House hunters!

Will they choose the brick looks-like-everyone-else's 2 story sort-of-a-project house with the yard in serious need of help?


OR

Do they prefer the still brick tudorish updated home with the supercute yard space and adorable kitchen?




OR

Will they go with the smaller and yes...still brick 2 story with the incredibly awesome POOL?

SUPERLOIS strikes again!!

This post will HAVE to cover Saturday AND Sunday since I'm so tired I can hardly stand up!! Who knew house hunting was exhausting!! We looked at 20 houses yesterday and 5? today with several drive-bys thrown into the mix. I honestly was so wiped for the last of the 20 on Saturday that I would walk in, groan since none are perfect, feel like I was just in a big box, walk around aimlessly wandering to await that "it grabs me" feeling.....WOW! Several GRABBED me...just in the WRONG way! Wait until I tell the story of the frufru house!!!! YIKES---!!! I DO feel sorry for anyone selling their home since it must really be AWFUL for random people to be able to trapse through your house looking in closets and EVERYTHING!!! EWWWW!!!!

Have I mentioned that our agent SUPERLOIS is the bomb???? She is terrific!! I honestly have asked her like 7000 questions (ok, maybe a little exaggerated). ANYWAY--> I'm SO SICK of looking at houses that just renting another apartment is starting to sound like a GREAT idea!! :D

Early rise!

Today we hopped out of bed at 3:30am Houston bound (again) to drop samples off at my SO's lab!! We are joined for a marathon weekend of househunting by my Dad (Thanks Dad!!)! Mom couldn't come since she needed to check in on my grandmother but she will help via the world wide WEB!! :D

Tuesday April 24 - Thursday April 26

Let's see....what am I doing? I went to lunch with one of my best buds in the world, hung border in the baby's room with J & B, spent time with my Mom :), went baby shopping to get 'one more roll of border', more internet searching for the "perfect home" (THAT is getting old FAST) and tried to calm the lonely factor for my not-so-sweet kitty, BK!! I'm not sure that is much to count for 3 days of life but so be it! :) Take care all!!

Take-your-wife-to-work Part Deux!

This morning I tried to make my unemployed self somewhat useful by mowing a lawn! (THAT should have been a fun one for the neighbors!)

My SO shows up somewhere around 2:30....I'm not YET finished with the lawn but ALMOST...telling me to go grab a shower so we can go b/c he has to make a chemical pickup & delivery for work! After hurrying to finish the yard, quick shower (for me, VERY DIFFICULT), throwing stuff in the truck, off to rush hour Houston traffic, package pickup at quickstop in Lafayette (sounds like we are running drugs, huh?)...it is now 10pm...BUT my adventure for the day has JUST begun!!!

The directions to this "site" are SOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO wrong and have I mentioned that we are in the ass end of nowhere?????? AND NOONE in south Louisiana seems to utilize a ROAD SIGN!!!! (those that DO hide them behind overgrown trees or weeds so you can't SEE them) OK....I'm digressing again.....the first pic is the "road" we finally DID manage to locate (the directions SAID to turn right which put us directly into the Mississippi RIVER)....thank GOODNESS my SO knows more about these so-called directions than ME so we turned left into the woods!!!! I mean the WOODS, folks--I'm not kidding (see blurry pic of "road" above--not really a "road" at all--just a bunch of plank thingies pushed together to LOOK like a road) Just when I think we will be killed by Jason himself we come upon the "site" (see next pic above) which is pretty scary as well!!!!!! VERY LOUD...everyone has to SCREAM TO HEAR EACH OTHER...VERY DIRTY--mud everywhere...VERY DARK except for the Christmas tree looking rig-in-the-sky....VERY MALE---not a chic in sight----> and all of this is gained from my viewpoint in the truck!!!!

Don't tell anyone but I now have a completely NEW REVISED level of respect for my hubby's job and what he and others like him DO for a living!! WOW!!!

Oh...and we DID finally make it home around 12:40am!! :D

SuperLois!!

We have a super goofy (super appropriate for me) real estate agent! (thanks to my own personal superfriend & real estate agent Lynn) I KNEW she was the right one for us when I opened her website to find a picture of her in a Superman t-shirt!!! [does that SCREAM my SO or what??] She talks constantly and between the two of us my hubby barely got three words in...

What follows is the short version of the day: saw 9 houses, loved 2 of them--one of which sold before we got home!!! LOVELY--more househunting in store soon!

