The week started off great with having friends over for supper. Burke and MyKelle, his new wife, were in town from Denver on a quick visit and we treated them to steak and vegetables at our house. We hadn’t met MyKelle but it was great to see Burke with her and happy. They appear to be a great fit and it’s easy to see why they got to know each other and get along so well. Burke will be performing out ceremony so it was good to hash a few details out about the wedding as well. The night ended a bit too quick for my liking.
Tuesday was the day we looked at house #26, which we really liked. There are things about this house that made us hesitant but the layout, the features, and the view kept sucking us back in and it seemed like it fit so much of the criteria we were looking for. The main sticking point we discovered as the week progressed was the additional land that was adjacent to the house that we had assumed was included is not, which means that the land is built on a half lot. Which means usable yard is small, we can’t add onto the house, and the biggest issue, if there is a natural disaster such as a fire or a tornado, which brings the house down, we can’t rebuild. We are currently working to get info from the city and the zoning and we are glad our realtor is working her tail off to get this straightened out. We have our fingers crossed but our hopes aren’t high anymore.
Friday ended with Alaina’s 21st birthday. I know she’s been impatiently waiting for the day to arrive. We started the night with dinner and drinks at Paradiso, gotta love their seafood burrito. Alaina opened a few presents and had a few banana flavored drinks. We kept the theme as Matt and I wanted to introduce her to martini’s and she had a monkey tail at Peacock, which is still Matt’s and I’s favorite standby in Bismarck. We ended the night at the Lonesome Dove, they had a full house, Alaina even got to get some dancing in. Was good to see her Robert together and enjoying her day. Saturday started out in the herd. It’s been a miserable year this year for calving, a year that makes me wonder how Mom and Dad continue to sustain and do it. Because of the wild temps, the wet, the overeating, the big calves, the c-sections, the late nights and early mornings, I think both parents could use a 3 day nap with some peace of mind. As we started working through the calves, Mom came upon a bull calve that had died over the night and had started to stiffen and bloat. We hauled him down to the calving barn, with his momma, and Matt, being the amazing man that he is took on the task of skinning him so we could try to get the bottle calf that we had on the momma that had just lost her calf. What a terrible job, one that I don’t think I could do without full-out losing it and he handled it in stride with some basic direction from Dad while the rest of us were out sorting bulls off to be delivered. At the last notification, the cow and calf are starting to take each other and the best that could happen in the situation is, and that’s what counts. I’m hoping that temperatures will level out giving a break for the situation. Matt did get to see Dad use his dart gun, which he thought was awesome.
We also did some running around town including Sam’s Club, Target and the mall, Petsmart, and we even attempted to get some tux’s looked at. We didn’t make the tux shops in time. But we did get some great stuff at Sam’s that we were pretty excited about including some smoked salmon, bagels, tomatos, coffee syrup, French bread pizza and chimichangas for Matt, and it was sample day!! That meant for a great breakfast on Sunday morning…mmmmmmm. Petsmart was also a great trip as we had wanted to get a resized harness for Lola so she could go for walks with Matt. After reviewing the cat harnesses, Matt determined that we needed to go look at small dog.
MJR: Okay, what color speaks to you? I’m thinking blue.
ALM: There are so many in the dog aisle. Wow.
MJR: Yes I know.
ALM (shopping): hmmm, I just don’t know what to pick, Lola is not a flowers and pink rhinestone kinda cat. THIS IS IT!!! (holding lavender skull and crossbones with violet purple background) AND LOOK, it’s like it’s fate, it’s in the Lola Collection!!!!
Sunday started out great. We woke up, I enjoyed my latte, Matt made lox and bagels with capers, we read the Sunday paper, I took Lola for a walk with her new harness, which I think she looked pretty fantastic in. We then sat down to vac-seal all the jerky that we had made from the week before. Seemed so quiet and nice, and that’s when I saw it, Lola on the wrong side of the window!!! She had escaped. I went out and grabbed her and when I brought her in I started searching for TonyDanza. He had also escaped, which was the first time he really had been outside. He was nowhere to be found! Matt started walking the blocking and checking the roads while I kept close to the house. I will admit; I feel like I lost my mind. The tears didn’t come the first 20 minutes, but they did after that. I sat at the house searching for him just glad that I put my phone number on his collar. That’s when I heard it, a little tinkle of a bell, and when I saw that it wasn’t Lola. I walked into the yard to see his little tubby body and when I yelled at him, he came running, I don’t know who was more scared – him or me!
From there after I had an emotional recovery, Matt and I decided to do the open house thing. Bringing our house showings up to 36, we viewed 10 houses, many of which were above our price range in the $300,000. But what blew our mind, aside from the asking price was that these houses weren’t even finished with basements, the yards aren’t finished, and the specials are out of control. Who can buy these and AFFORD them? We didn’t see anything that we loved, just things that we could work with. Here’s hoping something comes through that’s great and brilliant.
Housecount: 36
Weeks looking: starting our 5th
Summary of feelings: dissatisfied
Best meal: Sunday breakfast was the best with the salmon and cream cheese bagels. Reminded me of our trip to California.
DMM(MOM): Lean in.
ALM: what?
DMM: Lean in, you are a drag.
ALM: WHAT?!!!
(riding the fourwheeler)
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