he said. she said. a married couple's blog.

Friday, March 28

I had some time this morning, so I pulled out the two dolls that my mother had saved from when I was a kid. One is an Annie doll that my aunt made and the other a doll that my grandmother made to look a little like me. She has blonde hair, and once had blue eyes (they've faded to look greenish-yellow). At one point, my cousins and I all had matching dolls. They all had Annie dolls and ones from our grandmother made to look like them. I wonder if they all still have theirs.

Annie got a change of clothing, just because her outfit never really stayed snapped. And the blonde doll got some mending in the armpits and a new outfit. Her original baby outfit has these old school bloomers that have a plastic lining. I guess so the cloth diaper wouldn't leak through.

I think Bridget thinks they are pretty neat. She's also got one of Brendan's old Cabbage Patch kids to round out her vintage doll collection.

Labels: bridget, nostalgia

Monday, March 24

generally annoyed

There's been a lot said about the amount of foreclosures in Prince William county (I think I've said a few things myself). Most recently, there was an article in the Post that touched on Woodbridge, Dale City and Manassas.

As the surge in foreclosures continues and banks repossess more and more houses, property values are declining -- but not everywhere, and not by equal measure, Thompson and other real estate agents said. No part of the region is untouched, but most foreclosures are clustered in certain neighborhoods and several troubled Zip codes. Rather than a sea of slumping housing, Northern Virginia has an island chain of hot spots.

The article does not offer any new insights. The comments, however, are another thing. My personal favorite was this gem:

bbcrock wrote:
How could someone in all honesty buy in an area 90 minutes outside the city and NOT expect it was a slum? Really. Who is going to want to drive in at 5am every morning? Desperate people with no options. I'm sorry, I just don't feel bad for the exurbs- they should still be farms.
3/22/2008 9:51:56 PM
Recommend (12)

I'd like to give that person a big old one-finger salute. What a complete ASS. I must have missed that memo. Because there are no slums INSIDE actual cities. And 12 people have recommended the comment. WTF?!

I actually do have a point here... The people on one side of us may or may not have been illegal. I don't know. It was none of my business. I do know they overpaid for their house and they just up and left one day (as I've mentioned before). When they were living next door, they kept up the property quite nicely. Then, foreclosure. The house is still empty. But maybe not for too long.

On the other side, the hillbillies were annoying as hell. Their house was bordering on looking like crap. I do not know the immigration status of the people who live there now. Nor do I really care. They keep the outside clean, are quiet (aka not running all over my lawn like little Bobby Hillbilly) and generally seem like decent people.

Of course now we have more people up the street who, dare I say it, are bordering on white trash. Dude is always working on his damn Monte Carlo or totally awesome bright blue Isuzu with awesome gold rims. His buddies are always stopping by in the middle of the road on the opposite side of the street to have some loud yelling conversation. Plus they run the cars up and down the road and around the block and have marked the shit out of the street. I don't expect the spring and summer to bring any improvements there. Oh, did I mention they live obscenely close to the playground? You'd better bet that I'll be all over the police complaint line when things do not improve.

So what's my point here? (Besides, you know, getting all of this out of me and feeling a little better after venting some.) My point is, not all white people are fantastic neighbors. And not all non-whities are evil.

Now, let's lighten things up a little.

Labels: house, neighbors, numberwang, the hood

Saturday, March 22

baby steps

I planted a small (4' x 4') garden on Friday afternoon. Right now I've got some lettuce, arugula, parsley, broccoli plants and radishes, carrots, peas and scallion seeds. In the summer I'll be adding tomatoes, a pepper, bush beans and basil. Rotating back to cool weather plants in the fall. We'll see how it goes. It's small in scale for sure. Brendan was worried I was going to become one of those "Tomato People" who bring in bagfuls to work in August because they got overzealous. I'm only planning on one cherry tomato plant and one regular plant. That should be close to perfect.

We always had a garden when I was a kid: tomatoes, corn, zucchini, cucumber and beans usually. I did not like having to pick up rocks before dad tilled, or weed in the summer (and since Brendan made me an awesome raised bed -- rocks were not a problem and hopefully weeds won't be much of an issue either). But I did love eating raw vegetables while standing in the garden. I am hoping some of that will rub off on Bridget, because right now she does not have a good relationship with vegetables at all.

Labels: bridget, garden, house, house outside

Thursday, March 20

no kidding!

I'm sitting here working, listening to tunes on my shuffle and with each song I think, "Hey, I really like this song!"

My response to myself, "Um, no kidding dummy. That's because you set it up that way!"

I need to get out more...

Labels: bored

Wednesday, March 12

big stuff

We got Bridget a bed this afternoon (from IKEA of course).

We thought we were being all slick and wouldn't have to get a new mattress with a toddler bed. No such luck. Her crib mattress is about 10 inches too short. Doesn't that defeat the purpose of a toddler bed? So it's back to IKEA for Brendan for a new mattress and some sheets.

And we also planned to keep the crib together and just move it to the guest room. That plan was also foiled. The crib wouldn't fit through the doorway. So now it's in pieces. I hope this transition goes OK.

Did I mention Brendan's going out of town tomorrow evening?

Labels: bridget, problems, sleep

Friday, March 7

exhausted

This pretty much sums up how we all felt last night and today.

And tomorrow we head back up to Baltimore!

Labels: bridget, family, trips, vacation

Wednesday, March 5

aw man!

On our last night in town, we're going to see DC United play across the street at the Texas Pro Soccer Festival; however, it does not look like we will be seeing any of the starters play. Maybe they'll all be on the bench and we can get autographs at least.

Labels: DCU, trips, vacation

Tuesday, March 4

hipsters

Went to the SoCo neighborhood in Austin today. We are so not hip enough to live there.

Gallery is updated with photos.

Labels: family, trips, vacation

Lazy Day

Monday was a lazy day with the kids going to school and Pat and Steph working. We just hung around the house, but still had some fun:

And got some work done:

Labels: bridget, family, trips, vacation

Monday, March 3

Sunday Activities

Yesterday we went to Mission San José.

and did some kite flying.

Pictures are being updated daily (so far) in the latest San Antonio album.

Bridget also has a new album, but it is currently only populated with pictures of her from this trip.

Labels: bridget, family, trips, vacation

Saturday, March 1

Nice Weather Here

In San Antonio for a week visiting Pat and Steph and the kids. The weather today was excellent, and I'm even considering changing into shorts at some point. Maybe tomorrow.

Pictures from Hannah's soccer game this morning are in the gallery. We'll try to update as the week goes on.

Labels: family, trips, vacation