adventures in homeownership

It all started around 9p.m. last night.  I was getting ready to watch Big Brother and there was a squirrel in the attic or on the roof.  We went to investigate and found toilet paper all over the back yard by the house.  By the drain we thought was for the gutters.  Upon further investigation we realized that it was coming from the inside... from the toilet.  So some internet searches later led us to Roto-Rooter ... someone is going to have to snake the drain.  We have 2 bathrooms so thankfully we didn't have to have them make an emergency call.  This morning I was scheduled to work at 9am, but opted to stay home and help wrangle pets, make decisions, whatever...  I called and was going to go in around 11, whenever the guy got done, but that is for later in the story.  He got out the auger and started drilling, we were thinking it was tree roots, it was not.  It was tampons ... so folks, when they say don't flush those things... they mean it.  I don't feel as bad tho because there are also roots in there from the neighbors (I think they should have to take out their bush if it is affecting our property).  They put some foam down the drain to dissolve the rest of the roots and we can't use any water for 2 hours, this wasn't going to be a problem because I should be at work right now but the second I was walking out the door my boss called to see if I would close instead :(  But I am just walking out the doooooor I said... he didn't seem to care and tricked me / guilt tripped me into closing instead.  So now I have an extra hour to kill which isn't enough time to get much done or go anywhere but enough to ruin my day because I was supposed to be off at 7 and planned to go downtown and eat junk food ...So the moral of the story is, if you would like to keep your $250 put your tampons in the trash and also if you are walking out the door for work and the phone rings... don't answer it.

i have a year long pass to Universal Studios, Orlando

I may or may not have gone on vacation to Orlando.

I may or may not have spent a night at Portofino Bay hotel because the Hard Rock was booked.  The sun is brighter in Florida.  In Indiana it is more yellow, in Florida it is more white.  I needed that.
All of our time was spent at Universal.  I hadn't been there since what I estimated to be 1992 or 93 and it was completely differrent.

  The Harry Potter part is really neat, you feel like you are actually not in America anymore ...

The frozen butter beer, I was told is way better than the non-frozen... I never tried the non-frozen so I couldn't tell you, but I can tell you the frozen is magical.  I could drink it all day long, even tho it induces asthma attacks (something I recently learned about myself and cold drinks).  I have also decided that I hate all pictures of myself when I have glasses on and that I need to lose about 30lbs.  Ew gross.

This was the view from our room at the Hard Rock.

I love palm trees, I love vacation.  I didn't get to spend very much time in the water.  I don't relly like water much in my "old age"  There was a water slide I wanted to try, but it wasn't worth the time it would take to dry off.  At night there were 2 Mallard ducks that were in the pool, it was cute but the kids wouldn't leave them alone... I felt sorry for them, they must have been exhausted, but aparently not bothered enough to fly away?

To get from hotel to hotel to Universal you could walk or ride on boats.

I also want to get a new camera, but at the same time I don't really want to carry a camera around with me while I am trying to ride rides...

Florida doesn't have much by way of culinary choices.  We ate at the Hard Rock, typical Hard Rock.  There was nothing special to catch my eye, to make me want to live there permanently.  I don't like seafood.  It is a good place to go for sunshine and I imagine relaxing if you weren't trying to pack as much into 4 days as possible.  Needless to say, I can go as much as I want until March of 2013, just have to pay for air and hotel.  I hope to go back at least once.

purpose

I have had this blog for nearly a year now and couldn't decide what route I wanted it to take, so I rarely updated it.  But I think I will make it about what interests me the most.  In no particular order:  food, personal finance, travel and health.  These are the 4 things that drive me to get out of bed every day.  The things I always think about.  All 4 of them are related to each other in my life.  So there you have it, perhaps I will be around more often now.

ill-gotten Oolong

I may have inadvertently stolen hot tea from a chinese food restaurant this week and I can't get it out of my head.  The man in front of me in line asked for hot tea and they said yeah yeah no charge, help yourself.  While I was waiting for my food I thought that sounded like a good idea so I got some too.  They didn't say a word to me and I sat there with it for a good 10 minutes with it while my food cooked.  I went to get my food then went back to my table to pick up my keys, wallet, and tea and as I was walking out they started yelling TEA, TEA, TEA, TEA, TEA, TEA ... at me.  I turned around and looked at them, even stopped to throw the tea bag in the trash and left.  The more I think about it I think the man in line in front of me might have worked there.  This place has the best egg rolls in town and the best deal on crab rangoon and now I am afraid to go back without a disguise on in case they have my picture up on the wall or good memories.  Seriously, I will probably send a friend in to pick up the food for a good long time.

things that are health related

sick of feeling like crap again... going to chiropractor and allergy dr.

...i hear the answer is going to be "bubble"

things that are gross

Last summer in Michigan, McDonald's was test-marketing Frozen Strawberry Lemonade... and it was sooooooo good!  I didn't realize it was a test at the time, just knew that they never ended up having it here in town.  So this year they have it here in town and I got one and it was the grossest thing I have ever had in my life.  Not sure if I just got a dud, or if they changed something inbetween the test and the actual.  I will stick to a Taco Bell Strawberry Frutista...

spontaneous combustion

last night i was on my way to go get coffee and groceries when my cousin invited me to come over and watch that boxing-fighting stuff that people Pay-Per-View...  and to eat eggrolls and turkey?!

i wasn't going to, because that is just so.random.  but really, nothing is more spontaneous than me, so off we went...

and it was good times,  there was randomly crafted raspberry beer... multi-grain french bread... family, friends, kids who were just the right age...stories told over and over again, but every time they are hilarious...

and all this after working a 14 hour day... i didn't know i had it in me...