New Mexico

Oct. 29th, 2010 08:48 pm
I had a conversation about New Mexico, Albuquerque in particular, with a friend yesterday. He told me he had driven through Albuquerque several years ago and it seemed depressing. I wholeheartedly agreed. I've been thinking about that declaration since and have realized a couple of things.

New Mexico may not have been the home I would have chosen if I had a choice, but it is home now. I am relatively happy here.

I stood out on the front porch tonight. It was about an hour after the sun had actually set. The horizon was still yellow. The blue above that was my favorite color blue. I have never seen the sky that color blue anywhere but here. Above my head the sky was dark blue. No matter the time of night, if you aren't in a metropolitan area, you can almost always see the blue. The star show is spectacular and the moon rising over the Sandias is something to behold (not tonight, because it was up all day, but generally).

I don't live in Albuquerque anymore, but I live close enough that going *down the hill* isn't much of a burden. I always want compare it to Richmond, VA. I just discovered that Abq has over twice the population, which I found surprising. Richmond always seemed bigger. Maybe it's because Richmond is taller. We have museums of many flavors, a zoo, an aquarium, parks, hiking trails, the bosque, the river. We have restaurants with awesome food. We have a pretty eclectic art scene, whether audio or visual, or anywhere in between. We have interesting wildlife - Roadrunners for the win!

It takes almost no time to go from being in a heavily populated area, to being in The Middle of Nowhere. A place where it feels like the sky never ends. Sometimes, while traveling through The Middle of Nowhere, you stumble upon a town or a sight that you never knew existed. Road trips in this state are fun.

We have Carlsbad Caverns, which is very field trippy, but still a ton of fun. There is Roswell, which is just out of this world (hahaha, bad pun, and it's not really). Santa Fe, where art galleries and some of the residents are overly pretentious, is still a nice place to visit. I must take the Little Human on the Cumbres and Toltec Railroad in the near future - a steam powered locomotive, for those unaware. Tinkertown Museum is one of the strangest and most delightful places I have ever been. Then there is just the landscape while on the way. Odd rock formations that make peculiar landmarks.

New Mexico has relatively decent weather. I wish there was more of a spring and more of a fall, but winter is mild and summer is usually not humid. Nights are cool, so no matter what the daytime temp was, night time is at least bearable. The rain storms are impressive and sometimes scary. Snowfalls are few and far between, usually, and seem so out of place when they happen. We have enough of a fall to warrant foliage colors and enough of a spring to enjoy the world coming back to life.

I realized tonight that the wanderlust will probably fly me away from here in the future, but I think I need to start appreciating the layover more. It won't ever be my *heart home*, I don't think, but that doesn't mean I can't enjoy it more while I'm here...

Hey....

Aug. 9th, 2010 10:07 pm
Got a question: Would anyone follow [livejournal.com profile] ducks_asylum if I moved it over to Blogger? I like the format over there for that kind of blog better. I still love my LJ for personal posts, but Blogger has a lot more options.

*sigh*

Apr. 15th, 2010 10:25 pm
pandorablue: (roses)
I do believe that I will start doing yoga again tomorrow. It's difficult to do with the Little Human here. I like spending as much time with him as possible when he is here. He, however wants me to spend time with him on his terms. Yoga is not part of his terms.

I miss yoga. I miss not having headaches and my back not hurting. I miss being a little bit taller and being stronger. I miss having some extra energy. I just need to get back into it.

I also need to start using my wii fit more. That's another of those not part of LH's terms. I am so overweight and unhealthy right now. It's just too much for me anymore.

I know a lot of it is that I am depressed. I know I am. When I am depressed, I eat. I also get sick all the time. I just get out of sync with myself. This isn't working for me, and I know it isn't working for anyone else in this house either.

I think I want to get a mountain bike this year, too. Jonathan has a bike and we could get one of those carriages to drag Dubs around in. I also think we might get into one of the pools (OH NO... BATHING SUIT SHOPPING...AAAAAAAAAAAAAA).

And I have to get the altar set up in this house, somewhere. Where I really want it to be, isn't going to work as a permanent altar. I'll have to make it a set up as needed altar, since I want it in the living room next to the big sliding glass doors. The living room is of course where Dubs spends all of his time. I am going to make an outdoor one, but I can't use that all the time. Eh, big plans...

