Looney Lovegood

Today I went to Folk Fest and got muddy and sunburnt. I also saw a lot of great musical acts including The Decemberists, who were even better than I ever imagined.

It. Was. Awesome.


I'm going to pull pictures off of my camera tomorrow (from the entire summer) and I'll post links. It was an incredible day and I feel like I found a thing that I am going to look forward to every summer.

The dirty hippy inside of me is quite content, indeed!

I just really liked this photo.

I finally got my big fat check from Uncle Sam. Yes, my $8000 Homebuyer credit came. I wish I could say that we're putting all of it away but that's not quite the case. At least I CAN say that my household is credit card debt free. Even after paying off the cards (which, to our defense, held balances because of house-related necessities) we still have several grand stashed for a rainy day... or the kitchen remodel, whichever comes first.

Now, if only my car qualified for that whole "Cash for Clunkers" thing, I could really take full and total advantage of all of the stimulus money the government is offering. My car, honestly, is a piece of crap and I'm sure it gets CLOSE to the gas mileage required to get the $4500 credit, but according to what Hyundai says, it gets a lot more. So, I'm stuck for awhile longer with the bi-racial dent mobile.

I'm still saving pennies for my Mini. It will be mine. Oh yes, it will be mine.

How's life?

-Harry Potter obsessed lately.
-Blonde again... chopping it off on Monday.
-Intrigued by the idea of getting another dog... a sibling for Martin.
-Learned how to drywall.
-Spent a night in VA and saw Erinn M. for the first time in years. Yay!
-Feeling tired every morning, have resolved to go to be earlier. 10:45 is earlier...
-Neighbors haven't quieted down, in fact, it's gotten worse.


-Hardly any time to think! Let alone make sentences!

What the Eff. Billy Mays died today.

I've been reading a lot of Harry Potter lately (see: The movie is coming out soon and I'm on a kick) and all of this weirdness (celebrity deaths, world chaos, tragedies in the sky and on rails, and overall miserable weather for June) reminds me of how the Dementors cast sadness all over England when they left Azkaban in the fifth book.

Let's round up Dumbledore's Army.

It would have been difficult for me to post yesterday afternoon when I heard the news of Michael Jackson's death. It's almost beyond comprehension that he's gone. Being born in 1983 (during a week when Billie Jean was the number one single and Thriller was the number one album), I don't remember a time WITHOUT him on the radar. Some of the earliest songs I ever sang along to, and knew all of the words to, where his.

Say what you would like about the last 10 to 15 years of his life, there are so many clouded stories, but I'd rather remember him as an incredible artist. And honestly, had it not been for Michael Jackson, you may not have half, no, three quarters of the artists that pop music has today. Anyone around my age can't deny the fact that his music was a soundtrack to your childhood. I don't care what music you listen to now, when you were 6 you sang along to "Bad."

MTV played all of his videos today. Sadly it took a major death to get them to play any videos at all. I was just reading how people searching for information that they crashed the interwebs. It's also interesting to note that, although it's not mentioned in that article, he crashed LiveJournal, too. Oh No They Didn't, a fantastic community of people who like to follow celebrity news, had so many visitors that LJ went down for nearly two hours. Yes, it seems the effects were quick and deep.

I don't know if it's really sunk in yet. It's surreal and a little odd, especially since he's been so reclusive in the past several years. There hasn't been any NEW material lately, so it's hard to feel an immediate loss just by listening to the old classics. I suppose that's a sign that the music will live on forever. I hope that will be his legacy.

I would just like to share that we went the a jewelry store today and looked at rings. I also tried a few on.

That is all.

I haven't watched these in years. It's amazing how much has changed and how much hasn't.


9:47pm: Eminem is simultaneously the biggest homophobe and biggest diva in the room. Ironic, innit?

I really wish I could get away with making my facebook status could say,

"Amanda Hornberger: realizes she's never getting married."

without a billion questions.

It's been awhile...

