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Perhaps you've wanted to see these?

I won't be home today

It's my birthday and I'm going to the spa! Talk to ya later.

A little art'll do ya

A little art'll do ya, originally uploaded by Monkey loves Kitten.

Some of the rooms are getting much better! Some are not! I have to get it together because we are having guests this weekend! Hee hee!

If you look closely at this pic, you'll notice no wires coming from the speaker. What's that? You think it does not produce sound? Why, no, foolish one, what you meant to say was, wow, Brandon surely did a fantastic job increasing the resale value of the house because it is obviously WIRED FOR SURROUND SOUND. We're very excited. It only took an hour and a half in the attic, enjoying the heck out of the fiberglass insulation sticking to his ever-sweating self. We got to fish lines, drill holes, run wire, you get the drift. It was a fun project. Well, I was inside in the AC, so it was fairly fun for me!

Please click the pic for more!

Flounder sammich

Flounder sammich, originally uploaded by Monkey loves Kitten.

So many posts feature a person eating, hmmm.

This is from our lunch break from wine tasting at the "First Annual" Oriental Wine Festival. Oriental is a beach town about 45 minutes north of us. We mostly stuck with whites because, of course, it was freakin' hot. I don't think the reds were getting much action. I was very happy to see some people were sweating much more than I was. I felt a little less freakish. I was still pegged as a westerner though, as I wore my KCRW hat. Doh.

Did I say Sunday?

I meant Monday. Of course. We have made great progress this weekend, but were set back in homework by a wine festival we enjoyed in the nearby town of Oriental. I will post on both tomorrow!

Thanks for tuning in.

It's Friday, the day I read from your letters

From the corner, originally uploaded by Monkey loves Kitten.

Okay, not really, but I wanted to sound like NPR.

I have had requests for outside-of-the-house pictures, and I am prepared to oblige.

We live in the right-hand side of a duplex. It's condo-like in that we don't own the sides or top. Also in that we have to pay HOA fees. But, we don't have to mow, and that's good for me. (Click pic for more.)

I am not posting indoor progress today because we're about to put the art on the walls and I want to wait until that's done. As soon as it is, I will get the photos up. Sunday's looking good for that.

Hittin' the road

I've taken a couple of afternoons to drive around and explore. Last Friday I drove North and then East on 55. I went through the towns of Arapahoe, Minnesott Bean, Oriental, Stonewall, Bayboro, and Alliance. I think the combined population was under 1000. Most of the people lived in this one, giant house.

Often these towns have signs beckoning you to visit, welcoming you in, and then you find yourself debating doubling back as you think you surely must've missed it. There has to be more. They wouldn't put up all those signs unless there was something to see, right?

I did see this field of masts. They seem to grow well with tobacco.


On my way home, I was accompanied by this storm. It was nice enough to stay just off to my right. I tried to get a shot of the lightening, but it's a wee bit faster than my camera.


Yesterday, I drove East through Havelock, Newport (one of those towns with the signs and the nothing), Morehead City and Beaufort. Here, that is pronounced Bofert. The town in South Carolina is Bewfert. Don't mix that up. People will stare.

On my way back, I saw this guy. He's got a cancer awareness ribbon magnet on the side of his car. And, yes, he's smoking. I guess the awareness is limited. Of course, this is North Carolina. If you would like, you could get a tobacco leaf on your license plate.

Improvement? (In the sense of home, yes.)

My daily trips to Lowe's have become daily trips to Target, which is across the street from Lowe's. My car just drives itself.

Lost your creative edge lately?

Perhaps your muse is dead.

Found it!

Okay, here are the final numbers from our trip. This includes five days of travel. They were: Ventura to Las Cruces, Las Cruces to Dallas, Dallas to New Orleans, New Orleans to Jacksonville, and Jacksonville to New Bern.

Total hours driving: 50:28
Total miles driven: 3281.7
Average miles per gallon (Audi): 27.5
Average miles per hour: 64

Whew.

Cake cutting or cry for help?

Mary Anne Brooks sent this along tonight and I just had to share. Sure to be an all-time fave shot!

The new furniture. Fancy.

The new furniture. Fancy., originally uploaded by Monkey loves Kitten.

Well, it's been a week since our household goods (and bads) were delivered. Click on the pic and see our progress.

How to get the container ready for recycling

How to get the container ready for recycling, originally uploaded by Monkey loves Kitten.

If your curbside recycling program is particular about the cleanliness of containers, hire this dog. He will be glad to help and guarantees satisfaction. It's not just a job to him, it's a passion.

Weather

I was just at Lowe's (yes, again) to pick up our bamboo flooring. On the way back home, I experienced a first, the Emergency Broadcast System brok into Fresh Air and it was not a test! It was, in fact, a TORNADO WARNING for the next county over. Hee hee, what fun!

The boxes!

Front bedroom, see, there IS a bed in there., originally uploaded by Monkey loves Kitten.

Please click on photo to see a few jam-packed rooms of stuff. And think of me as I unpack it all. And try to find a home for it. And stack paper and cardboard in the garage. And stuff loads in my car to take to the transfer station. Okay? Just think of me, that's all.

View from entry.

View from entry., originally uploaded by Monkey loves Kitten.

Here's a mini tour of the house to show off paint colors and give you an idea of the layout.

Tree after rain

Tree after rain, originally uploaded by Monkey loves Kitten.

We had a heck of a rain yesterday, but it didn't last long. Perhaps a little Dennis spit.

