Don't Try This At Home Kids

And You Thought Kyle 'Rocked' at Guitar Hero!


...I'm afraid I might have just given him an idea...

I have done a terrible thing...

So, you know I do a lot of real estate work for Bob...

Well, my latest task was to figure out how to send automated emails with home search results to clients. We have a program that does it but it's hella expensive and if we already pay for something else that can do it why pay for 2 things that can do it - makes sense, right?

So, I'm playing with this online software (I don't think that's an oxymoron) and I think I got it all figured out. Well, I'm not going to just start haphazardly spending this stuff out - especially since I don't know what it's going to look like exactly.

So, I gotta send one to myself right? RIGHT! Well, if I'm going to create a search to pull houses and email me every week I might as well create a search for houses I might someday be interested in right? RIGHT!

I pretty much know where I'm going to live when we move home (Kyle can live where ever he wants but I know where I'M living...) So I put in my search area, and my price point, and my 4+ bedrooms, 2+ bathrooms, 2 car garage, etc.

Don't ask what I need 4+ bedrooms for right now - I don't. I AM NOT PREGNANT!!

There's also some other criteria I want but either can't search for it or it wouldn't be a deal breaker if I didn't get it such as: 3 car garage, south facing, kitchen opens to living room, on/close to cul-de-sac or dead end street (I don't want crazy kids driving through my neighborhood runnin' over my dog), doesn't back up to other houses, good school district (although pretty much any school in the area I want is good), etc.

So I run this search and wait patiently for it to process and send me an email. Waiting, waiting, waiting...'you've got mail!'

I get a 19 house list (pretty good I might add - it's hard to find houses in our price range when you're looking in neighborhoods that average, like, $600K). So I start looking through the list...seen it, seen it, ugly, OMG NO!, ugly, useless, really?, seen it, seen it, BINGO!!I found this one. Isn't it a beaut? No, I'm not going to tell you where it is. No, I'm not going to give you the specs. No, I'm not going to tell you how much it's listed for. But I will tell you that all of the floors have to be redone (it might have had some water damage=lots of work!), appraises for more then it's listed at, and meets/exceeds all of my criteria. (If I tell you too much about it you'll heart it so much that you'll go out and buy it just to spite me!)

That of course leads me to run some numbers (Kyle's been feeling broke lately and I've been promising him for weeks that I would figure out how we have money but decided now was the time - you know - because it was for my benefit...)

• Do we have any money for a down payment? (We better freaking have money for a down payment, I've been going without my weekly massages and mani/pedis since, like, the beginning of time!)

HUZZAH, YES!!

• After we put down some $$ will we be able to buy cars (since we have zero cars right now)? And have an e-fund, you know - for when Kyle gets laid off...?

YES AGAIN!! life is good...

• Ok, so I know I can make at least 1 payment, but can I make, like, 2 of them?

YEAH! It's only slightly more then the condo is right now...

Now all I have to do is have Bob tell me it's good quality and convince Kyle that it's a good idea to buy a house that we won't live in for a year and a half and then convince a bank that it's a good idea to give us money for a primary residence we won't live in for a year and a half while I live 1/2 way around the world and...and...and...and...

Appenzell, Switzerland (11/08/08)

We started our day bright and early at 6:15 am so that we could make our 8 am train. After an hour train to Gossau we changed trains for a 45 minute right to Appenzell. We didn't really know what we were going to do once we go there so we brought out book and read on the way - Flat Stanley helped...
Once we got to Appenzell we walked around the beautiful town.The first thing we found was a toy store...of course! We're looking for a nice hand carved version of our new favorite game Settlers of Catan and thought this small town might be the place to find it! Well, we didn't find our game but we did find out that someone is having a very happy Christmas :)
On our way out the door we found, quite possibly the greatest thing ever, a gnome party! First, only in Europe would you find a gnome like this:
But he was hanging out with about 100 of his gnome friends This is only about 1/3 of them...
Here are some more pictures of the beautiful buildings.
This is the hotel we had lunch in. Great lunch, great old building...
This building has always been a pharmacy since it was built in the 1700s. It even has a plaque telling the story of the building.All of the buildings have these hand painted sections. Each (and just about EVERY) building has about 25 of these sections.This is the town square is the center of town.
And the beautiful view from the center of town.
Most the time the city center is a parking lot...but once a year all the citizens of the town come together for a town hall meeting. Votes are actually given by raising your hand. Apparently it is a very neat thing to see.
Manor is a large department store in Switzerland. I think it's so neat how this old building actually sells pots and pans and drapes and such.
Next to the church was a beautiful cemetery. We were surprised to see how small the plots where.
Here's Kyle standing next to them. See how short they are? This, of course, led us discuss the finer points of death and burial. He seems to think that it's appropriate to bury 2 people in the same casket (clothing optional) - I immediately told him that I don't think I can afford a hooker for 'all of eternity', even with his life insurance benefits.