WORK IT!!

I am starting to get really bored looking at house after house after house on the internet!! AAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAACCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCKKKKKKKKKKKKKKKKK!!!!!!!!!!!

So for a relaxing break, we helped M & B put in an awesome flowerbed in their back yard!! It was tiring but GOOD...you know, that muscle-aching-because-you-did-something-worthwhile kind of good! (an icy cold one never tastes better than after a day of real work) :) MAYBE if I'm not too old to remember, I'll add a pic of this at a later date!

The smallest of the small...

I had an interview today (I think) for a position in a 90(soon to be 120) bed neonatal intensive care unit. It was an eye-opening experience as I have not worked in a NICU before! I'm not so sure how it went?????? I was there until around 2ish observing and interviewing (I think....heehee)! I would welcome the challenge of working in a new environment but I'm really unsure of the impression I made?? So we shall see!!! Picture me.....a chatty, often silly type B sort of person....interviewing with a super calm, collected, hard-to-read type A sort of person???? See why I didn't come away with a full concept of what my outcome will be?? The OT is one of those I would LOVE to "soak up" and respect immensely already regarding her knowledge of and interaction with the little babies and their parents---I mean, WOW!!! This is to be continued...

Take your wife to work day...

This picture-a-day thing is just not working for me so we'll call it good if some text exists for each day and count an actual picture as lagniappe! Capisci?

Early (AGAIN!#**!?) this morning I was awoken by my darling SO to get my stuff together so that we can go to work! Work?? I'm NOT working, remember?? Turns out...it is take-your-wife-to-work-so-you-don't-have-to-backtrack-three-hours-to-get-her day!! So bleary-eyed me went to work in somewhere Louisiana....I AM SOOOOOO TIRED!!

We ended the day in Houston chatting up our new real estate superwoman agent! Thanks Lynn!! A VERYBUSY weekend is in store for us!

Home again, home again jiggety jig!

Why is it that when I have a plane to catch, it is always ALWAYS preceded by 0 to 2 hours of sleep??? Some call it procrastination.....I call it GETTING THE MOST BANG FOR YOUR BUCK!!! heehee

So...we had to be up at 3am, at the airport by 4:30, to board the plane at 6:30am!! YUCK!!!!! The pics seen here are the BEFORE (Miltie & Jilie PROUD of their savvy traveler packing skills) and AFTER (after the sales at Old Navy, after Chinatown, after the Sees Candies store, ya got me?) shots of our luggage. ***DISCLAIMER: NONE of these pics can even BEGIN to compare to the shot of our 25th anniversary friend trip to New York City luggage photo! OH MY--if I can find it I'll have to include it soon for interested parties...!***

I must add the heart warming moment of the day was witnessing the joy on the faces of children when their mother returns home! If only I had been able to capture THAT on film...

Searching potstickers in Chinatown...

After the end of Miltie's fun with NSBA we decided to explore Chinatown. It was a good time--we met another supernice adoptive mom...I got to "see" some authentic Chinese sights...souvenir shopping to die for...a kite(yes, all KITES!!) store...AND had the best fried rice and wontons I have ever tasted (let me qualify that to "in a restaurant" just for you Jake!)!! :) The fortune cookie bakery was certainly something I'll not forget soon! It was SOOOOOOOO tiny and we got to eat a WARM not-yet-folded cookie.

We had a stinky dinner at The Stinking Rose, known for everything served with some form of garlic [yep, you are right--not an excellent choice for the night before boarding a plane all day]...joined again by my pal K...! Overall, another terrific day in San Francisco!

BARELY MADE IT!!

That is what you call it when a rental car is due back by 10pm and you roll through the parking ticket gate at 9:59:36!!

BUT THE ADVENTURE!!!! I haven't laughed this much in a long time!! SO many moments that will be the source of MORE laughter in years to come :) Did you know that I live on White "Chuckle" Road?? There must be something about traveling with a friend that you just don't meet a stranger! Many seem to want to share their story with us--> which has made this grand adventure even more fun!

We road tripped up the northern California coast in search of a glass beach! We found it!--along with wild calla lilies, port-a-potty in a field, roadside cows, zen in an odd store, mushroom ice cream, gorgeous poppies, redwood forests, a path leading nowhere AND windy/curvy/roundy-boundy roads!

Keynote speaker BILL CLINTON!