We're settled into the new house now. It was a pretty easy transition since we didn't have any major construction to do before we could move. Now we're working on the fun stuff like painting, drywalling, and putting in floor boards. I know Dennis has the best of intentions with projects, but it should be interesting to see how they play out. I'm in charge of the painting, though.

Pictures of the house, so far.

Martin has been adjusting a little more slowly. We had some tense days early on where he was having trouble with the wood floors. He would come down the steps to fast and slip at the bottom making him afraid to walk anywhere in the house! I think he gets that he needs to slow down now, he's been fine for the last week or so. I'm not going to lie, seeing him skidding around the dining room WAS hilarious, but I felt bad for laughing at my dog's troubles.

Martin really loves the yard, as I knew he would. I think he's so happy to have a little freedom now. I like that we can leave him out in the yard and let him do his business without having to keep him on the leash. He's even starting to warm up to the dogs next door (Two crazy Rotweilers two doors down, a Sheltie named Murray to our left, and a Husky named Bear on the right). I'm glad he's starting to get over his "pseudo-aggresiveness" towards other dogs. He's a big baby, really.

Work has been good lately. I worked for three weeks straight leading up to and after my move. And,I had a week in training last week and a day filling in at West Chester. Today is a much needed day off.

By the way, the day in WC allowed for me to do something I've wanted to do for quite a long time- locate Castle Bam. Yes, how very 2004 of me. I don't care. I really heart Bam, always have. I don't know why- maybe it's the dirty craziness. He's my other boyfriend and Dennis totally understands. I've been wanting to find the house for a few years now, and seeing as how I was already down that way, I figured I'd give it a whirl. I did find it. Of course, he's had a fence up around the property for a few years, but it was clear that it was the "Castle". That was my momentary relapse back into my high school, star struck, stalker girl phase. It's over now... but I still love Bam.

Now I sit and wait for the cable guy- Hopefully he comes in a timely manner. We're getting our cable installed upstairs so that we don't need to be ghetto and run a cord up the steps anymore.

Yup, things are really coming together.

We're buying the house tomorrow.



Stay tuned...

I'm about to buy a house in four days and there is still a little part of me that wishes for the indescribable freedom of living in my door room where I could shut the door, turn down the lights, turn on the music that makes her cry, and just have it out with my emotions. Doing things like that when you're living in your apartment with you boyfriend just isn't acceptable adult behavior.

You can't just go have a good cry when you need it without questions.

I haven't updated in ages, but it's not for lack of things happening, trust me.

Dennis and I got the house! It's officially official as of today, since the inspection results came in, we counter offered, and they accepted. I am so excited. Just the simple fact that I will be a home owner for the first time in my life is incredible enough, not to mention all of the exciting things that are in store for us in the coming months. I can't believe how far Dennis and I have come in the past few months. Last year at this time I was poor as hell, driving an hour to work and back, desperately wanting to be closer to Dennis, and then six months ago when we were feeling trapped in this entirely too-small apartment with our thieving roommate, and now here we are a month and a half away from getting the keys to our first home.

Now visions of us painting the walls and putting up drywall (not in that order) are filling my head. We're going to have a YARD. A real, honest to god, yard. With a fence and everything. Martin is going to have a field day. I'm sitting here watching our awesome doggie right now. He's laying on the couch running in his sleep. It's clear he's really going to enjoy the open space.

Now the packing can begin... and the throwing away of the stuff we don't need.

Found a house
Made an offer (a generous one to hopefully ensure we get it)
Seller's Realtor has two more showings scheduled this weekend
Sellers are going to wait and see if those people offer- if that's ok by me
I said it was ok (to show I'm not hard to deal with)
Now I have to wait until Sunday to get an answer to my offer

I'm already climbing the walls... Thank goodness we have friends coming over on Saturday or else I might go crazy by then. A get-together will at least serve to keep my mind busy. I am still antsy.

The place in Mt. Penn was fabulous looking, but had some other logistic issues. We didn't want to make an offer on the first house we saw without seeing more. Apparently an offer has already been accepted on it, though. Oh well. Since then we've seen about eight more places. A few which were contenders, a few which were duds. Today we saw four more...

