Bedtime 1am

I believe I said I was not staying up late last night, which turned out to be a lie. I went to bed at 1am; however, I was working on a project. I am putting together a photo album on Shutterfly as a gift for our friends that got married last month. I have all the pictures in, now I just need to come up with the captions.

I didn't get out of bed until 11, man am I lazy! I got some work done today, but certainly not as much as I would have liked.

One of the tv shows that Duane and I watch started tonight. We won't get to watch it until Sunday night or Monday. Thursday will be our busiest night with 6 shows (one is a new one so it may not last). We don't even watch Lost, Grey's Anatomy, or Desperate Housewives.

I am decorating a frame for an 8x10 picture of my sister and her husband at their wedding. I am gluing shells to it that I picked up off the beach. I am also going to make a necklace with a piece of beach glass I also found on the beach. She really appreciates handmade gifts, so I think she will like it.

Hershey is trying to get me to go to bed. I took the dogs for a long walk today and I think he is sleepy.

Lordy

So the work situation should work out ok.

I won $10 at business meeting, so that was nice.

Duane and I had lunch at his favorite place (Bull's BBQ) and I took him to the airport.

I found a few things at T.J.Maxx (two spatulas and a knife I had been looking for) and then I went to my appointment about my ad. I had a good time talking to the rep for the cable company and I think the ad should turn out nicely. I headed over to Marshall's and managed to find a few things there.

It went downhill when I got home. I had to send some pictures to the rep for the ad and I could not find a disk that I needed. I know it was in the office, but could not find it anywhere. I spent so much time looking for the disk and dinking around with the computer (the keyboard died on me-it's wireless, and the computer crashed) that I didn't have any time to work outside. I finally remembered that I had it in my sent items in my email. Then I had to deal with sending the pictures which were all large.

I went to make dinner. I saw a huge earwig and then it disappeared before I could kill it. We get them in the house from time to time and they are GROSS. I knocked a glass in the sink while I was running the disposal and glass went down the disposal. OH and I got my QVC sweater and it is too big! (as the other item I bought was) Hopefully I can get it in smaller size because it is really cute.

Duane is in LA and managed to find some coworkers at the airport. It will be nice for him to have people to go out with.

I have a looooooong list of things I want to get done this week, so no staying up late.

My mood

My mood is pretty foul this morning. I am not a morning person especially when I have to get up early. I am listening to music on the laptop and I don't have anything nearly hard enough to improve my mood. I do have some Tool to play in the car after I drop Duane off.

I do have business meeting today in which I should get 2 spins on the Wheel of Fortune. I could win some money which may improve my mood.

Babies have been on my mind lately, but I still haven't come up with a feasible time line. It looks like this trip to Europe with Duane's parents may work out and it would happen in April sometime. I may need an IV of beer then, so no baby before that.

Gene Simmons has a TV show on A&E about his family that is actually quite interesting. Is it weird that I get grossed out everytime he sticks out his tongue?

I did go to the gym twice last week. I would like it to be 3-4 times/week. I still haven't hit the pool for laps. The whole process before getting in the pool is long enough that my laziness has won out so far.

I have been trying to remember to take my vitamins lately. I have been getting a lot of bruises, which I am prone to. I always think I am anemic, and I never usually am. You never know though!

Enough random thoughts for now. I have my work meeting in 15 minutes.

Work oops

My head hasn't been in the game lately, and consequently I made a mistake.

I have been working on an offer with another agent in my office, one that I am pretty friendly with. I missed a deadline (in which I had two opportunities not to miss it), which she didn't realize either. The onus is on me though, to make the deadline. We are going to meet today and hash it out. It involves repairs that my buyer has asked the seller to make. Legally the seller doesn't have to do any of these things since I missed the deadline. Ugh.

I am in the midst of another offer with an elderly seller and weirdo buyers. The buyers really want the house, but say they can't pay the price the seller wants. They have suggested a rent-to-own scheme, but I don't know if the seller has 2 years left in her lifetime.

I also need to drum up some more business AND put the kibosh on my spending habits.

I am setting up an ad that will run on TV, so hopefully I will get some calls.

