Accomplishing things is exhausting

Oy vey.

Hi internets! I'm back!

This week has been... well, just as tiring and stressful as I'd expected.

BUT!!!!!

We got so much house stuff done yesterday, and it looks like we are on track on be done and close on time! Two months and counting...

(Fingers crossed)

We did our framing walk through yesterday, and picked out where all of our electrical outlets, phone and cable jacks, light switches, light fixtures, propane hookups, etc will go. It was... productive, though slightly frustrating.

But not as frustrating as the rest of the afternoon went.

After the framing walk through, we went with the builders to the cabinet place to pick out our cabinets and counter tops, and that's when things went a bit pear shaped.

As with every home builder, ours obviously have a profit margin built into the cost of everything, and they therefore want you to stick within a certain budget so as to not compromise that profit. However, our builders' budget for certain things is incredibly unrealistic (we're pretty sure they just pulled numbers out of their butts without basing them on realistic, current prices).

On top of that, they are really pushy about their tastes (and it just so happens that their preferences in cabinets, carpet, flooring, and so forth, are also what they get the best deals on, and therefore make the most money on).

However, their tastes are so not my tastes, and we've gone a few rounds in the process of making that clear. The cabinets and flooring they kept pushing on me are blonde oak. As in, totally 1994.

She was pushing for something like these...

Ick.

I prefer darker, more updated wood, thank you very much.

We also preferred the shaker style cabinet doors over their preference for the arched, raised panel doors. It's a far more modern, updated look, and will make our kitchen up-to-date for much longer.

We chose these, only a bit darker...

So after going around and around on that, they finally backed off, and we ordered the doors we wanted, which made me happy. However, they won't include the hardware- the drawer pulls and door handles.

Really?!?

So we will have to do that on our own later on. Which is dumb. But whatevs.

The irony of the cabinet door kerfuffle?

The cabinet guy came in when we were just finishing up discussing it all, and the builders mentioned to him they need to order some cabinets for another house they're building, and he recommended the doors we had just ordered!

And his reasoning?

Because they're a more updated, modern look and more desirable to buyers!

So that little piece of vindication was nice.

After that I had to pick up the kids from school, so The Husband went with one of the builders to Lowe's to start picking out tile and fixtures and whatnot, and after collecting the younglings I met up with them.

After much debate (and more forcing of opinions), we finally chose tile for the laundry room, both bathroom floors, and our shower. We also gave her our choices for the wood flooring and countertops, and then had to go through the process of picking out a new carpet choice because apparently the cost of the padding was supposed to also be included in the carpet allowance (despite me having asked and her reassuring me that they do the padding separately and the whole allowance just goes to carpet)(grumblegrumble).

This was the point where the builder had to go, and I was perfectly okay with that because I was feeling quite frazzled by the carpet snafu. If I'm paying this much for a house, I'm sure as hell not going to settle for cheap ass carpet that's all thin and scraggly and will wear out within a month.

And that was looking like what was going to happen, until the most lovely Lowe's employee ever came to our rescue.

She took into account our builder's contractor discount, she found a carpet that is nice and thick and was on sale at the moment and that had the color we wanted, and she finagled the numbers around until both the squishy carpet and the pad were exactly within budget.

Suffice it to say, she saved me from a mental breakdown!

Thank you Bridgette at the Cheyenne Lowe's. You're my hero!

After that whole saga was dealt with, it was then off to pick out our lighting and fixtures package. The fixtures were easy peasy. Oil rubbed bronze, slightly victorian look. Donesies!

Bathroom fixtures

Bathroom faucets

Kitchen faucet

Sensing a theme yet?

And it only continued once we moved onto the lighting fixtures. Two 60" ceiling fans, five dome lights, two bathroom light bars, two sconces, two hanging light fixtures, two hanging bar lights, and five exterior lights later, we had a definite (though originally unintended) theme. 

Modern, clean, updated, though also classic. Oil rubbed bronze with warm glass. And the sconces have the leaded glass with the pop of color, that will compliment our front door, as well as the lamp I keep in the entry way.

I only hope that when all is said and done, it actually looks good. Because your brain can only handle so many decisions in a four hour period. After that it turns into spaghetti.

And I don't know if spaghetti has been known for it's design choices...