Then we talked about why we thought the plots were so short. I think that if I'm going to have to take a dirt nap I want to be on my side in the fetal position - I sleep best that way. And if I'm going to have to sleep FOREVER I better be comfortable. Kyle thinks everyone is just folded in half. Or, they are actually buried under the little walkways - that creeped me out.
We kept walking and found the Appenzeller beer plant. First of all, why do they not give tours, and why is everything cool (i.e. alcholic) closed on Saturday?
So We just took pictures of the outside of the building.
We found this nice little path that we decided to walk down for a while. We found a map to show where we were and where we were going. Here's Kyle trying to imitate the bear.
It's so funny I had to put in another!
Here's the beer stack of the factory.
Since the plant wasn't open we took the 'mini tour' and just took pictures of the miniatures in the window. Tour guide Kyle explained it all to me but I didn't get it on tape this time - damn.

After we made our way back to the HB to take the bus to the mountain we found out we had some time to kill - so we went to the playground...


Hurray for teeter tooters!

We both eventually injured ourself so badly in the groinal region that we had to give up. A week later I still have a GIANT bruise on the inside of my thigh that looks like a wildcat - Kyle says he did that on purpose. I told him that sometime I'll return the favor.

Kyle was a little upset that I made him stop trying to kill me so we could catch the bus.This is where we took the bus to. We took the cablecar up to the top of the mountain (I keep wanting to call the mountains hills since, you know, being from Kansas 'mountain' isn't really in my vocabulary)Here's a view from the top.A short hike down the mountain (and then back up BAH!) you can check out the cave where 23 monk hermits lived years ago. They had a little house:
And a church:
And a steeple: (there are no doors to open to see all the people...sorry)By this point we're both exhasted. But the trip home couldn't have gone smoother if we had planned it! We took the cable car down and waited 3 minutes for the bus to take us to the HB. At the HB we walked straight onto the train as it was leaving. 5 minutes to switch trains in Gossau and then in Zurich we were able to step right on a train to take us home to catch the tram to our door (basically).

Recap: cable car - bus - train - train - train - tram. It only took 2.5 hours to get from the top of a mountain to my bed. It could have taken 4-5 hours if everything wouldn't have fallen into place like that!

Luckily I was awesome enough to bring my ipod along and we listened to the new Ben Folds on the way home...

I Only Partake in Adult Beverages on the Weekends

That being said - I don't work so every day is a 'weekend' and Mario Cart by yourself is lots more fun after a fruity drink and some NKOTB on the boombox.

Please Say A Little Prayer

A dear family friend passed away on Wednesday from kidney cancer. He was only 22 years old and a senior in college. Some would say he had had nothing but a difficult life, he was born with spina bifida but he never let his physical limitations impact him in any way.

He always had a smile on his face and was super easy to talk to. You couldn't help but like this guy.

He was just diagnosed with kidney cancer a few months ago. This news has hit everyone very hard. Kyle was an eagle boy scout with him and feels like he's lost another brother. I can only imagine that Bob feels like he's lost a son.

It's very difficult to be so far away when things like this happen. We're taking solace in the fact that he is no longer in pain.

Please keep the family in your hearts and prayers.

Happy Birthday Carol!

Since you wanted me to save you a cupcake I made one ESPECIALLY for you!Then Kyle came home from work......And this is all that was left of the beautiful cupcake I made especially for you.And Kyle looks VERY smug about what he did.

Best Wedding Cake Frosting EVER!

That's what Kyle said after he ate some of the frosting off of these cupcakes I made this weekend.There was a secret filling in the middle of the cupcakes - see the small little cupcakes that aren't frosted along the bottom of the picture.These entire things are made from scratch (out of necessity) but they were surprisingly easy and I will definitely make them again. I think the hardest part was converting the ingredients (in metric) to the recipe (not in metric) and then whipping the frosting by hand since we don't have a mixer (I'm still too cheap to by that stuff!). Luckily when I gave up about 1/2 way through Kyle was there with his brute strength to finish up.

