Drowning in Reading Material

(Another pic from springtime in Borrego Springs) Whoever says that newspapers and magazines are going to die out is just plain wrong. That is, if our house is any indication. This year, I was enticed to subscribe to three additional magazines (all three for a grand sum of about $10 -- Oprah, Smart Money, and Good Housekeeping). On top of that, Sweetie renewed my coveted Practical Photography (a British mag). And, we get the New York Times 5 days a week, plus the local "rag" 7 days a week. And then there's the weekly student newspapers at the college where we work.

If you ever need kindling for a fire, just pay us a visit.

Anyway, this is largely just my way of making excuses for neglecting the blog.

The House
We continue to plow forward with home improvements. The painting continues. Today, a gutter company came by to give us an estimate to add a downspout that was clearly forgotten about when the house was built (there are 3 turns in the gutter before the next downspout AND we found a length of downspout disposed of under the wooden stairs on the side of our house...). We've had a landscaper by, since I was proven wrong about the "ornamental grass" in the backyard. There ain't nothin' ornamental about it. It's pure weed. And once the sun came out, the whole backyard became a jurassic weed park.

But I'm really looking forward to moving out of this rental and getting settled into a house with two sinks in the master bathroom. The house could not have a kitchen, a living room, nor any bedrooms, but as long as there are two sinks in the master bathroom, I will be happy.

The Sun, the Sand, the Jumping Chollas

The Blog has really been taking the backseat lately, and I do apologize for that. On our recent visit to California to visit my mom, there were a few references to my lack of updates.

Things have been busy. Sweetie and I resigned ourselves to living in this town, after my job search in more "civilized" areas (ie: cities where we aren't among a minority of people who don't drive a pickup truck -- though nothing against pickup trucks) turned up dry.

So, we bought a house.

And now we must tend to yard of said house. And hire painter for interior of said house (we have -- and he's busy at work -- using no-VOC paint so the place does not smell whatsoever). And choose colors for rooms of the house. And trim the liriope in the front yard (after figuring out that it's liriope and not some other random ornamental grass). And raking approximately three years of leaves from the back yard (ornamental grass in the back remains unidentified). And hire someone to clean and stain the deck. And exterminate the wasps.

But, it's all good. We're looking forward to settling into our new digs. I need to get some custom tea ceremony cabinets made this summer, so there will be numerous boxes left in the garage, but otherwise, we hope it's a smooth move. Certainly better than an international move!!