There isn't enough caffeine in the world...

Life has been a bit... stressful... over the last couple of weeks. And this week it's going to get a whole lot more so (but in more of a good way).

So I mentioned about a week and a half ago about the absolute shit day I was having. I'd been feeling ill, our apartment had come under assault by a airborne chunk of concrete, and then to top it all off, it was looking like our mortgage was going to fall through because of some stupid seven-and-a-half-year-old medical debt that was less than half of a percentage of the purchase price of the house we are building.

We have also disputed this debt in the past, the credit bureaus themselves have disputed the debt, and I also have a payment stub from seven years ago showing that one of the debts they have listed was already paid in full! So clearly things are not on the up and up.

We tried contacting the company holding the debt, and they were, well, awful, to put it mildly. They not only wanted the entire amount of the debt listed (despite the fact that part of it was paid years ago and the credit bureaus dispute that rest is even ours), but they also wanted to tack on other debt that they claimed they had of ours (even though it didn't show up on our credit and they admitted they couldn't prove it was ours in the first place). On top of that, they refused to give us anything in writing saying the debt would have been paid off and they refused to remove it from our credit even if we paid the entire amount of NOT OUR debt.

Shady, shady, shady.

We actually looked up this company, and apparently, this is what they do. They have been sued many times because of it. They buy old debts from other, more legit collection companies, they pool the debts into one big group, then assign them randomly to people. They don't actually pay off the debts with the money they collect, they don't follow collection regulations, and the fact that they are still in business is mind-boggling to me.

So we called the mortgage guy we had been working with and told him what was going on, thinking he would be understanding and be willing to work around this hiccup. Especially since we have such a large down payment ready to go.

Nope.

He refused to move forward on our mortgage without that final debt being removed from our credit. Never mind the fact that it is over seven years old and shouldn't even be on our credit anymore anyway. Never mind the fact that I had records of paying the debt they were claiming we owed. Never mind the fact that we had records of the credit bureaus trying to remove this debt from our credit and this company refusing. And never mind the fact that this company is involved in illegal collection practices, hadn't contacted us over these supposedly important debts, and the amount they claimed we owed would have in no way impacted our ability to pay our bills.

Dude was just an ass. Plain and simple.

So after a day or two of feeling really down, watching our dreams crumble over something that should never have been an issue in the first place (I mean, we already bought one house for crissake, and this debt would have been on there then, and it didn't matter!), we decided to rally.

I'm not a quitter. I never have been.

If there is a way to make it work, by God I'm going to find it.

So I did!

We contacted our previous mortgage broker in Washington and explained the situation to him, and he actually laughed out loud at how ridiculous it all was! He said that no, this debt should never have mattered in the first place, given its age AND the documented history of trying to address it. He said that any mortgage broker worth their salt knows that this particular collection agency is a total scam and is generally just ignored. He said that if he were our broker, he could 99.99% guarantee us the mortgage.

Unfortunately, he's not licensed in Wyoming.

Le sigh.

But we found someone in the same parent company that is! And he also thought the crap we had been put through was insane. And he also guaranteed us it wouldn't be an issue and that he could get the mortgage through underwriting without a hitch. And he said that given how good our credit is, we qualify for the best government loans available, which means lower interest rates, which is pretty sweet.

So we are back on track.

We fired the douchebag mortgage guy, and our real estate agent, Mike, has even ceased recommending people to him because of all this. Mike said this guy used to be really good and go out of his way for his mortgage customers, but lately he's been all about the money, charging higher interest rates for no reason other than the added profit, not being willing to work around any hiccup in someone's credit (even though almost all people have a hiccup or two), not answering or returning phone calls, and just being an arrogant jerk in general. Mike said our situation with him was the last straw. If this guy wasn't even able to help someone with as good of credit and as much of a down payment as we have, he doesn't deserve Mike's business.

I concur!

So we got that settled. I will still be a little nervous, because nothing is ever certain until it is complete. So until we have signed papers and have those keys in our hands, I'll be a little antsy. But we can resume being excited about our house. And that's a good feeling.

So that was why the past couple of weeks have been stressful.

This coming week is a whole other, albeit more tolerable, ball game.

The kids start school on Tuesday. They will be attending the school that is just down the road from our future house, which will be super convenient once we're living there.