Okay...

Oct. 27th, 2009 05:04 pm
[livejournal.com profile] ducks_asylum is up. There is a long post with oodles of pics of the house before we moved in.
pandorablue: (Amelie)
I hate the fact that I spam my friends pages with house updates that maybe not all of them want to read. I was thinking of starting a comm sort of like what [livejournal.com profile] sunflowerriver has done. While we will never be up to their level of self sustainability, I want to really start keeping track of what we are doing without spamming the people that don't care.

We would probably post photos of progress with different projects, home repair blogginess, and gardening stuff. There may be some wildlife shots in there too (we have quail, roadrunners, rabbits, a falcon, doves, sparrows, finches). I may possibly post recipes, too.

I am still trying to decide if this is a good idea or not. Meh, I'll think on it.
Old house is on the market. As soon as I get the MLS I will post it. It will be so nice to get the burden of paying two mortgages off our backs. I am crossing fingers and toes that we can get it sold quickly. Many thank you's to [livejournal.com profile] elegantelbow for making this so much less stressful than I thought it would be. Also for getting back to us quickly and just being generally awesome!

With the thought of the other house being gone, I can finally turn my mind to getting more done here. Especially since Jonathan is not spending all of his free time doing work on the other house. I wanted desperately to have a housewarming/Little Human Party, and that never came to be since we are too strapped for cash and too busy. The house is still a mess, but I see it starting to come together. There will be a party, I just have no idea when.

I have wonderful ideas on painting everything. I think I have come up with a color scheme that we can all live with and that will be lovely. I have to make samples for Jonathan. He is very visual and can't see in his mind what I am going for unless he sees it in front of him.

There will prolly be an addition to this post later today but I must go take care of the LH before he starts throwing things...

Ok, Little Man is off to bed and I have some time. Today and yesterday have been lazy days for me. I got nothing done besides sleeping. It leaves me feeling slightly inadequate.

Anyway, back to painting. I want to paint the kitchen a golden yellow with a pumpkin glaze. The Dining room will be the pumpkin color from the kitchen with a red glaze. The main room will have the big wall painted the red from the glaze of the dining room. The rest of the walls will be painted off white (Swiss Coffee). The Living room is going to be light gray with dark gray trim and red accents (mainly my chair). The floor plan for the main rooms (kitchen, dining, living and study) is very open. I am trying to make it clash as little as possible. Thank goodness I took that decorating class :P

The bedrooms will all be different. I am not sure the exact color scheme mom wants for her room. Ours will be a light sea glass blue with darker blue trim. The bathroom is blue walls with yellow trim to accent my rubber ducky collection. LH's room is going to be light green and Classic Winnie the Pooh yellow and a WTP border. At this point I think he could care less what color his room is. When he gets old enough to ask, we will repaint it (kinda like cutting his hair).

I wish is wasn't getting so chilly already. I wanted to start the work on the veggie bed this fall, but haven't been able to get to it. I guess I will have to do it in the spring instead. I also need to get the compost pile finished up. The bins I made are great for starting it, but they fill up quickly and I think starting them in the bins and transferring to the pile is going to end up being how we work them. *sigh*

Well I guess that's it for tonight. Now I am sleepy again.

*sigh*

Oct. 16th, 2009 08:35 pm
Jonathan had an appt today with a real estate agent about the old house. His commission is slightly insane and he told us he would run the comps and get back to us in 6-8 days. We then decided to call [livejournal.com profile] abqrealtor who told us that as long as we got her a key, she would go to the house tomorrow and do all of the measurements and get us comps ASAP!!! I'm so dumb. I should have had him call her first.

The other guy was pretty much telling us that our only option was real estate contract. I am not interested in this for a couple of reasons:

1)The house stays in my name, so if for some reason they default, I am still then responsible for the loan. Since paying two mortgages is not something I am in any hurry to continue, this doesn't sound like fun. Not to mention, if they default and leave the house a wreck, I am also responsible for repairs before we do it all over again.

2)Other than the down payment, I would not be able to expect any type of lump sum of money. Since most of the down payment would pay for the Realtor's fees, that means no extra money. I don't know that there will be any extra money anyway, but it is something I have to think about. The monthly payments would be paying that mortgage. I have a pretty high interest rate on that house (long story), so even if we sold it for more than what I owe, we would probably still only be getting what my monthly payments are (until they moved out or sold).