Everybody's working for the weekend

Friday's dinner was good, but I will have to order something different next time. Duane had skate in a lemon butter caper sauce, which was super tasty. I had the special, which was tuna. I guess I thought that a fancy place would cook tuna correctly without my asking, but they didn't. It was served over a sweet corn mash with tri-color cherry tomatoes, which was tasty.

We had an appetizer of meats including some duck liver mousse. I tried it, but it was kind of weird. They didn't give you enough crostini either.

Dessert was a caramel pot de creme with a couple of sugar cookies. It was tasty, but next time I will try something just for me (like the lemon meringue tart).

My friend's engagement ring was beautiful! We talked a bit about how much weddings cost (she missed our wedding due to a work conflict). Our wedding was about $10,000 and we did everything ourselves (except music and pictures). She was shocked.

Saturday:

We did get the Flor rug in place and I will have to take a picture of it.

In the process of returning the fabric samples for the possible future couch, we ordered it! We ordered it in a totally different fabric that we weren't considering without taking it home and checking it out in the room. I think it will be ok though (I had to use some skills from watching Get Color on HGTV).

Saturday must not have been that memorable as I can't remember what else we did!

Sunday:

Duane was mowing the lawn and decided the trees really needed pruning. The trees really did need pruning, but now I have a lot of wood to cut up. I spent a lot of time outside working that I hadn't planned on. It was stuff that needed to be done and it was nice out.

Duane goes to LA tomorrow afternoon until Friday. I need to work at home and at work this week AND plan everything to take to my sister's this weekend. Hopefully I won't stay up late watching tv like I usually do when Duane is away.

I got my hair cut this morning and found out that the big poufy brushes that were used to brush off all the hair clippings have been outlawed! (something about being too difficult to clean) Towels are the only thing you can use and just don't work as well. Duane said I should buy my own poufy brush and bring it will me each time.

No work week

I have been terribly sloth-like this week and haven't gotten much work done. I am at work right now, reading blogs instead of working.

By the way, that Shaft movie culminated in a large pink pulsing object being blown up with a Stinger missle. I can't believe Naomi Watts was in that movie!

I bought another sweater on QVC. I go on weird QVC streaks about this time of the year, especially when they start with the Christmas gifts. The 3 things I bought so far did not cost anymore than they would have in a store (in one case much less) and are way more useful that the stupid laser level and painting crap thing I bought 2 years ago.

I just found out that Tantric will be playing at the Taste of Madison next weekend. We are already scheduled to visit my sister and there is no rescheduling. This was a free concert too!

We are going to eat at a new restaurant in Madison tonight called Sardine to celebrate my friend's engagement. Hopefully Duane will find something he can eat without picking it to pieces. He is a lot more adventursome in his eating now than he ever has been.

I am going to be sending out Packers schedules with my fabulous business card on them, so let me know if you want one.

I started to watch the new Willy Wonka last night and found it fascinating. I think other people said Johnny Depp was creepy in this movie, but it started out really cool. I fauxvo'd (not my word) so maybe I will watch it tonight.

I will get a picture up of our Flor rug one of these days when it actually gets put together correctly (this weekend hopefully!).

I have so many projects (friends, family, and personal) and I just need to write them all down. Nothing will get done otherwise.

Fabulous thunder and lightening the past couple of days here. Sun Prairie seems to be insulated in a strange way so we don't get the hail or tornados. Fine by me!

Sick Day

Duane took a sick day today. He had been feeling rather burned out lately, so hopefully a day of playing Playstation will recharge his batteries.

I had an inspection today on a property that revealed a few problems. It is a rental building, so no big surprise. Hopefully the seller will fix things otherwise the deal will fall through.

I have a couple of showings tomorrow night for the PITA couple. Hopefully they will buy a place, so Duane and I can get a new couch.

Duane and I had dinner at a new Greek place in town. This place was formerly a mexican place, formerly a Jamaican place. The food was really good, even Duane really liked it.

Duane asked his Dad about going to Europe with us next year. Duane is trying to earn enough miles to get tickets for 4. I think it would be a really nice thing to do with his parents, since it is something they would never do for themselves.

I am watching a horrible horror movie call The Shaft.