Until then, however? Logistical nightmare.

Right now we live almost an hour away. And we have to plan for morning traffic heading north. The plan for the next couple of months is for The Husband to take the kids to school on his way to work, and then pick them up after school and bring them home when he's done. The hour and a half between school getting out and Husband's work being done, the kids will hang out in his office and do homework.

This is the most sensible plan, though it isn't the most desirable. We decided it doesn't make sense for both of us to be driving back and forth from Fort Collins to Cheyenne every day. The gas budget would absolutely explode!!!

BUT...

This week? The Husband is in meetings all week for a huge conversion they're working on at the hospital.

Which means that I have to take the kids and pick them up all week. I was originally planning on going for the open house and the first day of school, obviously, but now it's an all week thing. And I weep for my gas consumption!

We decided that I'd just plan ahead, bring snacks and toys and all the necessary provisions, and we'd all drive together in the morning, drop The Husband off at work on the way to the school, and then me and Monkey would just hang out in Cheyenne all day.

All. Freaking. Day.

Cheyenne's great and all. But there's only so much to do! And I'll have eight hours every day to kill. I think we will be spending a lot of time at the many parks in town.

BUT!

The trusses for the roof of our house began going up on Friday! Which means the framing will be done very shortly! Which means we will get to meet with the builder to do our framing walk through and pick out everything for the house!

Cabinets. Countertops. Flooring. Finishes. Appliances.

I'm hoping we will get to do that this week.

Because, really?!? Otherwise it's going to be a long, boring week...

Apparently Louis C.K. hasn't spend much time in Cheyenne...

Footprints on my heart

I think it is a universal understanding that good friends are hard to come by. In this great big world of 7 billion people, finding individuals who truly accept you for you, warts and all, is tricky. People want you to fit into their preconceived mold; they want to define you, shape you, control you, and turn you into their version of who they think you should be.

It's shitty, but true.

Growing up, I had several friends through elementary school and high school who were like that. I was told who to be, what to think, how to act, what I did or did not like, and sadly I accepted that for myself.

Until one day I didn't.

Needless to say, I have sufficiently lost contact with all of those "friends".

Now that I am approaching my 30s, it has become increasingly clear to me that it's not the quantity of friends you have, it's the quality.

In keeping with that, I really only have three true friends in my life. Yes, I have many more people that I would call my friends, several of whom I know I could call for help in a crisis or whatever.

But only three of them are people that I feel truly "get" me. People I could call sobbing at 3am, and they would drop everything to be there for me. And I for them.

The first is my sister. Growing up, we hated each other. Like, truly despised each other's existence. I was the irritated older sister, she was the spoiled younger sister. We fought. We threw things at each other. We called each other the meanest names we could think of. She bit me. I kicked her. Once she even pulled a knife on me!

(It was a butter knife, and she was about 4 or 5, but still)

(I still give her shit for it)

It wasn't until she was about 15 or so that we started to actually enjoy each other's company. After she graduated high school, she lived with The Husband and I off and on for almost two years, and while that was difficult in some ways, it was also a lot of fun and brought us closer together. She has been there for me through some tough stuff, and I for her, and I love her dearly and miss her a ton now that we've moved.

I don't think I truly appreciated how much I enjoyed getting to spend time with her or talk to her regularly, and now that we're 1200 miles away, I get sad thinking about it. I'm getting a little ferklemped right now actually, so moving on!

The second friend is my dear friend Age. She and I have been friends for 25 years.

Yeah. Saying that makes me feel reaaaallly old...

But we were barely 5 when we met, so the math isn't as devastating as it sounds.

Age was my first (and really only) best friend. She was my other half! We did everything together growing up. Sledding and camping and every single birthday and eight million sleepovers. We would play dress up until the wee hours of the morning, and then her parents would make the best pancakes in the world- still unrivaled by any other pancakes, ever.

Like, seriously, don't even try. Kotyk Pancakes for the win.

She had the cool video game systems that my family couldn't afford, and I developed my love of Super Mario and Donkey Kong at her house. We had a pet nail (one of those industrial sized rail road nails?) (yeah... I don't know... overactive imaginations?) attached to a meltwater runoff pipe on the walk home from the bus stop, and we named her Nailey and dressed her up in grasses and leaves and whatnot. We made snow forts and climbed trees and picked cherries and spent more time on the banks of the Columbia River than I can even remember (though I distinctly remember the intense terror I felt every time we went down there, because of the insane amounts of poison ivy plants and my irrational fear of touching said poison ivy) (which I still have today...) I practically lived at her house, and her parents still consider me one of their daughters.