All in all, it seems like a bad idea. I would just rather have it gone. I would like some profit, but realistically, I don't know what I might get. We'll see. As long as Jonathan doesn't end up paying two mortgages indefinitely, I will be happy.
pandorablue: (Darby)
Little Human started daycare 2 weeks ago. He got sick (as did the rest of us)and so he didn't get to go last week at all. Then he went back on Monday of this week. When I went to pick him up, Miss Carmen (the 2 year teacher) said that he had been fussy all day, and she thought he wasn't feeling well. He hadn't slept well the night before, so I just assumed that was all.

On Tuesday he was really whiny. Little Human is not usually whiny. I noticed his ear was kinda clogged looking. When I get sick my right ear gets clogged something fierce. I used a little warm water and an aspirator to clean it out just like the pediatrician told me to. He just would not stop fussing. I was concerned but had other stuff on my plate and I thought that he was fussing because he had gotten used to being cuddled while he was sick.

Tuesday was also the day mom had the juried panel at the Wooden Cow Art Gallery. She had already gotten confirmation that two pieces were going to be in the October show but she also was trying to get in the consignment side of it too. I wanted to go with her for moral support. I figured that Little Human was just being a grumpbutt.

Jonathan took him to the urgent care at UNMH Tuesday night since he wouldn't calm down. He had an ear infection brought on by the cold from the week before and his eardrum had a perforation. *facepalm* No wonder he was fussy. The perforation had already healed over, which was helped along by my cleaning his ear out (thank goodness, since I was worried I had made it worse). He's on antibiotics. I kept him out of daycare today, since he was still fussy. He goes on Friday though.

Mom got into the gallery. They want her to bring 4-5 pieces on Saturday and they will hang what they have room for. My mom has delusions of inadequacy. She thinks no one likes her art. No one has seen her art for 8 FUCKING YEARS!!! The last show was in a church. She sold 5 or 6 pieces I think (maybe more). The other woman showing with her didn't sell anything. Argh! She makes me mad.

Of course before the panel on Tues there was stress, and something got said that bruised my feelings, but I think in the end, it all worked out. Little Human is fine, mom has an art gallery opening, and my feelings are no worse for wear.

The rest of this week will be spent cleaning out the pantry cabinet (cuz something smells really odd coming out of there...), finishing the kitchen, maybe, and getting the pieces ready for the gallery. Now, it is bedtime.
pandorablue: (Food)
I have a sausage apple quiche in the oven (actually 2 of them). They don't last long in this house. On my list for today is potato salad, ribs (cooked in my crock pot), and I am sure something else, I just don't know what yet! Maybe some oven roasted corn on the cob. I need to get a grill!

We have 2 fully functional dressers now. The insides of the bathroom cabinets have gotten a coat of paint. The shed is coming along. I don't think we will be able to finish it today, but I may be surprised. The closet is fully functional.

Oh, yes, the tomato plant is so freaking happy. I have to keep that fat-assed quail from eating my tomatoes, though. She has gotten at least one ripe on that I am aware of. I am hoping that maybe she won't go after the rest, but I am afraid that is wishful thinking!

I think that is it for today!
Let's see, it has been a bit of a busy week.

We have a shed on the way, since I cannot go forward with organization unless I have somewhere to put the stuff we don't need right now (Christmas tree, holiday ornaments, bizarre decorative stuff that I will want to put out, but currently don't have room for).

I put one of the dressers together (Jonathan's). He kept trying to tell me that he didn't need one. Now that he has it, he doesn't think he will need more than 4 of the drawers, so I can use the others for sheets. Nope, he didn't need it... :P

I still have to get the other dresser put together, but after this morning, I don't have the energy.

I spent all of this morning getting the herb/tomato bed finished. I built the bulk of it yesterday, but had a few tweaks I wanted to make this morning. I also had to till the dirt and mix in the organic soil and manure. I think I may mulch for right now using newspaper.

I got the tomato planted (FINALLY). We have one tiny ripe tomato that mom is trying to figure out how we slice it for four people. There are a ton of other tomatoes on the vine, though. I still have to run the trellis thing that I am doing for it. That isn't happening right now.