When dogs attack

We were walking the dogs tonight and had an "incident". There was a man walking his dog ahead of us and we were trying to put distance between us. He stopped and waited for us! Hershey did not like the dog and it set Brisco off. Brisco ended up getting a cut on his lip, but Duane was the one who was traumatized. It always freaks him out when that happens (and it happens very rarely).

We are going to Vancouver next month for a little vacation. We are actually staying in a swanky place (got a good deal at travelocity). The Sutton Place is in a good location and sounds like a nice place.

We are staying at my little sister's over Labor Day weekend. Hopefully the weather will cooperate and we can sleep on the outside bed! My sister and her husband built a hanging platform bed with mosquito netting. Duane isn't too excited, but I think it will be fun.

Unless Duane has been really sneaky he hasn't bought any Tool tickets lately. :(

Nice weather

We have been having nice weather lately. I guess July was our August instead of August being our August.

I did not get a chance to tell you about Snakes on a Plane. Duane was very excited to see this movie, so we saw it on Thursday night at 10pm. I do not like scary movies and this one was (even if it was predictable). I left with a stomach ache from all the gore and snakes jumping out at you. Duane loved it though.

My buyers did not follow my directions to the property on Friday (because they know better than me right?) so I had to wait for them. The property was pretty dumpy, which was disclosed on the MLS sheet.

Weightwatchers has gone to heck this week. I think I would have to eat veggies the rest of the week. We did have an awesome pizza Friday night though. Olive oil, fresh mozzarella, basil, roma tomatoes, and pepperoni. Duane picked off the tomatoes, but he did enjoy the pizza.

We spent Saturday shopping with a quick visit to the Farmer's market. I bought 3 chili pepper plants, so hopefully I won't kill them. We had an empanada at the farmer's market that is about 1/2 lb cheese with a little bread added. We looked for a couch on Saturday and have decided to order something from Lazyboy. Duane wanted something more modern. Everything that was modern was uncomfortable or too expensive. The lazyboy has a reclining chaise and recliner (it is a sectional) and we are going to pick a more modern fabric for it.

Sunday we spent babysitting for my sister's kids. They were good and it was a nice day.

I also found out that my little sister is going back to school to be a physical therapist. She has a b.a. in modern dance, so she has to go back and take a lot of science courses. It will keep her in Milwaukee for awhile and then hopefully in Madison, so she will be closer.

I have paperwork I have to do today and filing. Duane has been getting on my case to do my real estate filing. I have been slacking on that.

It is the weekend again

I really have to watch my use of the word though. I wrote it 8 times in my last post!

I was feeling down earlier in the week. I found out that the couple I recently did a listing presentation for did not pick me. I thought they would have been really great people to work with. The husband said they had a "gut feeling" to go with someone else. :(

However the week picked up when 2 of my other clients decided to write offers, and I even got one accepted! The other clients did not want to write the offer for the price that would have got them the property, so they didn't get it. I love people who ask my opinion on something even though they have already set there mind. These people are also too smart for me obviously. I am not excited about showing them this property tonight.

I just realized that I have got to get going to show this property. It is a decent ways away.

Weekend

Well the weekend was busy but fun.

The closing Friday morning went well, other than the seller not giving notice to one of the tenants and the POD not fitting into the driveway. Both things have since been resolved in a good way though.

Duane's picnic was nice, although no one else had their spouse there. People in his department are pretty used to seeing me around though.

My company picnic was lame though. There was hardly anyone there and the food was just ok. The weather was nice though.

My showings that night went well and my buyers seemed to really like one of the properties. I haven't heard anything back yet though.

We ended up staying up way to late though, because Duane wanted to hang out with work people at Old Chicago. Golf time came way too early on Saturday.

Golfing was a lot of fun. I did not care for the course at all though and probably will not golf again. It was pretty expensive and the greens were not well maintained. I put sunscreen on but missed some spots. :(

Duane did his fantasy football draft thing and I went home for awhile. It was a good compromise because the draft things bored the crap out of me last year.

We went to see the Steepwater Band at the UW Union. They have a Terrace area on the lake that it is really nice for concerts. A friend has been involved with this band for quite awhile, so we always try to see them when they are in town. Unfortunately the Union had some creep-o terrible singer on for way too long. Apparently he won some sort of Idol contest. I had to see who had lost. The real opening band was good, The Sleepers, as was Steepwater. It made for another late night though.