We certainly had our ups and downs. She was the domineering one (as the youngest of three girls, I think she was exerting her power any way she could) and I was a total pushover. We fought like cats and dogs, but never stayed away too long (even when we probably should have). In about the 6th grade, we had a temporary friendship divorce, but I think it only lasted maybe a month or so? After that we pretty much stopped fighting (unless she was hanging out with one of the Amandas. The Amandas were never nice to me. Bitches) and our lifelong friendship was cemented.

I moved away at the end of 8th grade, and against all odds and expectations (and several hundred miles), we stayed in touch and stayed friends. While we don't see each other as often as we'd like, we still make it work. She is a part of me. She has known me the longest, put up with me and my idiosyncrasies, and accepts me fully (as I do her). Because of her (and her family) I had a happier childhood than I otherwise would have. We have literally and figuratively grown up together. I know that she will always be in my heart and in my life, and I love her and miss her dearly.

(Happy Birthday tomorrow!!!)

The third friend is my soul-sista Kym. I swear, meeting her was like meeting my (blonde, much shorter, much larger-breasted) alter ego. Our husbands find it a little scary how alike we are. She and I clicked instantly, which almost never happens for me. I always feel like I have to put on a facade with people, especially when I first meet them. But with Kym, I was instantly comfortable with her. I can totally be myself around her, and nothing phases her. While we've only known each other a short while, I feel like I've known her forever. We've supported each other through life's bullshit, we've laughed, we've cried, our kids are best friends, even our husbands get along great.

Leaving Kym was one of the hardest parts of moving to Wyoming (besides my family, of course). She was the first person I'd met, in the town I'd lived in for over 6 years, with whom I actually genuinely clicked. Our families instantly bonded, and I could easily see us all growing old together, sitting on our back deck, drinking beers and commiserating about what crazy thing our kids did, or the uber-mom up the street and the bitchy thing she said this time, or the craziness of extended family.

I miss them terribly, my kids miss their kids, and when I get particularly lonely or stressed out down here, I wish I could just walk up the street to Kym's, plop on her couch, play with Baby-Baby, and chit-chat for hours.

Weight loss and diet nonsense

Just wanted to share this woman's blog post- an open apology to all her previous weight loss clients.

It's really quite powerful.

Our focus on physical perfection takes its toll. It is unhealthy, both physically and mentally. It has become "normal" to have disordered eating habits, a disordered body image, a disordered life.

And it needs to stop.

Society needs a gut check. Or a reality check.

It really is as simple as eating real, natural, wholesome foods, being active, and letting the rest go.

Perfection does not exist, nor is it attainable. But what is easily attainable is your perfection.

Just be you. Be healthy. Live your life.

And for goodness sake, stop comparing yourself to other people. It's hard, yes. But no good ever comes from it.

You are exactly who and what you are supposed to be. So be you to the fullest.

Seriously?!?

So I've been having... well... a rough day, today.

To say the least.

You know those days when things go pear-shaped the second your foot hits the floor?

Well take three or four of those, roll them into one 12-hour period, and you've got my day.

First, I'm sick. I have some lovely flu-y bug, I didn't sleep a wink last night, and I feel like utter crap.

Second, there is a potential for our mortgage to not make it through underwriting. Turns out we have one last remaining medical debt on our credit. This medical debt isn't huge, it is over 7 years old, and we didn't know it was there until just recently. So you'd think that, when we made the effort to call and get the debt cleared up, the holders of the account would be willing to work with us, right?

Nope.

Not only do they flat out refuse to deal with us, nor can they even prove the debt is ours, but they even threatened to add other debts to our account that don't show up on our credit.

Let me reiterate.

They cannot prove the debt is ours. And they threatened to stick us with more debt. Debt that isn't on our credit and doesn't even trace back to us in the first place.

Oh yeah, and they refuse to do anything in writing, so even if we paid all of it off today, they wouldn't give us written confirmation we had done so. We'd have to take their word for it.

