turning into what resembles a house! IMAGINE THAT! :-D

Thursday March 13, 2003

THE HOUSE:

The house progression has been VERY slow thanks to a concrete contractor named RAY SULAK that jerked us around for months. If you live in the DFW area, please do NOT EVER use this concrete worker. He is notorious for never showing up and delaying things beyond belief, wish we would have known that before hand. We should have had our foundation done MONTHS ago. Now there is almost NO chance we will have the house done by Thanksgiving like we were hoping. Only just today they are drilling the holes for our piers, and that's only because we wisened up and hiered a different concrete contractor. They are drillin 41 holes today that are 20 feet deep! Can you believe that? WOW! Once the holes are drilled and the concrete piers are poured, then the foundation slab and retaining wall can be created, then we can finally get on with the business of building a HOUSE. Wish us luck!

THE WEDDING:

Wedding plans are moving right along. We've found a soloist to sing a song during our wedding ceremony, I've chosen my brides maids, the flower girl and ring bearer. We've picked the ceremony location and reception hall, have the Pastor lined up, and we've hired a videographer!

All this information and more can been seen at our official Wedding Website at www.Planet-K.com/wedding. You can view progress and updates on our plans, get information about the wedding and reception, take a quiz and a poll, sign our wedding guestbook, read stories of how we met and how he proposed, and so much more! Check it out! And please, sign the guestbook!

ME:

Well, like I said, I've been a busy bee. Besides the wedding planning and the house building, I've been doing quite a bit of freelance work to make ends meet, including working on the WhenAManLovesAWoman.com website. Check it out.

I have been working out with a trainer for free for a couple of months now since I'm exchanging him his expertise for a website for his gym and personal training business. I train with 3 other friends of mine at the same time. It's a lot of fun and a nice change of pace compared to working out by myself. My diet has been struggling, so as of this past Monday, I switched back to the NHE diet. I find it works best for me, especially when bikini weather is coming, since I have so many issues with sugar and carb cravings. NHE quells them and I'm able to drop body fat while retaining and even building some muscle. It's a great plan, I talk a little about it on my WORKOUT page.

I'm doing something exciting in April... I just can't wait! It will be a great de-stresser and a wonderful time. I'm going to Playa Del Carmen with a girlfriend (Becky) and two of her friends that I haven't yet met, but I hear are wonderful. It's a short 3 day, 3 night trip. We got the flight as a Red Hot Webfare deal. Can you believe this... ROUNDTRIP NON-STOP to Cancun for only $109! I just couldn't pass it up! And we're all sharing a hotel room, so we're saving a ton of money there, too. We're staying at a hotel called the Hotel Playa Maya. We will be doing the FAT CAT Catamaran Sail. Sounds like fun, eh? I've never been to Mexico before, so this will be my first trip and I'm EXTRA excited about it. Will be so wonderful just to escape and lounge on a beach even if only for a few days. I tried to make it all the way to my Honeymoon (Oct.) to see a beach again, but that is just too long for me. The sun and sand are calling and I must answer! ;-)

Friday January 10, 2003

How do you feel? Boy, I haven't had much of an opportunity to write down '2003' yet, so I figured I'd give it a shot. Feels good. Feels even MORE futuristic than 2002. 2002 was a little too balanced for me, a little too even- it's a palindrome! But, boy, won't 2003 be eventful and futuristic. After all, this is the year I'm getting married! And this is the year David and I are building a house!!

We've had it in mind for a little over a year now. We bought some land back in February of 2002. Since then, we started laying out rough house plans ourselves and coming up with the layout we liked best. Once we had that in mind, we hired an architect to finalize the plans and make sure the house was "sound". Then, back in September, we started the whole interim construction loan process. Boy, has it been slow and a bit painful. But after 3 or so months of toil, paperwork, more paperwork and more toil, it appears it's finally going to happen. We owe an amazing amount of thanks to Brad, our Builder (of Aristocrat Construction). He's been MORE than amazing by offering to help us get the best deals possible on nearly all our supplies. We can't thank him enough and we've only just begun!

Of course, this all wouldn't be happening without David's great patience, time and effort put into contacting plumbers, electricians, foundation engineers, cabinet makers, and so on and so on. He's found us what I believe are the best deals anywhere. And because he knows SO much about many aspects of construction, he'll be able to do a lot of the work himself to save us even MORE money. He's truely incredible, without him, it wouldn't be worth it to build; but with him, we can actually build the shell of our near DREAM house at an affordable price. The house will no doubt appraise at $150,000 more than we spend on building it, which definitely makes all this effort worth our while.

And to give myself (the lowly nerdy girl) some kudos in this whole thing, I can take responsibility for have the good credit to get the financing. Hey, that's something, right?!

Oh gosh, I can't even WAIT to get started! I know this will be the ultimate test of patience for me cuz I want it and I want it RIGHT NOW. David and I are crammed in my small 2 BR house that's perfect for one person. I think the thing we're actually seriously looking MOST forward to is having closet space. AH YES! CLOSET SPACE! We're putting walk-in closets in ALL the rooms including the study. The closet in our Master bedroom is 12'x15'. SERIOUSLY. It's ridiculously HUGE cuz we wanted it ridiculously huge. BOTH OF US! Honestly! David may want this giganto closet even more than *I* do! Maybe I'll see about finding a way to get our giant blueprints down to a version I could scan and put up here for you to see. But undoubtedly the plans will change a little here and there as we go through the building process. I think when we're done, we should try SELLING the blueprints to someone-- maybe to one of those 'House Plans' books. This house kicks some serious ass in the way it's laid out and is PERFECT for a sloped lot. It's very unique!

I'm so glad David and I have such similar taste in how we want to layout and design and even decorate our house. Boy, at least we're saving a bunch of arguments right there. Cuz no doubt there will be some doozy's to come in the next 8 months. :-)

We have been DETERMINED to have our house built and completed in time to have Thanksgiving dinner at our house next year with our entire combined families. And now with the closing date just days away, it seems like a complete reality! We know the building of this house will definitely take longer than a mass produced house (something not custom-built) and it's going to take a bit longer because we'll be doing a bit of it ourselves to save money (yes, David has informed me that I will be getting dirty myself). So if I can just have patience and hold on, I know the fuzzy, dim light at the end of the tunnel will shine big and bright some day! And with any luck, the house will be finished by our wedding date, so we can start our lives as a married couple there.

This house will be a monster... 4300 sq. ft., 3 floors, 4 BRs, Study and HUGE ASS Entertainment Room. What will two people do to fill this space you ask??? We'll fill it and share it often with friends, family, guests, newts, leopard geckos, saltwater fish, a dog, a cat and yes... kids. :-)