Ground Control to Major Tom

Well hello there.

I've been gone for awhile. (No kidding!)

There have been many factors to my complete lack of posting: laziness, writer's block, and my grandfather's passing. I mentioned here awhile ago that my grandfather was battling congestive heart failure. I'll never know whether I was being naive, or whether my grandfather really did decline in health at a much faster rate than we thought, but I do know we lost him before we were ready for it.

He lived a full 90 years. He accomplished so much in his life, he was loved by so many, and everyone has a story to tell about "Uncle Ed". His funeral and service were a complete inspiration to me. I really don't think they make 'em like they used too. I so, I do, and will, miss him terribly.

Yet surprisingly enough, it was not the loss of my grandfather that lead me to stop blogging. It was my own ego. I have another confession to make: I thought I was the next Pioneer Woman. I thought I would start up a blog, it would quickly catch on, I would gain a huge following due to my inspirational DIYs and home improvements, companies would pay to advertise on my site, and I would make a living off of it.

I know. Wake Up. Come back to your home planet, Quirky.

This vision came to a screeching halt when I realized Dave and I just do not have the money to remodel, let alone photograph it and offer step-by-steps. I also don't technically live with Dave yet. I've always struggled with how much money and time to put into decorating a house that isn't yet my home. I love it at Dave's, and I find myself spending more and more time there, and it will be my home someday soon. But it's not. Yet. And so with the exception of our bedroom there, I've majorly held off on any purchases for our someday home.

And I thought that made for a boring blog. Except, I think I was wrong.

I like to write. I occasionally have interesting things to write about. So what if they're not about what counter top we're choosing for our kitchen. And so what if it is? I don't know when I got tied down to a theme for my blog (although ultimately I would like to someday have some cohesion!), but it's not for me now.

And so I'll write. When I want. When I can. It may be about dresser hardware. It may be about my students. It may be about those 8 or so pounds I want to use. Or the bathing suit I want. Or planning a wedding (someday!). Or Georgie (why should she only get one post?)

And I hope you'll read. But I'll understand if you don't.

Thanks for listening,

A. Quirky

(Kind Of) Cohabiting

(Is it a bad omen that I found this picture on a divorce site? Oops.)

So, for the past week or so Dave and I have found ourselves cohabiting. It wasn't really planned, and we're not sharing the bills or anything like that. Yet. Here's how it happened...

My family is originally from Ohio, and my grandfather and aunt still live there. Recently, my grandpa (here on out known as Ed) has been having some health issues. Complications from Congestive Heart Failure. My mom, bearing the guilt that only the oldest child can bear (I know this, b/c I am the oldest as well obvs...), decided she needed to go out there to help take care of all the things having an elder parents entails. I am glad she did. It was touch and go there for awhile, and I was ready to drive out myself. Ed is such a big, strong man, that we don't see him going anywhere anytime soon, despite his 90 years of age.

While she stays there helping out my aunt, I have been left the house to care for. This is good for many reasons: I feel like an actual 27 y/o having my own place, I don't have to unload the dishwasher the minute I get home from work, and no one nags me to wipe out the sink after I brush my teeth. There is a whole bunch of awesomeness to this living alone situation, but there is one big problem: I hate being alone. At night, specifically. And so, I won't. Enter Dave :)

Dave and I are now splitting our time between my house and his. 3 days here. 4 days there. Or 2 days here and 4 days there and 1 day here. However it ends up. It's a pain in the ass, packing bags, and lugging groceries back and forth (yes, we do), and not to mention Georgie's stuff!

And I kind-of like it. Granted, there was a moment last night where we were ready to sleep in separate rooms, if not separate houses...but I'm thinking of it all as a preview for what's ahead. And overall, we make it work. With the stress of the back and forth. So cheers to that!

Talk to me in two weeks. I hope I'm as satisfied and positive about this whole situation as I am today. I have a sneaking suspicion I will be :)

A. Quirky

Happy New Year!

Okay, so I'm a day late. But the most productive thing I did yesterday was open a bottle a Motrin, and swallow a few of those puppies. They didn't help. The 20+ hours of sleep finally did. So yayyy! Happy New Year!


Dave and I celebrated in a pretty rad way. (New Year's Resolution: Use rad in sentences more often). Our friends, Katie and Justin, got married, and it was F-U-N!!!! Seriously, surrounded by people you love, in a hotel (no worries about driving after a few too many cocktails), with delicious food and (tons of) dancing is the way to go.


Here's my first official blog photo of Dave and I:


Happy New Year! So looking forward to all of 2011 :)

-A. Quirky

Bad Gemini

(You Want This Magnet)

Darnit. I wish I could get a bigger version of this picture, but I got tired of looking. No surprise there, if you read my magnet. I actually have this magnet somewhere, but I can't find it. Again, no surprise. It's so cheeky, I love it. It basically highlights all my faults, and really most of them are true (that's not easy to admit), especially the ones I circled.

See, Dave and I are both Geminis (our birthdays are 1 day apart), and well, two Geminis in one house can have its disadvantages.

In our day to day lives it's little things like deciding where to eat, or what to to eat, who should drive, what we should watch on tv, and who should take Georgie out. Okay, this is stuff every couple deals with, but where it really messes us up is in the home improvement area.

As I mentioned here, Dave recently moved into his grandmother's house. The house has good bones (Mom Quote), but needs a lot of work. The fact that we have pretty much no money for any major renovations leaves us with lots of small improvements to work on in the meantime. The problem? We cannot even decide what to work on. That's right, forget deciding on a paint color, we can't decide on whether or not to paint!!

Now that would be problem enough. Except sometimes we do decide to do something. And when that happens we do it. We just do it. We don't really research it, we don't really talk it out. We don't explore other options. Dave is worse than I am (sorry hunny!), but it's still that indecisive and flighty quality in both of us that hurts us.

Sometimes it works to our advantage, like the paint color in our bedroom. (More on that later) But most times it doesn't, like remodeling the fireplace. After we tore off the fireplace doors we realized the fireplace wasn't deep enough not to have them. So now we can't have fires, and have hideous gold fireplace doors just hanging out in the hallway.

With all of this comes my New Year's Resolution. Yes, I could stand to use a few pounds, and I should show my sneakers what the outside of my closet looks like. But for the better of humankind, err, Quirkykind, I am going to become more organized.

Here come detailed lists of any and all projects, pros and cons lists, detailed spreadsheets, and budget calculators. We're going to order a bed (no more sleeping on the floor on a mattress), clean the fireplace (you have to do that before you pain it, we discovered), and a new kitchen back splash.

We'll see how it goes.

Happy New Year!

A. Quirky