Woohoo! Got to see Bill deliver a keynote to OMG--THOUSANDS of school board people (WHO KNEW there were so many of them!!) It was cool! He speech sadly fell apart in about 15 minutes....guess NBSA doesn't really care about childhood obesity! *sigh* maybe next time he will write a more engaging address!

Had a BART adventure this evening and didn't even get on the wrong train once!!! YIPEE!!!!! We went out to see my best bud from grad school at her house for a little bar-b-q.....reconnecting with a glass of vino and tasty treats, reminiscing about the "old days", and watching her energetic girls entertain the crowd! It was great fun and made me wish we had more time! Thanks K & T for a wonderful afternoon!

A San Francisco treat!!

I was on my own a good portion of the day...let's call it a NSBA widow! HEEHEE OH DON'T WORRY--It did NOT damper my fun! I did a bit of exploring and had some fun with the camera (yes, I'm still deluding myself into thinking that photography skills can be acquired by the diligent). The pics above are my attempts! :)

One of the things I LOVE about San Francisco is PEOPLE WATCHING! (actually that is just something I love everywhere but work with me here...) You just NEVER know what you'll hear and be a part of!! I could ride the cable cars ALL DAY just for this little hobby!! Tonight we went to the wharf from downtown and got to sing 'Happy Birthday' to a lady and her family who were in town to celebrate! What fun (& how is THAT for cheesy tourist happenings)! WELL, the FUN was when we closed down the line at 12:30am and got BACK on the cable car with the SAME group after they had much champagne, free drinks, good food, and had been sung 'Happy Birthday' in more than a few languages celebrating the Queen red-hatter's 70th birthday! Here is her advice on life from the perspective of a very spunky, very fun 70-year-old:
1) "In life go on SMILING!"
2) "If you want to have fun go through life WAVING!" (spoken as she is wildly waving at passers-by in every intersection and street corner)
3) "Be SAFE but go on LIVING!!"
Sounds like excellent advice to me!!! We WAVED and laughed the whole way to her final stop for the night....more champagne on Top of the Mark!! What an end to another fantastic day in a beautiful city!! [and I didn't even tell you about our unusual conversation with the caricature artist...]

Firecrackers from the south!!

WOW--What a day!! The morning began with little sleep (as the norm for a Ginny off-to-the-airport day) BUT we made our flight with no delay!! Have you traveled recently with your best friend?? If you are nodding your head then you already see a snapshot of this morning! We are talking NONSTOP and laughing hysterically over basically nothing...very likely annoying all airline passengers in our midst!
AND--> you guessed it--> we met a new friend! As I'm describing the nosedive landing we will be making later in the day, lo' and behold (how's that for southern slang) the guy in the seat in front of us HAS to chime in. [of course, he has NO clue that my idea of a nosedive is comparing that SF landing to my usual landing in New Orleans where you begin your descent in Houston and basically make a really long glide down to the MSY runway...but I digress] ANYWAY --> to make a LONG story a bit shorter he is a San Fran native, on ALL of our flights the rest of the day, nicknames us the "firecrackers from the south", and proceeds to tell us how he can't BELIEVE he was served shrimp swimming in butter that were supposed to be bar-b-qued!! My response to this was..."didn't they give you a chunk of french bread? THAT is what the butter is for"

We did survive the nosedive (and Miltie agreed with me about that) and made it into the city via a backroads taxi ride.

The most delightful evening then ensued involving catching up with an old friend and his partner [who I met for the first time and just LOVE]. They took us for a night out on the town to a fabulous little restaurant called Cha Cha Cha, a driving tour of the city, and the BEST mohito I have ever had! Thanks for the memories Chris & Brad!!

April 12 & 13, 2007

Spent the days trying to finish taxes and pay bills so that I can go on to my next adventure: San Francisco on a shoestring!! :D

...one more thing!

YIKES....I'm back and now I can't shut up!! :) 7 posts on one day HAS to be my record! But I have one more morsel of knowledge that HAS to be shared in this fast forward from March to April!!!!

I know you are wondering why in the world I have a picture of a household appliance on my blog but -->IF YOU NEED A VACUUM BUY THIS ONE!!!! Even if you don't NEED a vacuum you should consider buying this one!!! I know I'm getting old when an entire post consists of why you should buy a vacuum. Seriously this thing can handle anything---> cobwebs, dead plant leaves, dustbunnies, sheetrock dust (if you remember to clean the filter occasionally)!! I'll stop my soapbox now but for all who need the details see the Sears website for Kenmore Model #35923! I'm saving my money!!!

