Be Mine.

I've never been very big on Valentine's Day. Or any holiday where I feel obligated to exchange gifts. I have a theory that gifts giving should be "just because" and should be year round...if the spirit moves you. I have found myself many times in stores looking at the "perfect" gift for someone, but not having a reason to buy it for them because it is August 2nd and Christmas is too far away, but their birthday was 2 months ago. To hell with it! I'm gonna buy it for them anyway! I am thinking about this person right now and I want to let them know that I care about them. Sadly, I don't follow through with it very often. Mainly because I'm worried my friends would think I'm weird. Ryan already knows I'm weird so....

A few weeks ago I surprised Ryan with this:


And this:


Kid Theodore has plans to record a new album soon and all of the other band mates recently upgraded to fancy new guitars, but poor Ryan was stuck with his old bass. Concerned that it would throw off the sound quality while recording, Ryan couldn't stop talking about buying a new bass and bass cab (whatever that is). The Jaguar Bass to be specific. I had been picking up extra shifts at the hospital to surprise him, and was waiting for my next paycheck, but Ryan was hell bent on ruining the surprise. He had plans to scrape together the money by selling everything he didn't absolutely need. Ryan's friend Jeff gave us a deal on a bass cab he had and shipped it to us in a few short days. I'm starting to earn the title of "Best Wife Ever".

In return Ryan took me to Katsu-ya last night and told me that I could order anything/as much as I wanted. Yay! Then he bought me this:

Oh joy! We've been sleeping on a dingy 20+ year old mattress of some unknown origin. It sags terribly and I can only sleep comfortably on one side. I've had lower back pain for years and I'm hoping that the above mattress will help relieve this in conjunction with my chiropractic visits and yoga. It's something I would have a very hard time buying for myself (it's hard to justify the price), but probably need.

I love Love.

Stress Test

You know those stress tests that you can take? The one that ranks different stressors over the past year and rates your stress level accordingly? Well, I think mine is off the charts!

Ryan and I weren't planning on moving when he proposed. The market was down, interest rates were low...it seemed like a great idea. We bought a house. Ryan already had a house that we planned to rent. We were on our way to building our own real estate empire! One month after we had moved in, Kid Theodore decided that it was time to move to L.A. and take a shot at the big time. Ryan's band has been working hard for over three years and had recently won several contests that included a spot at a the CMJ Festival in New York, but we didn't think we'd be moving so soon. Of course this is the road that the band SHOULD take! They've got to go while there's a buzz!

The situation go sticky for us. We had started renovating. *groan* Stuff that we had planned to take our time on now had be finished by June! Had we left it alone, we could've rented the places and left. We had 2 homes to get rental ready and the best way to tackle it was for Ryan work full time on the properties while I worked. Poor Ryan. He worked his butt off, but I found out how talented my husband really is!

Meanwhile, I reworked my resume and applied for jobs in the L.A. area. Jobs were tight even for nurses, but I managed to get 5 interviews and 5 offers! I accepted a position at UCLA's PICU. I looked for apartments when I flew out for paperwork and drug testing. I found a bright 2 bedroom place in West Hollywood near the LaBrea Tar Pits and Little Ethiopia.

Here is a short list of some of what we accomplished before we left.

Denver Street
1. Landscaped the back yard jungle - tilled, re-sod, brick lined river rock pathway, & bark chips
2. Kicked out unsavory tennants dealing drugs
3. Deep cleaned house after unsavory tennants moved
4. Painted dining room, mud room, and 3 bed rooms
5. Rebuilt chimney
6. Painted eaves
7. Replaced rain gutters
8. Rebuilt porch steps with wood



Wilson Avenue
1. Ripped out old carpet from upstairs
2. Steamed off wall/ceiling paper, patched, sanded and painted living room, dining room, kitchen and bathroom
3. Painted kitchen cabinets and 2 bedrooms
4. Gutted the basement to the studs
5. Rebuilt basement to have 2 bedrooms and a bathroom plus storage in the laundry room (framed, plumbed, electrical, sheet rocked, taped, mudded, sanded, hung doors, nailed in baseboards)
6. New insulation throughout
7. Painted entire basement
8. Tiled basement bathroom
9. Carpeted basement bedrooms and hallway
10. New 90% efficient furnace/AC unit
11. Weeded flower beds and placed bark chips
12. Re-seeded area of lawn
13. Trimmed pine tree






I can't believe we pulled it off!