Friday, August 6, 2010

Tuesday, August 3, 2010

Is it a Title or a Deed???

So after all this waiting, I am a little annoyed to find out that my deed/title thingy that says I (and Russell) officially own that little peice of land I kept talking about has been sitting in the auctioneer's office for weeks. Apparently, their office was supposed to contact me and never did. It is a good thing I wasn't the only one in this situation because otherwise I would have continued waiting for the title/deed to magically appear in my mailbox. Fortunately, Russell's wonderful mom (and my friend-- Russell doesn't like that I hang out with his mom) also bought land at the same auction. She is much more proactive than I am and she found out all about the lag on our paperwork. The plan is to go and pick up our title/deed some time this week.

Last time we went to the property, we found out that we do actually have living breathing neighbors. They were in the process of clearing the lot next to us when we drove up, and don't seem more than a few years older than us. Apparently they recieved their land from their Grandpop. The other neighbors are still MIA, and haven't been to their lot in years.

Hopefully, Russell and I will get out there even more once it starts to cool down. Yesterday, I think the high was 109 degrees! Ugh.

Tuesday, June 22, 2010

Mom's Approval

Happy Father's Day!! I am lucky to have the best father in the world! (I may be a little biased)
My brother got my dad a t-shirt that has the heavy guy from The Hangover holding the baby with a caption that says "Who's baby is this?" Funny, yes, but not when you have never seen the movie, like my parents. Then it is just weird (especially for a Father's Day present).Luckily my gift was a 3 month subscription to Netflix. I think I know what the first movie they request is going to be.

Late in the afternoon, after many failed attempts, my mother finally made it to our little plot of land and I was able to show her around the neighborhood with my dad. I forgot to mention it before, but the land we bought comes with a few amenities via paying our POA dues. There is an olympic sized pool sans lane ropes that the children love, and I enjoy a lot too. The is also a community boat ramp next to the community fishing pier. It is a brand new and really picturesque area, especially during sunset. The dues also cover road maintainece and any use of the play ground or picnic pavillion. Not bad for $100 a year. (plus we split all expenses)

I could tell that my mom really was suprised at how much work we had done on the property and how nice everything was. After the golf-cart tour was over (that is the only cool way to travel there) my mom, my dad, and I hung out in my Russell's parents' jacuzzi. Their trailer is just down the street from us, so it was nice to walk over and just relax with a drink after we were done. Not a bad day at all.

Monday, June 14, 2010

A Weekend of Work

I was afraid that it would rain this weekend, but luckily it didn't do much more than sprinkle. On Friday my brother, Jared, came up to help me find the metal property line markers with his metal detector, and rope off the property bounds. He is real serious with his metal detector, he has been a member of some national metal detecting association since high school. Kinda dorky :) but his skills definately came in handy. I told him he could have anything cool on the property for helping us, but mostly we just found aluminum scraps. We spent the afternoon clearing out these vines and thorn brush, and clipping down the small trees and plants. Jared is like a clydesdale and pulled up an old stump and knocked down a big tree trunk, all without any tools!

After awhile Russell arrived and got to work with the axe and huge pruners and by the time we finished, our pile of debris was about shoulder high and 25 feet wide. I was really proud of our progress! We were smelly and sweaty so we hit the pool during the hottest part of the day. Oh, it was wonderful. At nightfall Russell left for home, but Jared and I decided to stay the night at Russell's Family's trailer (only a lot or so down from our property) and got a big fire going to roast up some chocolate-free s'mores (we unfortunately had left this vital ingredient at home), and watched the new Alice in Wonderland movie. Not a bad movie, except Anne Hathaway's character was, well, dumb. Everything else was creative and enticing. I loved the actress who played Alice. She was really convincing.

The next day Jared had to get back to the college for a test review, and I had to make it to Dallas to attend Wicked! The play was AWESOME!! Very intelligent and well executed. The singing performances were beautiful. And the air conditioning was divine :)

Russell and his dad spent another day clearing out the property and the one Russell's sister bought down the street from us. I haven't seen what they did yet, but I bet it looks great. I am really impressed with what we were able to do this weekend.

Today, is all about my thesis and test prep. Blah... but it needs to get done sometime.

Thursday, June 10, 2010

Proud Plot Parent

I am the proud co-owner of a small plot of land near the tri-lakes region. It is 30x92 feet and covered in skinny trees and mean little thorny vines. My boyfriend and I bought it for only $300 dollars at auction, and technically since we split it, I only paid $150. Not bad! I am so proud of it, I feel like its my new puppy or something. Considering all the work that we will have to put into the land to get it to look as nice as we want it, we are sort of making the same kind of long term commitment that you make when you adopt a puppy. (I sooo want a dog- darn dorm rules) You have to train it, groom it, nurture it, and of course: spend your money on it! Luckily, the plot of land can't make a puddle on the floor, unless I now own a hidden oil reserve and accidentally tap into it, hopefully my land does not have any leaks of any kind!

I am probably a little over excited about it, but this un-built on plot of land awakens my creative side just like a blank page or empty canvas does. There are just so many possibilities! Between me and Russell I know we can come up with some great ideas, and I have faith that we can pull it off too. It will take awhile of course, but I am excited to get this show on the road.

I will write more soon! Hopefully I can get some pics on here too.

Monday, January 11, 2010

Two Weeks til the Cruise! (oh yeah, and school)

The next two weeks I am going to be extra conscientious about what I am spending my money on! If it is not cruise or back-to-school related I will not buy it. A few exceptions may apply: Duct Tape, Twizzlers or any other life-sustaining necessities. After several dress searching mishaps (grrrr at JCPenny, and YAY! at Ross) I finally found what I needed for the cruise. I am still keeping my eyes on the lookout for a red cocktail dress though. You can't go wrong with a red dress! (Well, actually you can, but I think I'm safe.)

School is starting back next week. Blah, Blah. I am not thrilled about that. I will have a lighter class load than ever before this semester, at least hypothetically. That's a nice thought. And I will have less books to buy than ever and that is a WONDERFUL thought! More left over scholarship money! Which, of course, I will hoard until the cruise... unless I see that dress. Technically, that would be a cruise expense anyway, right?

Monday, January 4, 2010

I do like Movies!

I have a new idea. I was worried that I would not be able to form a blog full of coherent posts. I liked that his blog is all about one thing: his upcoming trip to China. All my previous blog-like endeavors have been very spur of the moment blah-blahs about whatever I felt like ranting about at that particular moment. I was assured by Corey that he had a list of blog ideas, like blog conversation starters, that I could use. Who knows where he got that from. Either way, I liked one idea: blogging personal movie reviews. I do watch a lot of movies! I didn't used to watch so much television, but my boyfriend seems to rent movies every other day (It helps to live right across from a video store with decent prices.) and I like to watch tv with him. Our taste in movies is nearly completely opposite, so being with him as made me more open to things I never would have seen before.

So, I have talked him into making a movie review blog with me. Whether or not anyone actually reads it is besides the point. Doing it together is the important thing.

I will keep this blog for kicks and giggles I think.