Got all of our viney things trained onto the fence. Mom got the drip irrigation system in and working! This yard is going to be lovely next year when it starts to fill out. Looks like we may get some rain tonight!

Haha!

Aug. 9th, 2009 11:27 am
I guess that the family has decided the name of the New House. It shall henceforth be known as...


The Duck's Asylum



They out voted me, although I hadn't actually voted, since I liked all of them, and couldn't decide. Guess they decided for me!

*sigh*

Aug. 7th, 2009 06:57 pm
pandorablue: (Food)
I was supposed to go to [livejournal.com profile] elegantdreams art opening tonight. She has a fantastic new painting. I was able to see it before it was finished, but we aren't feeling so well around here, so I can't go to the opening.

Instead I am at home feeling icky (tummy), I have a bit of a sunburn, and am making plum freezer jam. I didn't have the energy to get the canning equipment to do it properly, nor do I have the room to do it properly with the kitchen in it's current state. I'll probably have to take up canning next year, once the garden is all set up properly. That wasn't happening this week though! =)

Discovered that a bunch of wood in the backyard will work perfectly to start the herb beds in. We got a Honeysuckle, Mexican Sage, Trumpet Vine, and some Vinca planted today. Still didn't get to the tomato plant, but I will do that tomorrow or Sunday (I hope).

Yum!

Aug. 6th, 2009 10:14 pm
pandorablue: (Food)
Bagel + cream cheese + lox = LOVE!
I had forgotten this. OMG, I want another! I won't do that though.


Tomorrow, I start on the garden bed that goes out front. I have to plant that poor tomato plant in real dirt, before I kill it off. The bed it is going in will end up being mostly herbs, but I think a tomato plant mixed in won't be too bad. I also have to find some thin wood for making my own garden tags. I have a wood-burning tool, might as well put it to use =)

Started gathering the stuff to make the garden journal, but realized that the awesome paper I bought especially for this is still at the old house. *sigh* I made the paper for the last one, but when I still worked at the art store, we got this nifty paper in, and I couldn't resist!

I will probably post the results of the bed building, the tag making, and the garden journal making when I am done.

Also, go look at my last post and please vote on the poll. Not having a name for this house is making me crazy!
We are still unpacking. It goes slowly but surely. Part of the problem is that the sand from the old house infiltrated everything (including packed boxes). Everything that has been packed must also be at least wiped off before being put away. I am also trying to make sure that everything has a permanent home to go back to once it has been taken out of it's home. This is long and arduous, but well worth the effort I think.

In other news, we have dirt! Real dirt! It smells like dirt, it looks like dirt, and when you play with it, it even acts like dirt! I think that the gardens I was planning to do next year will work out wonderfully in real dirt. I couldn't get anything to grow in the old yard. This one is fantastic. I will start the raised beds this year, get them all amended and then plant stuff next year. I hope to use only reclaimed wood for two reasons, it's cheap, and I think it looks better.

I know stuff will grow. We have 5 rosebushes and two giant hedge shrubs of some sort in the front, along with two trees and at least one happy wormwood (the other may be dead, I'm not sure yet). In the back we have 6 yuccas, some assorted other type of bush thing, 3 ponderosa pines, and two trees of indeterminate kind. There would be three but one died before we came here and the other is a very small seedling that I am going to have to move. There is also at least 2 big honeysuckles, possibly 3. They are large and very intertwined.

I need to take a new Home picture for my icon. That picture isn't my home anymore (well, technically it is: I still own it, I just don't live there). It's hard, because that picture was so perfect. I just have to find an equally perfect inspiration here!

Our views are spectacular. We can see Albuquerque spread out from the living room door. We are planning a deck for out there. From the mailbox, we can see Bernalillo and Santa Fe. I love feeling like I am rural, but knowing that I am really only 2 miles away from anything. I am a city girl, but I like not being in the city. Rio Rancho is a odd place though. When we go shopping, the store clerks actually ask us if we need help. Even at Lowes! I kind of wonder if we are in an alternate universe. Then I decide to shut up, and be happy with it.

