M is for...

M is for MOM PURSE! (yes, you have to say it in a deep "announcer" voice) My Mom Purse is post-worthy because, you guessed it, I am not a mother and have no biological reason to carry a Mom Purse around. But I do anyway. :)


What, you may ask, is a Mom Purse? Well, harken back to trips with the family where dear sweet mother carried around this GIANT bag and gave herself scoliosis, BUT whenever someone asked for a random object, she burrowed down into this mega-bag and pulled out whatever you needed. (I have a personal memory of a grandma always seeming to have drinking straws in her purse. Not in a crazy way, but in a "preparing for trips to the mall where I just want a straw for my soda" kind of way.) That is the phenomenon known as a Mom Purse. Kind of like the Mary Poppins tapestry bag where she pulls out a lamp and a ficus. :)

I was never one to have the Mom Purse, as I had a mom to carry one for me, until I was out and about in Tokyo on my own. Then, I actually bought a giant purse (which I referred to affectionately as "Mega Bag") so I could carry everything around with me. Tourist bags are apparently a lot like the Mom Purse. I had my huge camera at the time (SLR= giant), my maps and guide books, a water bottle and snacks, misc emergency cosmetic and hygiene items, sports bra and knee brace for karate trainings in the afternoon, and room for whatever souvenirs I might buy that day. Since then, I have become hooked on having all this mess with me whenever I needed it. Well, maybe not that specific mess from Tokyo, but a huge mess nonetheless. I promise I don't still carry around a sports bra and the Tokyo subway map!

And having a Mom Purse is really addictive! You ever get that moment when you break a nail and say, "GAH! if only I had a nail file right now this would be nowhere near as bothersome!" So you put the nail file in your bag. And Mr Nail File stays there because you tell yourself that it is small and doesn't weigh a lot. Then comes the day when you need a tissue... Tylenol... a brush... your camera... a lighter (even though you don't smoke and don't hang out with people who do)... a socket wrench set... the Arc of the Covenant... the list of stuff that gets thrown in Mom Purse is never-ending, and you quickly see why moms are so tired. It's not from chasing kids all day; it's from carrying around all the stuff that you need when you are chasing kids all day! Never mess with a mom, they have years of strength training that Ahnold would envy.

John never fails to laugh at me and my huge bag, but he also reaps the benefits as every few days he looks up and asks, "do you have ____?" And I burrow down in Mom Purse and say, "why yes, yes I do." (Did I just liken boyfriends to children? sorry) So here for my post is a run-down of what is currently toted around with me every day (I try to clean it out every now and then so as to prevent the aforementioned scoliosis):


Moving across the picture from left to right, top to bottom:
-cosmetic pouch with chapstick, foundation, cuticle snips, nail clippers, brush, lotion, lipgloss, cough drops, and oil-removing face wipes
-IbuProfin
-tissues
-notebook
-camera
-emergency phone battery
-wallet
-lint roller (because of the fluffy cat)
-feminine items for emergencies
-misc pens & sharpie
-lighter (shaped like a Japanese katana! too cute)
-multi-tool
-CPR facemask
-mints
-paint chips from the new bathrooms
-big wad o' keys
-sunglasses
(phone is not there because it lives in my pocket so I can feel it vibrate)

Carpet is being put in place as we speak! The downstairs is pretty much good to go as well. Yay, moving!

PAINT

The townhouse! We even get a porch!



The kitchen, once completed. Doesn't it look great??! I love our kitchen.



Our first housewarming gift from John's sister... because even she knows I am crazy about "food processors" and "standing mixers."


The living room has a fake electric fireplace (essentially, a heater with a light show) with a TV nook above it.


Why are they painting the ceiling brown, you ask? No, we were painting the "white" ceiling an actual white..... ewwwwww

Hello, Again!

Whew! It sure has been forever, hasn't it? Goodness, you'd think that I fell off the face of the earth or something, if it weren't for the occasional text-posts made from my phone.

Well, to update the world, on June 11, John and I finally closed on the house! Yay! Adventures in Adulthood #312: Buying a home and dealing with a mortgage. Well, we won't be dealing with a mortgage for a few more weeks, but that's besides the point. Since closing, we have been spending every waking minute not at work in the townhouse painting the walls (paint costs a lot when you are doing a whole house, but paintERS cost more!). The previous owners (POs) were none too gentle with their walls (or carpet, or hardwood floors for that matter) and there were just so many nicks and scuffs on the walls that paint was our first thing to tackle. As of this post, the ceilings and wall color are done, as well as about 90% of the moldings and doors, too. John's parents are being super great and helping us when they can and they have churned out the trim pretty quickly. Also at this point, we'd used about 30 gallons of paint (of the various colors).

Then, last week, Mom was down in FL helping grandparents downsize their house (now that they are in an apartment) and clean out some of the stuff they did not take with them. I met her for the weekend and ran away with loads of furniture like a bandit! Thank you, family! We got two fabric chairs, a loveseat, a rocking chair, two twin beds, a matching dresser and chest of drawers, and a few pieces of patio furniture. Whew! John and I went from no furniture (except for mega-couch) to a whole house full in one weekend. (Mom and I driving a 14 foot U-haul home in one day is another story entirely.)

Then, Adventures in Adulthood #182: buying appliances larger than a coffeepot. The townhouse came with everything except for a washer and dryer. That was made my job... Do you know how much the whole kit and kaboodle cost?! It's a racket, I tell you. (I am afraid what someone would have spent total if they bought one of the fancy thousand-dollar models.) Those were delivered yesterday and they look so fancy! I am excited.

Now that the paint is pretty much done, we can move onto the carpets. Upstairs is the only part carpeted, but we theorize that the POs had never heard of a vacuum cleaner ... and held bonfires inside regularly. I kid you not, people, there was a black ring around the carpets when we moved in. You could tell that they cleaned the carpets before they started showing the house, but the edges were still super gross. Due to the unknown level of gross-ness living in the carpets, John and I decided to just rip it up and put in new before we moved the furniture in. These are the same POs that put the air filters backwards in the vents... kinda defeats the filtering purposes of the filter, don't you think? It did explain why the place was so dirty.

So.... now we are at the "recovery from painting" and "waiting for carpets to be ordered" stage. We're going to start moving stuff into the lower floors and getting the new furniture re-upholstered before we use it. Exhausting!

Goodbye, Kitten

Polly Gizmo Babu Chiri left with Mom this morning. Just when she was consistently using the litter box .... and was learning how to play with John. (see below) She also enjoyed watching TV sometimes.

A Guide to the Kitten's Names:

Polly = becuase she likes to sit on a shoulder like a parrot

Gizmo = John's name for her because she looks like Gizmo and she can gremlin out; Mom refuses to call her this

Babu Chiri = the man to spend the most time at the summit of Everest (21 hours); she likes to sleep on your shoulder / chest