AND after a busy weekend of looking at houses, Dennis and I are ready to put an offer in on one! This very well may be "The House". It's got a great yard for Martin to run around in, lots of upgrades that are already finished, and the potential to improved upon even more as we live there. If you want to see it, I'll email you the link, but I'm simply too paranoid to post it here. It hasn't been on the market for very long and we really, REALLY want to get this place. Hopefully they will accept our terms and we can say that we are home owners ASAP!

*bounces off the walls*

My mom came up today and the three of us took an impromptu drive to see the house we like in Mt. Penn. It's unoccupied so we could go up to the porch and look inside.

It's more amazing than I imagined. It sits right off the road on a hillside. There is already a fence around the front with a sign that says "Beware of Dog". It's like Martin is meant to live there. The porch wraps around the side to the back where you can latch a gate to section off just the back section. Again, it's clear a rammy dog like Martin lived there before. The view off the porch is amazing. The yard needs work, but the steps down the steep grades to each level of the property are brand new. If the yard is biggest problem, I'll live with it.
We saw the front rooms with the new carpeting and wood work around the doorways. We looked up the steps with the beautiful banister. We saw the kitchen with the nice floor. We could even see into the bathroom, which we have yet to see photographs of, and could tell it was also redone. The whole house has been updated and is a total blank slate!

Barring any wiring, plumbing, or roof issues (or if there was ever a bloody homicide in the house) I think I WANT this house.

We go inside with the Realtor tomorrow night... to be continued!

Dear New Neighbors Downstairs,

Please find something else to do besides playing Guitar Hero. You have been playing for 3 days straight. It's a beautiful weekend. Go outside. Take a drive. Take a walk! Just step away from the god damned video game.

If you still feel you MUST play. If you simply cannot tear the controller from your hands, at least turn it the hell down! The rest of us in the building don't need to hear it.

Cordially,

Annoyed Upstairs.

Put together closing cost money... pretty much check.
Get pre-approved for a mortgage... check.
Find some houses we like... check, check, check, etc.
Call the Realtors...


And that's where we are!


*shock* It's like I'm a grown up or something!

God Damn It. Everybody and their mother is using peacock feathers now as wedding accessories. THAT'S WHAT I WANTED TO DO!!!!

Every time I have an idea that I believe to be original for my wedding people start to use it and becomes trendy and I'm forced to try and find a NEW original idea... that will inevitably turn stale in years time.

Red dresses and roses - done to death years ago (Plus, it was Cristen's color and theme and I wouldn't want to duplicate a friend's wedding.)

Chocolate and Champagne - I loved this idea and I really thought these would be my colors, but eventually they caught on and now you can't open a wedding magazine without seeing this theme splashed all over the pages.

Jewel tones - I loved the idea of having multi-toned dresses and gemstone decorations. Now, this has become the new "hot trend" for weddings.

And now PEACOCK FEATHERS! They're everywhere and another one of my ideas gets beaten to death.

You know, the longer I go without planning a wedding, the more ideas I go through. The longer this wait becomes the more times my once original ideas turn to day old bread. It's really frustrating. I know that, in reality, your wedding should reflect what you and your partner want, no matter what it is, but what I REALLY want is to have a wedding that doesn't look like everyone elses. It's going to be awfully hard to achieve that if each idea I have gets played out before I even get engaged, though.


Ok... I'm done. *sigh*

First: YAYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYY! I watched a billion hours of TV yesterday. Dennis and I toasted at noon. There is work to be done, now, but I finally feel confident in our leaders to actually DO it.

Second:

Dennis and I are applying for a mortgage in two weeks. Buying a house is a scary thing. The fact that my bank may possibly be actually lending us money to do it is even more scary. We've been looking at houses for ages but soon we will actually know what we can afford and we'll have to make some big, serious, decisions about what we want and where we want to live.

I'll keep you posted.. and of course, host a great housewarming party once we move!