Brandi's Place

I go home every single day to let the dog out. And give her that love and attention that she so needs. I usually don't like walking her in my heels so I keep a pair of flip flops by the door. I kicked off my crazy cute new shoes and put on my $2 flops and headed out. I was on the phone w/ a girlfriend chattin' it up and I left to return to the office. I got here and looked down and and realized I never switched back. So I'm in the office with $2 Old Navy flops while my crazy cute new shoes sit at home. Sighhhhh

I love the flops. And ya'll know I'd much rather be wearing these. But... BUT... I have crazy cute new shoes at home and I wanted to wear those. Plus, this place kind of frowns upon flip flops. I mean, if they'll let me, I'll gladly go home to switch.

Posted by BrandiK at 6/27/2007 12:49:00 PM | Permalink | Comments

This morning was my first real commute to work. From the old house it was a one-way street, five minute drive to the agency. From the old house, it was a three minute drive to this job. Easy peezy! Now I've moved us clear to the north side of Wichita and it takes me... ten minutes! I had to drive on the highway, crammed in with all the other little office stooges. It's always nice to see how the other half lives.

Posted by BrandiK at 6/19/2007 08:27:00 AM | Permalink | Comments

Word to the wise- if you currently live in a three story house with a garage, do not attempt to move into a one floor apartment. I feel like I'm trying to squeeze back into my wedding dress after a trip down an all-you-can-eat BBQ buffet. After purging a significant portion of our belongings in last weekend's garage sale we still have so much stuff.

We made the big move on Saturday morning, starting fresh at 6am. Four people, two trucks, two trailers and four hours later we were done. Hotter than hell outside and we had to move this stuff up three flights of stairs. My shins, ankles, calves and toes are throbbing two days later. This means that I'm both out of shape and that I'll live in a dumpster before I move to the third floor again. But, the vaulted ceilings are nice!

You know, I loved my house. Shelton and I made the final walk through last night to make sure we hadn't left beind anything and as we reached the front door I started to choke. He asked if I would buy the house again and I said no. Then he told me that meant it was time to leave and we did. Our closing was today at four and we finally met the buyers. Nicest couple, she's having a baby in three weeks. At least someone will be able to bring a baby home to that house! I asked her where they were putting the nursery and she said in the room we used as a den. That's not where I'd have put her, but it will certainly make a fitting place. I cried when I handed her the keys.

Never the less, we're in to the new abode and making it work. Neighbors all seem fine, except for Captain Douchebag on the first floor. This guy is a piece of work. Other than that- everyone seems cool and we're pretty much exhausted. We'll have our first house guests in two weeks, when Shelton's family comes to visit.

By the way, did I mention that we have CARPET?! In all of the rooms?! On the floor!? Because we do! And it's even better than I remembered. And we have a dishwasher! And TWO bathrooms. Two bathrooms where one is bigger than the one we had before. It's pretty neat.

Posted by BrandiK at 6/18/2007 08:55:00 PM | Permalink | Comments

(Last night, 7:00pm, Central & Woodlawn)

Me: Oh my God! Oh my God!

Him: What?

Me: We are out of gas!!!!

Him: WHAT?

Me: WE-ARE-OUT-OF-GAS!!!!

(the car has died, we are quickly coasting to a stop)

Me: WHAT DO I DO?!?!

Him: Pull into the middle lane!

Me: There IS NO middle lane! That is on-coming traffic b/c of contruction!!!

Me: OH MY GOD!

Him: Pull into a driveway, quick!

Me: (taking my sweet time to choose a driveway good enough for our car to die in)

Me: (making the turn...)

Him: DO NOT HIT THE BRAKE

Me: Too late, now what?

(Dead Car........)

Yes, I ran out of gas last night. First time ever. I didn't even know it was possible to actually run out of gas. We called AAA to bring gas and while Shel was on the phone I went to the door to tell the people why we were loitering in their driveway.

This older woman, probably in her late sixties, answered the door. I apologized profusely and told her what we were doing. She invited me in, I said no thank you. A few minutes later she came out and offered us a gas can and a ride to the gas station. This was nice b/c AAA was going to take an hour! Shelton agreed to go along with her and she insisted he just take the car by himself. He of course told her he didn't feel comfortable. She continued to insist and explained that she had already had a few beers! She leaned over and whispered to me, "I like to have a few beers while I watch the news." By 7:00pm, there have already been like 3 or 4 news casts! So she's schnockered.