Not only is that shady, I'm not even sure how legal it is.

Needless to say, I'm looking into it and seeing what our rights are, because my gut tells me something isn't right about this.

On top of this, while I was sitting here this morning Google-ing consumer rights and whatnot, the groundskeepers of our apartment complex were mowing the lawn outside our apartment. I heard the grinding of the lawnmower hitting something, and the next thing I know, the window of my sunroom shattered into a bazillion pieces.

Like, full on exploded.

Clearly it scared the living bejeezus out of me, leaving me really shaken up.

Turns out a hunk of concrete about 5 inches long and 4 inches thick was catapulted through the window by the blades of the lawnmower.

And the dude didn't even stop!!! He just kept truckin' along, either unaware or unconcerned about what it was he had just ran over.

I immediately called the apartment complex office and told them what happened, and they sent the maintenance guys out to help clean up the mess. They are apparently also going to rip into the supervisor of the landscaping company they hire.

The bigger issue, though, is that my children had just asked to play the XBOX, which is located directly in front of the window that was shattered. Had I not told them to wait until after lunch, they would have gotten seriously injured, or possibly worse. It's not something I can really think too deeply on, or I get all shaky again.

So I spent all afternoon cleaning up shards of glass from the shelves that were in front of the window. Shelves that contained the kitchen stuff that doesn't actually fit into the pathetically small kitchen in this apartment. So I had to send every mixing bowl, casserole dish, measuring cup, and so forth, through the dishwasher for a good rinse to clear off the sand-like glass particles. I then had to gingerly sort through the boxes of books and spare bedding that also managed to have glass land in them.

Oh the joys of an apartment that is too small to actually unpack everything into.

All I wanted to do today was lay on the couch, watch trashy reality TV, and drink tea. Suffice it to say, that didn't work out.

Spontaneous Saturday

So yesterday began as any old "I have this to do" day, but turned into quite a fun family day.

Spontaneity. It's a good thing.

Starting out, I had planned to go hit up the paint store and grab some paint chips in order to get an idea of which colors we liked and what would go well with the carpet and flooring we had picked out earlier in the week.

However, that got more complicated when we swung by Home Depot first and ended up changing our minds regarding the carpet choice and the potential flooring choice.

Sigh.

Too. Many. Choices.

We actually found a carpet we liked better- a couple shades darker, more plush, still well within budget. So that was good.

But in finding that, I began to question our flooring choice. Was it too dark? Did it have too much red in it? Would it clash with our potential cabinet choices (to be determined in about a week and a half)?

So we headed back to the wood flooring and began hemming and hawing over the bajillion options.

We left with about six or seven samples, because we couldn't decide...

We then swung by the Sherwin Williams store, and my brain momentarily broke. When you find yourself standing in front of an entire wall of paint chips, it's like your brain just goes "NOPE!"

We laid out the carpet and flooring samples, and then began pulling colors and holding them against our flooring choices. Right away we were able to remove three of the flooring choices from the running. Away from the artificial light of Home Depot, we realized that two of our samples were way too light and one was way too yellow.

So that narrowed it down.

We then just sort of went with our gut and picked out colors that we knew would go with our existing furniture and decor. Back at our old house in Washington, I had been planning on painting the main walls a toasted almond color, with an accent wall in a rich, deep red. So, lacking creativity, we went with that same game plan for the house down here.

Stick with what you know, I guess.

The colors we chose also look good with the carpet choice, as well as the four remaining floor samples that we are still debating on. After the house is framed- which should be this week, weather permitting- we are going to meet with the builder and the cabinet guy and pick out the cabinets, countertops, and tile. That will help us choose a wood flooring that looks good with it all, and then we will be able to get everything ordered and have accomplished a huge chunk of the To Do list.

Phew...

So after settling on the paint colors, we decided to head up the road and explore Old Town Fort Collins.

It's so cute!!!

Apparently, the main thoroughfare was the inspiration for Disneyland's Mainstreet USA.

Yeah, that's how cute it is.

Right?!?

Tree-lined streets. Cafes, bistros, art installations, super cute boutiques, yummy restaurants, street performers, hippies, tourists, families. It's a fun mish-mash of all walks of life, all forms of expression, and a fun dose of Americana.