Probably more to come later. And a poll, for the naming of the house:

[Poll #1439790]
pandorablue: (WTF? Awesome!)
I can see Santa Fe from my house. *wink*




Seriously, I can...
pandorablue: (I won't cry)
It seems like everything that I try to do here goes to hell.

We wanted to replace the front door latch on the screen door. 3 hours later the latch is on, but doesn't work.

The master bath shower leaks.

There were mice, but I think they left when we moved in, but it now involves copious amounts of lysol and vacuuming and steel wool.

The stove had to be converted to run on LP gas instead of Natural. Jonathan broke one of the screws to do it off in the stove (he got it out), but now we have to get another kit.

And then the real fun begins. The washing machine decided to explode water all over the laundry room on Sunday. I spent most of the day sitting on soggy towels while attempting to dry the damn thing out. The Maytag repairman will be here today between the hours of 1 and 5 (can we be less specific?). I don't think I will ever do laundry again...

It has to get better, right? RIGHT???

Welp...

Jul. 4th, 2009 08:05 pm
Internet is up. It was actually up on the 1st, but the computer was buried and we had to have anew phone jack put in. But it is up now, and running.

The house is great, but I am having stress because we have so much crap! It is everywhere! It will all get dealt with. Most everything is here now except the stuff that was in the attic of the old house, and a few odds and ends. We need a shed, but realistically, even if we bought it tomorrow, it prolly wouldn't be up til next month. *sigh*

We do have beautiful views, and today we had a huge double rainbow that landed in the lot behind the house. It was spectacular.

Our next door neighbor is a lovely woman. Probably around my moms age, maybe a little older. She is nice to talk to and I like her a lot. I do think we may have a little busy body syndrome, but hopefully we won't be doing anything to incur her wrath.

My friend Sean will probably never help me do anything ever again. Jonathan rented a 14' truck instead of a 20' and so it took two loads and massive amounts of effort. Sean is a Godsend though.

I don't know what to call this house. The old one was The Duck's Nest, and since no one ever went there, I am tempted to just carry the name over to the new one. We were toying with The Duck's Asylum, since it is an asylum of sorts (in all meanings of that word), but it doesn't have the same ring to it. The Asylum would work, but doesn't bring my ducky love into the mix (*ahem*). What does everyone else think? I would make a poll, but haven't done so before now, and don't feel like figuring it out right this moment. Maybe tomorrow...
pandorablue: (I haz a...)
Um, today will be hard to come up with a happy...

Ah, I got the bathroom reorganized and have discovered that I apparently collect the little tubes of conditioner that come with hair dye. I've got, like, 6 of them. Do they reproduce when I am not looking? I also went through all of my makeup and threw out old stuff. I don't do that nearly often enough. It is a good thing. Organizing things, no matter how trivial, makes me happy.

Blue hair dye will have to come tomorrow. I ran out of steam to get it done today. I am getting the bleaching part out of the way tonight, though.


{EDIT} Ok. I just washed out the bleach and I have the most fan-fucking-tastic blond/light pink stripe thing going on. I think there is a possibility that I will keep it like this for a couple of days, it is just that AWESOME!!!

ARGH!

Jan. 15th, 2009 03:29 pm
pandorablue: (Rawr!!!)
My hot water heater has decided we don't need hot water anymore. I discovered this attempting to take a shower before I get ready for work. Unpleasantness ensued. I took this shower, but OMG.

I am crossing my fingers that the pilot just blew out again... I hope the pilot just blew out again. *sigh*

Well...

Sep. 5th, 2008 07:10 pm
We may not move after all, at least not out of state. I realized at K's wedding, and then after having lunch with my friend Sean, I don't want to leave my friends. I have a hard time making friends. I don't want to have to start over, especially since they cannot compare to the ones I have now!
That being said, we need a bigger house. I am even to put work into it, but it has to be bigger. This house is too small. We are practically on top of each other here. We have one bathroom between 3 1/2 people. We have 2 small bedrooms, 1 slightly larger bedroom, a tiny kitchen, and too much stuff. Real estate here is insane, but I think we can find something. I just need out of this house. It sucks living in this house that I used to be fairly happy in, and now I just want it to go away.
I need everyone to know that I love you all. I miss you all. I know that lately I have been a horrible friend, and unfortunately, I have made Jonathan into a bad friend, too. I am so sorry.

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