Since I'm not a foodie at all I pulled the cupcake and frosting recipe off of allrecipes.com

INGREDIENTS

• 1 1/2 cups all-purpose flour
• 1 cup sugar
• 1/4 cup baking cocoa (I'm sure I used the wrong stuff - I think I used chocolate powder)
  
• 1 teaspoon baking soda
• 1/2 teaspoon salt
• 2 eggs, lightly beaten
• 3/4 cup water
• 1/3 cup vegetable oil
• 1 tablespoon vinegar
• 1 teaspoon vanilla extract (I put in a little extra for Kyle)
  

FILLING:

• 1 (8 ounce) package cream cheese, softened (I used 200 g - a little less than what it calls for)
  
• 1/3 cup sugar
• 1 egg, lightly beaten
• 1/8 teaspoon salt
• 1 cup semisweet chocolate chips (again, chocolate chips don't exist here so I made my own with some Swiss chocolate and a hammer)
  
• 1 cup chopped walnuts (I left these out)

DIRECTIONS

1. In a large mixing bowl, combine the dry ingredients. Add the eggs, water, oil, vinegar and vanilla; mix well. Pour into 18 greased or paper-lined muffin cups.
2. For filling, beat cream cheese and sugar in another mixing bowl. Add egg and salt; mix well. Fold in chocolate chips. Drop by tablespoonfuls into center of each cupcake. Sprinkle with nuts. Bake at 350 degrees F for 25-30 minutes.

I mixed the dry ingredients in one bowl, wet in another (like the recipe says to) then made the filling before I mixed the wet and dry together. It says it yields 18 - I made about 13, but I WAY overfilled them and kinda made a mess and then had filling left over to eat along. I think I probably could have made the 18 is said.

INGREDIENTS

• 2 cups sifted confectioners' sugar
• 1/2 cup butter
• 1 teaspoon vanilla extract
• 1 1/2 tablespoons milk
• 2 tablespoons cocoa powder (optional)

DIRECTIONS

1. Cream sugar, butter and vanilla. Add a small amount of milk (1 to 2 tablespoons). Add cocoa if desired and beat until fluffy. If frosting is too sweet add a little more milk.

Everyone loved them at the party I took them to on Saturday night so I was pretty excited. I'm a really bad baker (and cook for that matter) so I get REALLY excited when something I make doesn't completely suck.

My New Boyfriend(s)

Met Bob:And Stanley:And Wilson:
Bob's awesome! He does everything I tell him to - he's at my beck and call. Sometimes I even make Kyle and Bob go and do things together for me. Actually, these Freitag bags are super cool. They are made out of recycled semitruck tarp, inner tubes and seat belts. That's what gives it so much character. It's meant to be just a bag but I'm using it as my purse right now (you know, to fit in :) ). The great thing about this is that it's pretty lightweight but completely weatherproof. AND, it's 'manly' enough that I can get Kyle to carry it sometimes - like when I make him go to the store and buy me stuff because I'm making him cupcakes from scratch.

Flat Stanley is my paper friend from NKC. He's come to stay with us until the end of the year and we take him around to different places and do different things. He even helped us pick out our (first - I can only assume that Kyle will want his own) Freitag bag.

Wilson came out of a cereal box - that's right, I bought cereal just for the toy. The toys were supposed to be from The Dark Knight but apparently the Europeans got confused and threw in a character from another Batman movie. I was hoping for Batman - but I lost. I named him Wilson because he's my buddy when Kyle leaves me at home for hours at a time - you know like 'Castaway'? He also packs a mean uppercut!

The Quickest Way to Make Me Never Talk to You Again

Beat me over the head with your (you know, probably wrong) political or religious views. There is nothing more annoying to me than you, somehow, turning every conversation into how George W. is an idiot and how you're counting down the seconds til change... Didn't your mother every teach you not to talk about politics, religion, and money?

Don't get me wrong, I'll discuss (key word, discuss - not argue) the above topics with you - all you want! But, you are not allowed to come at me like I'M the idiot. You want to discuss issues, let's go - but you better know about the issues. And "McCain is old and Obama is hot" is not an actual issue.

I agree as much as the next guy that it's time to have a change - 8 years is a long time and there's a reason that there's a 2 term restriction. But I equate this election to what Kyle thinks of the book "The Da Vinci Code". He thought that there was so much hype around the book that people 'had' to read it just because of that. Then they'd scream from the rooftops 'LOOK AT ME, I READ A BOOK - ALL BY MYSELF! I KNOW HOW TO READ'. It's suddenly 'cool' to be political.

Just because you can regurgitate 'facts' from Ihatetheothercandidate.com does not mean that you're informed and should be spewing your information like sewage.

I commend you if you have done your research and actually made a decision based on facts.

That being said, I am very excited to see the outcome Wednesday morning (my time). Either way this is a monumental election. I believe it's going to be a lot closer then anyone anticipates (Sorry folks, just because you voted on Facebook doesn't mean you've done your duty...) and can see the pros in both candidates. I'm interested to see how 'my world' reacts.