It was quite lovely to stroll along the streets, window shopping, actual shopping, and people-watching.

It reminded me of my favorite city of all- Nelson, B.C.

God I miss Nelson. Must plan a visit there in the near future.

So after our stroll through Old Town, we were headed back home when I spontaneously decided to head out to Horsetooth Reservoir and Horsetooth Mountain Park instead.

So beautiful up there!

The red rocks and the green vegetation- stunning! And we were heading up there as the sun was starting to sink lower on the horizon, so the colors were amazing.

Not only did we find a new place to hike, we may have also found the site of our future cabin!

My "red sink" moment

So as I've mentioned before, we are currently building a house. This is my first time building a house from scratch, and there have been many times so far that I have felt overwhelmed, or had trouble believing it was actually happening.

Well it is starting to sink in now!

Yesterday we had a meeting with the builders to go over some of the specs for the house- specifically the windows and doors package.

At first it was a breeze. We knew we wanted the Queen Anne grid, so all we had to do was choose the sizes for each room. The longest we spent discussing any of the windows was in figuring out the size of the rain glass transom for the master bath, and then a quick debate over whether or not to add an extra window in the basement. It's an upgrade, so it's an out-of-pocket expense, but having them order it from their wholesaler and install it for us ahead of time will be a heck of a lot cheaper than us buying it ourselves later on and then having to cut the whole, fix the drywall and the siding, and all that. So we went for it.

Donesies!

Then we moved on to the doors.

Sigh...

The doors were not as easy.

We wound up going with a simple two-panel door for all the interior doors, because they aren't too ornate and have more of an updated classic country vibe, which we liked. When in Rome, right?

Then we had to pick the exterior doors. Choosing the two garage doors was fairly easy. We maintained the same two-panel look, only in the steel, fire-resistant doors. Choosing the two sliders was easy too, as we just went with the Queen Anne grid in those as well.

Then we had to move on to the front door.

And here is where my brain started to hurt.

So. Many. Options.

So let me share a story before moving on. Back when I was probably 10 or so, my parents were remodeling our house. I remember overhearing the discussions about all the different color choices and design options and layouts (something I relate to now!) They needed to move forward with the kitchen design, but my mom was stuck. She couldn't envision it. She didn't know the look she wanted, the layout, any of it.

And then inspiration struck.

We were at the home improvement store, and she was perusing kitchen sinks when she saw it. The sink. It was an enameled cast iron sink. And it was red.

It looked much like this

Yes.

A red sink.

Not everyone's taste, but it spoke to her.

From there, the rest of the kitchen came together easy peasy. My mom found her inspiration in that sink.

Fast forward twenty years to yesterday, and there I am sitting in the builder's office, flipping through a gigantic book of door options.

Too fancy.

Too plain.

Too see through.

I flipped one more page, and I found it.

The door.

Same two-panel design as our other doors. The top panel was leaded glass, much like many of the other doors I had been seeing. It also had matching side light panels as well.

But rather than the fancy schmancy curlicue designs that were not my taste, this door had a cleaner geometric pattern. Squares and rectangles in different textures of privacy glass.

And intermittent in the pattern were ruby red pieces.

It was simple, yet beautiful.

It had a pop of color.

And it spoke to me.

That's my front door. I just knew it immediately.

I had my "red sink" moment.

Similar to this, only with ruby pieces...

Fallout

So a few days ago I published a quick little blog post about Katie Vyktoriah, her Walmart story, and the larger issue of intolerance in this country.

Suffice it to say, I didn't not expect the backlash I got from it!

I was called names, I was challenged for lending my apparent support to her story, random strangers felt compelled to inform me of all the ways I was wrong.

But here's the thing. They missed the freaking point.

The central theme for that post was the culture of intolerance that has become somehow acceptable in this country. People feel justified in expressing or forcing their opinion on you in whatever way they see fit, and it is somehow okay. Because freedom.

And believe me, the irony did not escape me that the same people who are commenting on my blog telling me that I am ignorant or gullible or stupid or what have you because I believed this woman's story, are then turning around and expecting me to believe them that she is a pathological liar.

Classic!

My original post wasn't even focused on Katie's story. That was the jumping off point, yes, but it went beyond that. My point was on the intolerance described within her story, and the fact that said intolerance is a real, ugly truth that people face every single day.