Sunday we had lunch with our two friends that were in town for the draft and Steepwater concert (there were other people there). I had an awesome pizza with pesto, kalamata olives, artichoke hearts, feta, tomatoes, and prosciutto. It really wasn't worth $13 though.

After that we stopped by a For Sale by Owner open house. It is someone at Duane's company that he knows pretty well. I gave them some advice, being the nice person that I am.

We also watched Just Like Heaven with Mark Ruffalo (cutie!) and Reese Witherspoon. Duane complained that it was competely predictable and formulaic. I liked it!

Busy day tomorrow

Tomorrow I have a closing with the crazy buyer. I call her the crazy buyer, but I really do like her. After that I have a picnic at Duane's work and after that I have a picnic for MY work. Hopefully it will be a fun day.

I am golfing tonight with Duane and two guys from his work (who were added this afternoon). I am thinking it will be 9 holes of work talk, but what can you do.

Saturday is golfing with friends and then Duane's big fantasy football draft. I am going to skip out on most of the draft (snoooozefest) to take care of the dogs. We are also going to see a band that night (a friend's band so doesn't technically count as a concert for Duane or for me).

I have been having great success getting rid of stuff through Freecyclelately . We are trying to purge our house of as much crap as possible.

Duane and I are thinking of going to Vancouver next month. He has some vacation days to use before the end of the year. Or Toronto for the movie festival.

Pitchfork Festival

Apparently I totally neglected to post about the festival. Well it was hot!

Art Brut was way better in person than on CD and a lot of fun.

I was not a big fan of the Futureheads, but they got a great review.

Ted Leo was great, but no keyboards (Ted Leo plays both guitar and keyboards and you can't do both at the same time).

Silver Jews were a lot more put together than they were in Madison. There was no sheet music and David Berman was more personable. The first song was crap, but they got it together after that. They were not the best band to the end the concert though, being rather mellow.

They needed more port-a-potties and better food choices. It was too hot to drink much beer since you pretty much had to slam it before it got warm. They were selling water for $1 though, which was great. There was also a fountain where you could refill bottles and that was the longest line all day.

The craft shopping was cool, but suffered from poor lighting conditions. You also could only pay with cash and the ATM line took forever.

I went to the gym today!

Ok, so I used the same title, but I did got to the gym today. I did not go swimming yesterday. :( I didn't get up and then I was waiting for the UPS man. He delivered our new living room carpet from Flor. The old carpet collects hair like crazy and has a few spots of rawhide drool. This carpet comes in tiles, which you can pick up and wash in the sink if necessary.

I did have lunch with Duane where I consumed no less than 25 points. I did not eat anything for the rest of the day though!

Ok, I gotta jump in the shower and get moving.

I went to the gym today!

Oddly enough I remembered how much I actually like going to the gym.

Tomorrow is lap swimming. I have to be there by 8am though, and so far I haven't been getting up that early.

I need to create a workout mix and delete someone else's music of MY mp3 player.

I am also counting points (weightwatchers), which will hopefully last beyond today.

Yippee!

Getting silly in Maine 

*duane may or may not have been coerced to put this on his head 

Katie 

Duane 

If it is pictures you want....

Pictures you shall have.

Hey I don't see any pictures

I will get some up soon I promise! One needs to get up before 11:30 to get anything done. I slept 12.5 hours! What the hell is up with that.

Tomorrow is a work day. I will get the landscaping in the front done. It is still pretty hot here, but the humidity has decreased significantly.

Sunday we are going to the State Fair. They have the best cheese curds ever and lots of other yummy food you should only eat once a year (but wait weren't you going to go that concert?). Yes, I wanted to go to the concert but it is the last day to spend with our friend who will be shipping out to Iraq next month. We are going to see Sufjan Stevens next month, so I better find a concert that I want to go to.

It is Hot in Here

Well I have been told by a few people that my dancing the night before the wedding was pretty hot and I should do it more often. Unfortunately a fair amount of alcohol is required to do this, so it doesn't happen that often.

I don't recommend the Aristocrats unless you like being disgusted. I am not a prude or anything, but I didn't find it too funny.

I should have some time the rest of the week to get to pictures online.