I'm still wading through boxes. I've run out of room in the kitchens. No cracks about how many plates I have, please. Oh, and speaking of cracks, the packers in California were, let's see, really no good at their job. We've got a nice box of broken items going. They did interesting things like wrap every pair of flip flops in paper, and then put a framed picture, glass side up, in the top of a heavy box, ensuring something would be placed on top of that box and break the glass. Isn't that what you would do, too?

Currently

Knee deep in packing materials. Our 1000 lbs. of household goods were delivered Friday. It took less than two hours to get all the boxes and furniture unloaded. That compares to the eight hours of packing and six hours of loading it took to get this stuff on the road back in Cali. Of course, we're left to do all the unpacking and already have several hours invested and not much to show for it.

We took a break yesterday for a visit to Waffle House and a drive down to Jacksonville, where Camp Lejeune is. On our way back, we stopped at a few furniture stores and bought a new sofa. We donated the evil, giant sectional with its dual recliners and van conversion styling before we left California. The new piece is being delivered Tuesday. Yay! Seating!

I'll post pictures of all the craziness later.

Enjoy your Sunday.

It's Judy's Birthday!

It's Judy's Birthday!, originally uploaded by Monkey loves Kitten.

We love you!

Brandon, Rebecca, and, of course, Quentin

Sorry, Nora

Yawn!, originally uploaded by Monkey loves Kitten.

Well, Aunt Nora asked I tell Quentin to, "stop being so dern cute." Well, I tried, but as you can see, he just won't. This is what I woke up to the other morning. Since we're camping out on the same level, I opened my eyes to this vantage. C'mon, who can't love him?

Happy Fourth of Joo-lie!

Fourth of Joo-lie parade, originally uploaded by Monkey loves Kitten.

Well, that's how we say it over here.

Around 2 o'clock this afternoon, we heard a siren. Our first thought was a child from the trail park up the street had done what we joked about yesterday, and blown a toe off with a firecracker. What it turned out to be was a parade. This parade consisted of a Miata, a fire truck, some kids on trikes, and about a dozen golf carts. We were in the middle of painting and were more than grungy, and if you go outside here, people want to talk to you, so I hung back and this is the best shot I could get without waving and saying, "Hi!"

It's just now dark here, still time for the toe incident.

Almost as good as Casa de Soria

Almost as good as Casa de Soria, originally uploaded by Monkey loves Kitten.

Well, on Thursday we finally made the last leg of our journey and arrived at our house just before 8pm. Unfortunately, the power and water were shut off, so we spent one final night in a motel. We ate at a "Mexican" restaurant. The quotes are on purpose on that one.

Friday morning, we got started getting utilities on, driving around base and the area, and making our first of three trips to Lowe's. Yes, it is now Sunday and we have spent more time at Lowe's than at home. We are painting the entire interior of the joint, replacing all the lighting fixtures and switch plates, adding a couple of dimmer switches, getting bamboo flooring for entry and guest bath, and generally going crazy. We plan to later redo the kitchen floor with cork, but that can wait. We really were eager to paint since our shipment of household goods won't be delivered until Friday. We planned to replace the carpet, but it looked fine when we got here, so that got shelved.

We're camping out in the living room on an air bed and watching DVDs on the computer. All the comforts of home!

I don't have the final numbers for our trip handy (meaning I don't know where I wrote them down), so I'll add that in when I find them!

Oh yeah, the camera

So, I said we got a new camera, and we did. The pictures I posted yesterday are all from it. It is a Sony Cyber-shot DSC-T33. It has 5.1 megapixels, 3x optical zoom, and is the size of my little wallet, if you've seen that. We each have a digital camera, but found we never took them with us because they are bulky. Therefore, we missed all kinds of good stuff, like Brandon playing the washboard. So, we got this little thing which easily fits in a pocket without destroying your silhouette! Also, it is very easy to use, has lots of fancy features, and recovers between shots super fast, a huge improvement over my 5-year old HP.

See it here.

Rabbit Rabbit

Happy half-birthday to Chris!

Florida Hibiscus

Florida Hibiscus, originally uploaded by Monkey loves Kitten.

We spent Saturday night through Thursday morning in Florida. Two of those nights, Monday and Tuesday, were spent at Chris and Rob's beachfront condo in Palm Coast. Palm Coast is on the Atlantic, an hour south of Jacksonville. We had a lovely time; enjoyed beach walks and poolside Scrabble games. Thanks to our friends, Guy and Destiny, for the travel version. It came in handy when we began to play by the side of the pool and the rains came and we had to quickly head for cover. Probably not the original intention of the snap-in tiles, but none the less appreciated. Brandon won both days, jerk.

Quentin got to do some first-time beach walking, Atlantic Ocean style. He's truly not a water dog, but did try drinking the stuff more than once. Hmmm, also perhaps not the quickest of creatures. This poor guy has slept in more places lately than a, well, relocating dog, I suppose. (Gotta keep this thing kid-friendly.) He's really doing well, all things considered. Has not yet attacked us in our sleep.

Wednesday, we drove back to Jacksonville in the afternoon and had dinner with Jason, Tami, and Aiden. Jason was Brandon's co-bestman, y'all remember. After dinner, we tried for a good night's sleep, and hit the road for our final destination.

More on that later!

Out of touch

Well, although you're only updated through last Saturday, it is in fact Friday, July 1, and we are in North Carolina. We don't have internet access at home yet, so I'm typing this from Schlotzsky's Deli. Nice people here, and they even have Macs!

Hopefully we'll be up and running soon (or a neighbor will have a non-password protected network) and I'll be able to get y'all up to speed on our journey!