If Katie Vyktoriah did lie about this whole thing, then that's disgusting.

If she didn't lie, and some man really did accost her young child because of a headband, then that's disturbing.

But either way, the central theme to it all was the intolerance of someone not liking what someone else was doing/wearing/thinking and forcing their personal beliefs on that individual in order to "help them".

You know, like the trolls did to me.

I went ahead and deleted the original post, because it was generating more heat than it was even worth. Two paragraphs, people. Two paragraphs are not worth verbally abusing a stranger.

But thanks for simultaneously proving my point!

Now if you'll excuse me, I'm going to go back to my tiny little blog that has never received this kind of traffic, and go back to writing posts that only my grandpa and best friends will likely read.

Peace, bitches!

Troll'd

So an interesting thing just happened.

Something that I genuinely didn't think would ever happen on this blog, as my viewership is fairly small.

Out of the two blogs that I write, this one is by far the quieter one, only frequented a fraction of what my other, far more controversial blog is.

And yet, here we are, at a milestone....

...I received my first negative comment!!!

Yes, ladies and gents. Some random stranger decided they didn't like what I wrote and needed to say something rude about it.

The topic was regarding blogger Katie Vyktoriah and her recent experience with her son at Walmart. Apparently throwing a shout-out of support to a mother who experienced something unfortunate is suddenly worthy of verbal abuse and a personal attack.

Hmmm...

Well, okay. If you don't like that I gave this woman any attention at all, that's fine I guess.

But no, it doesn't mean that I am "scary gullible" or "willing to believe everything" I read.

Could this woman have made it up? Okay, sure, perhaps that's possible.

Do I agree with the fact that she didn't report the man or ask for help? No, I don't. Were that my child in the situation I would have made a much bigger stink about it and reported him to (at the very least) store management. After all, CCTV cameras are there for a reason.

However, regardless of if you agree with how she handled the situation or not (and even in the off chance that it never even happened), the very thought that things like this DO happen on a regular basis to people all over the country is disheartening, and that was the overarching issue in the situation- the general intolerance of those perceived to be different from ourselves.

And the fact that people like my little commenter decide that it is better to go after those who express opinions against ignorant acts of rudeness is also disheartening. I guess the bigger issue, in an overall sense, is that fact that people are incapable of having polite and civilized discourse, and instead feel the need to attack those they have differing opinions from.

But I'm not too fazed by it, because for one, I am perfectly comfortable with people having different opinions than mine (I encourage it, in fact, because a healthy debate is good for the soul), and for two, it is far too easy these days for people who hide behind a keyboard and post negative comments to perfect strangers.

So thank you for your input, my dear commenter, and thanks for helping me reach a blogging milestone. I appreciate your point of view, and I sincerely hope you have a pleasant day.

Faking fajitas

Okay.

So I know my posts have been a little food obsessed lately.

But here's another one.

Because my makeshift chicken and black bean fajitas?

Ohmygodtheyweresogood!!!

I'm not gonna lie, I was a little nervous about them. Because I'm not really that throw-random-ingredients-together-and-presto-gourmet-meal kind of cook.

I'm more of a follow-the-recipe-exactly-the-first-few-times-and-eventually-start-perosnalizing-it.

The Husband?

He's like the freaking Iron Chef.

Hand him some random ingredients, give him 20 minutes, and POOF, you have yourself a gourmet meal that always tastes great.

(Well, except for the one time with the homemade steak marinade that ended up tasting like feet and bandaids. But that was a one-off)

I've always been a recipe follower. Except for garlic. I always- ALWAYS- add extra garlic. Because I don't believe there is such a thing as too much garlic.

But I digress.

So last night, I was nervous about the fajitas, and truly had very low expectations for them.

But you know what?!?

I Iron-Chef-ed those bitches!

Sarah's Chicken and Black Bean Fajitas

1 tbsp extra virgin olive oil
Approximately 1 lb boneless skinless chicken breasts (I used three large ones, I'm guessing they were about one pound)
1 lime
1 medium onion, sliced into strips
2 bell peppers, sliced into strips
1 15 oz can reduced sodium black beans, rinsed and drained
Sea salt (to taste)
Fresh ground black pepper (to taste)
Garlic powder (to taste)
Taco seasoning (approx. 1/2 cup seasoning to 1 1/2 cups water- I didn't really measure)

I salted and peppered both sides of the chicken breasts, then sliced them into thin strips. I heated the olive oil in a large nonstick frying pan over medium heat, then added the chicken. I sprinkled the chicken with more sea salt, and ample garlic powder and let it cook, stirring occasionally.