So, off Shelton went in search of gas, leaving me and our little dog behind as collateral. We talked about her recent retiring and how we are in the middle of moving. Shelton returned and off we went with our five dollars worth of gas.

We spent the entire night laughing that we could not believe I had actually driven the car out gas. It died, folks. The car was dead in the middle of a busy street under construction that had been narrowed to only two lanes. We were in the middle of screwed-town! But we handled it with the same grace and composure we handle the daily tragedy we encounter.

Tonight we're dropping by our new friend's house with beer and a gift card for gas. We figure it's the least we could do for someone who was so unbelievably generous and helpful. You just don't find people like that these days and we were so fortunate to have landed in her driveway.

Posted by BrandiK at 6/15/2007 10:20:00 AM | Permalink | Comments

Of course we will. Because we're schmucks. And we just want this crap gone!

We had our garage sale this weekend. The big moving sale. I've thrown a few sales in my day and this was by far the most successful. We got rid of so much stuff- everything from scrapbook stickers to the washer and dryer. It always amazes me what people will buy at a garage sale. Or the stuff they won't- like our microwave for twenty bucks! Not a thing wrong w/ it- not even a scratch or left over spaghetti sauce glued to the inside. I figured with new college season upon us people would scoop that right up. Someone at the thrift store will have better use of it.

The guy who bought our washer and dryer was pretty impressive. He showed up with a suburban, that had five children and a dresser already in the back. I just shook my head thinking there was not a chance in hades they were leaving with all that they bought, including our work bench. He tied the dresser to roof, got the appliances in and wedged the work bench (now in 5 pieces) in the back. Tied the doors shut and off they went.

I also managed to get a pretty nasty sunburn. That's what happens when albino people wear tank tops without sunblock and sit in the sun for six hours. The word of the day is M-E-L-A-N-O-M-A.

Anyway, now that that big blister is gone I can start getting everything organized to move. I made a lot of progress this weekend. It will be boxes and moving fun all week long with the grand finale next weekend.

Posted by BrandiK at 6/11/2007 08:41:00 AM | Permalink | Comments

Well, folks. The house is SOLD! Definitely didn't go to the highest bidder, but a bidder no less. As per usual, we're running around like crazy people trying to get organized. The next few weeks shape up like so:

Tonight- Shelton starts summer school. Mon-Thurs, 7-10pm, through July.

Saturday- Garage Sale!

June 16- Pack the Pod. The Koskies will be making the trek North to lend their helping hands, yay!

June 18- Closing

July 5- Move into the apartment

Oh, did you catch that too? The three week discrepancy between moving out and moving in? We were fortunate to get the apartment we really wanted. However, said apartment is not available until July 5. We were able to convince my aunt and uncle to let us crash for those three weeks. This makes the packing and moving process, which is already mind-boggling in and of itself, quite a bit more difficult.

I'm separating into the garage sale pile, Pod pile, Aunt/Uncle pile, store at the Koskies pile, trash and what stays. I've had a number of generous offers to come help, and I'll certainly let you know if I need it. But ya'll know how uptight and OCD I can be on any given Tuesday. This? This is what will drive me to the crazy house. So, I'm going to pack every last bit of it by myself- for the sake of my marriage, friendships and other relationships. It's better this way, really. I won't have to tape your hands together w/ packing tape because you didn't put the right things in a box or because you failed to place a number on the outside of the box and mark on the clipboard the contents of that box.

The new address will be in your inboxes in coming weeks. This is the starting point of a very interesting summer for us. More details on that soon I'm sure.

Posted by BrandiK at 6/04/2007 12:34:00 PM | Permalink | Comments

Sunday afternoon, on the Koskie sofa:

Me: (lean in for a kiss) "You smell like coffee and sweat. Kind of like a Columbian Whorehouse."

Him: "Wow- only you would come up with something like that."

Me: "Oh, is that bad?"

Him: "No, just why I love you."

Posted by BrandiK at 6/04/2007 12:31:00 PM | Permalink | Comments