Halogen nights???

If any of you have had the pleasure to work on something with my parents then you know --> the project isn't over until it is so dark that you can no longer see!!! [Unless we pull out the halogen spotlights and keep going....and going--I'm sure there are people who live along our little country raceway that can attest to the crazy McCoys out in the yard in the middle of the night with halogen lights working on something.....]

The upside of that is--> you NEVER miss a beautiful sunset like this one!! :)

I forgot to say.....IT'S SPRING!!!!! HAPPY SPRING!

Happy Easter too!! I LOVE spring! Check out the fabulous sights I got to look at during my hours and hours of weeding & tree cutting! I LOVE spring!!! :)

Oh yes....and we had a baby shower!!!

No wonder I haven't had time for blogging!!! Part of the (OK, MOST of the...) necessity for the housecleaning was so we could have a BABY SHOWER!!!!! There is a NEW McCoy about to enter the world and he/she is DUE on MY birthday so LOOKOUT world TWO McCoy Taurus beings may just be more than the planet can handle!!! :) :) :) I am SOOOOOO excited!!!!

OK...back to the shower! The theme for the baby's nursery is Froggy Tales! For the shower froggies & spring flowers were everywhere! We had a good time and Brandy got lots of nice things. It was a sweet day! I really enjoyed seeing B surrounded by women who love her all laughing and telling stories about when SHE was a baby! It was supercool!!

GOTCHA DAY anniversary!!

Matt and I were blessed to be part of Lilli's Gotcha Day celebration!!!! It is hard to believe how much she has grown and changed in just a year. She is a beautiful little girl and I couldn't be prouder to be her godmother!! Austin and Savanna are just wonderful with Lilli. They have to be the sweetest and most helpful big brother and sister any sweet girl could ask for! I was beaming the whole evening watching the three of them interact!! It makes me smile for days just thinking about it. Catching up with Margie & John was terrific---life seems to fly by so fast that we hardly get time together anymore. It was a great night for all of us....and spending time with good friends is ALWAYS high on my list of things most enjoyed!!! HAPPY GOTCHA DAY ANNIVERSARY LILLIBUG!!! WE LOVE YOU!!

AN ANGEL ON THE WAY!!! :)

OK, there were a few moments that I wasn't cleaning, dusting, weeding, and cutting up trees... I went to see the most incredible ultrasound for the first glimpse of my soon-to-be-here niece or nephew!!!! The experience was just really neat!! I got all teary (not a surprise, right??)! You can see the pictures from the 3D/4D ultrasound too at www.babypeeks.net/user/brandymccoy Sorry I'm not savvy enough to actually make this link work!!! Maybe one day but right now it isn't high on my priority list, ok!?! :D

I'm BACK!!!

I'm going to call this a FAST FORWARD extending from March 13 to April 11th!! I guess the whole key thing with blogging is to actually BLOG on a regular basis, right??? I have mentioned that I'm a slow learner!! heehee OK--> to fill in anyone who is reading the mundane details that I call life, HERE is what I have been doing for the last 4 to 5 weeks:

1. cutting up trees
2. weeding SERIOUSLY overgrown (no joke for like 2 years no weeding has occurred) flowerbeds (do any of you KNOW how fast briars grow in the south??)
3. cleaning...spring cleaning.....[CLEANING some more] a house
4. cutting up trees
5. sweeping, dusting, mopping.....
6. cutting up trees
7. weeding....
8. burning the cut up trees & weeds...
9. cleaning windows....(YES, even the windows)
10.cutting up trees
11.REPEAT all of above

You get the idea??? See pics for proof!! :D Remember Hurricane Katrina?? Well, although many people down south have recovered....many MANY more of us in the zone where the eye of the storm went through are STILL recovering and will probably still be recovering for the next 3 to 5 years! I know that seems ridiculous BUT it is sadly true. My parents place has always been a work-in-progress....steadily improving with more "projects" on the horizon....the storm knocked them back into this no man's land that is hard to climb out of....and many of their friends are in the same boat. Thank God it WAS a boat and we all have SOMETHING to recover since many don't! I have been trying to help during my banishment to the electronic deadzone-->and I have found first hand how you can get bogged down with the capacity of what has to be done when trying so hard to move forward. PROGRESS HAS BEEN MADE!!! DO NOT WORRY more MORE much much MORE is needed! :) AND WE are UP to the challenge (just don't ask me for a timeline)!!!