Once the chicken was mostly cooked, I rolled the lime under my palm to release the juices, then cut it in half and squeezed the juice out over the cooking chicken (and added a bit more garlic, because that's how I roll).

Once the chicken was fully cooked, I added the bell peppers and onion, and sautéed it all until the veggies were tender-crisp. Then I poured in the black beans and the mixed taco seasoning, stirred, and let it simmer until it was thick and bubbly.

Et voila!

Serve with a bit of grated cheddar and your favorite toppings as desired. I didn't even add salsa or anything to mine though, because it was that flavorful!

You're doing it wrong

So in my last post I mentioned how I was making roasted chicken and veggies in the crock pot, and I just wanted to say... HOLY CRAP WAS IT DELICIOUS!!!!!

Super yummy.

The recipe calls for chicken thighs because they stay tender throughout the long cooking time, but since they make me gag I went for chicken breasts instead. I was worried they would dry out or something, but nope! Tender, juicy, yummy, all around awesomeness. I've also never cooked with pearl onions before, and I really liked them. They added a good flavor without being too overpowering. That one is definitely going in my usual rotation!

Tonight I'm making chicken and black bean fajitas. I don't really have a specific recipe for it, I'm just kinda winging it. Combining a little bit of this one with a little bit of that one- hopefully it turns out well.

I have extra chicken breasts from the crock pot meal (I bought too many) and I need to do something with them before they spoil, and fajitas are delicious, so why not?!?

Plus, I'm trying to make healthier meals, since with the whole moving brouhaha our eating habits certainly took a hit. Time to get back on track!

So this week has been a busy one for me. We finally have an address for the lot we are building on, which not only makes it seem a little more real, but it also allowed me to finally be able to register the kids for school.

It's been stressing me out, because school starts earlier here than back in Washington, so there was added pressure to get them registered and start the back to school shopping and all that jazz. Plus, having them in school was a major component in starting to feel more settled here. Even though our living situation is in a state of limbo until the house in finished, having the kids' school situated is evidence that we are here to stay, that this is our home now.

It's a good feeling.

I had some errands to run up in Cheyenne yesterday, so I got a chance to swing by our property and check out the progress on the house.

*drumroll please*

We have the beginnings of the basement and the foundation! Whoohoo!

There is a giant hole, several huge dirt piles, a rebar pile, and the beginning framing of the foundation with the first layer of concrete poured.

So, you know, no where near done, but progress nonetheless.

Okay, so now on to the real reason for this post. Music.

I've realized that I was pretty spoiled back in Seattle when it came to radio stations to listen to. I discussed my musical tastes and radio station preferences awhile back, and how between the four stations I was able to satisfy all my musical tastes.

Suffice it to say that I am not so lucky down here.

So far I have only found one, yes ONE, rock station. Tons of country, tons of Christian, a few Spanish stations, and a few pop stations that seem to combine anything from 1995 on- R&B, boy bands, hip hop, girl groups, etc- into a "new music" station.

But their crappy tastes in pop music don't concern me, as I don't listen to it.

What concerns me is what seems to constitute "classic rock" in northern Colorado.

While, yes, they play plenty of good stuff- Ozzy, Metallica, Zeppelin, The Who, all the ones you'd expect (and actually a few that I've not heard before, which is cool)- they also throw in random bands too. And therein lies the issue.

Because Stone Temple Pilots? Alice in Chains? Green Day? Nirvana? I love them all...

BUT THEY ARE NOT CLASSIC ROCK!!!!!

Apparently the division between classic rock, heavy metal, and alternative rock does not exist here.

And it's killing me.

Every time I hear Man In The Box, Basketcase, Creep, or Come As You Are, I just shake my head and think "You're doing it wrong!!!"

Come on Denver, don't let me down.

You need to add two more radio stations to your repertoire: alt rock, and metal.

Because they're different than classic rock.

Still awesome.

Just different.