Third try at a snack is gonna be a party pack at Taco Bell

was what I just said to Mr. P after my first two attempts at healthy, appropriate snacks went viciously wrong.

First, I tried to heat up the remainder of some organic minestrone. Well, it wasn't liquid and it smelled weird. FAIL.

Second, I tried to toast a low-fat organic whole grain waffle and it burnt 7 shades of black. FAIL FAIL.

FUDGE PACKETS.

Sunday night I realized that all that effort at healthy, healthy, healthy was starting to revert back to unhealthy, bloated, crappy. I gained 13 of the hard lost pounds back. I basically quit jogging on a regular basis. All I was doing was working, a lot, then having pizza and beer for dinner, a lot. Lost my balance. SO, I registed for the 10K with the Christmas Lights that we did last year (with that dreaded Jolley Trolley), found a 4 week 10K training plan, and rejoined WeightWatchers.

So, today, on DAY TWO, after staying in points, but jogging 60 minutes (ONLY 6.16 k's, jeeeez) my dinner salad didn't cut it and I needed another snack before I dove face first into a bathtub full of candy corn---and seriously I was TRYING to do the right thing only to get smacked down. TWICE.

However, third time was a charm and I managed not to burn the waffle and topped it with some natural peanut butter and simply fruit. Now I am going to bed before I rip off Mr. P's face because he has 3 candy bars, 2 zingers and a box of rasberry cookies in his nightstand.

Breaking and Entering

So today is the day we go look at a house. But, I was so anxious about it, I went and jog stalked the house this morning. I wanted to jog past and look and think..."could I live there"...then continue jogging and decide..."could this be MY street" etc.

But I didn't just jog past. Really, that is all I meant to do...then the NEXT thing I know I am jiggling doors until I got one to open. I knew the house was empty from the pictures online, so I wasn't worried about a shotgun in the face. So I went through the whole house in my sweaty joggy clothes.

OOOOOOOOOOH...you know, I texted Mr. P that I was going to jog stalk the house and he replied, "Don't get caught" and I thought...well, who would know what I was doing, I jog by there all the time. He must have figured I would try to break in.

ANYWAY, it needs wooooork. Lots of work. I think Alice made the Brady's Thanksgiving dinner in the oven...there was a label that said, "Contstant Caloric Heat"...wtf? I am not sure how I feel about the yard...it looks like a laissez-faire approach to lawn maintenance has been taken in the past, which I don't hate, but no real place for me to garden. I like to garden. Enough room, but GIANT trees that shade it all up.

Pink tiled bathroom. A yellow tiled bathroom. Small rooms. But it has my favorite element about our big house that we moved out of...layered living rooms, both with fireplaces. We can set one up pretty, and let Mr. P man cave one up big time. One for football games, one for afternoon relaxing. The kitchen would need to be completely redone. There is a tiny room I would call the library with built ins, and swinging doors that lead into I am not sure what (I couldn't find the light switch, and I had been in the house for 10 minutes by now) and a garage.

ACK. 28 minutes until show time, then Mr. P and I have some shopping to do and will hash it all out, and I am waiting for my HomeBuying for Dummies to show up from Amazon. I am not sure this house will get scooped up that quickly, but if it does, it does. If it isn't...well, then maybe I am about to go into real estate.

Am I brave enough..

...to buy a house? That is the question that is making my stomach churn churn churn today.

I am 41 and have never owned my home, and I have always had a valid reason excuse why I haven't done it. Now that the kids are out of the house and I have tenure, those excuses are really dwindling away, and yet I still haven't done it and to be completely honest, I am pretty sure I don't want the responsibility.

At first, buying a home wasn't an option for us. We either didn't make enough money or our credit was too atrocious to even consider it. Well, those things are changing. We make a good living, and with that I have managed to rebuild our credit to a decent level.

But for the first time in my life, I feel like I only have to be responsible to myself and Mr. P, and I am not convinced I am ready to give up three times a year vacations for a new roof or wiring. I don't know if I want to spend weekends doing home repair and yardwork, when I can just call the rental people. I know, I know...it is a tax deduction...BUT, my argument there is that the mortgage I am willing to take on with the rate I am thinking I will get, will not put us into the Itemized Deduction category anyway...so no tax break...we could be building equity, not just paying rent, true. But if anything catastrophic breaks, I am not responsible...I call the people...not sure I want to be the people.

But all that aside, we have an appointment to go look at a house tomorrow at 1pm. It is a great location on a street we love. It is a bizarre, cute, older house---big kitchen, fireplace, deck. Big yard. But the price is WAY too right--about $20 a square foot less than the norm around here...

I know what we spent to get a RENTAL to my standards...what the hell will I want to spend to get a home I OWN to standards when I don't have the fall back of..."it's just a rental"... ugh.

Why did you buy?

Let's have a patio garden party!

The weekend weather was perfect to do outdoor work, so that is just what we did!

In July, I asked Mr. P for a raised bed garden plot as my birthday gift. My family pitched in, and yesterday it was realized. I love it so much that I get up from what I am doing and just go marvel at how it is exactly what I hoped it would be. The bed is fully planted with fall crops, and while it may not yield much, I get such a kick out of how a tiny flower with bees and butterflies fluttering about will all OF A SUDDEN be a tiny baby pepper or cucumber or eggplant.

My summer crops were a bit weird. Peppers? OH YES. Cucumbers? ehh...a few weird ones. Strawberries? 4. BUT OH MY berries, the absolute sweetest tastiest berries ever. And the strawberry plants that I thought were dead are coming back. Squash? Nada. NOT ONE. Ichiban eggplant? Scarce until the weather broke, and now that the temps are below 90 I have already eaten 4, harvested a grocery store size one today, and have 4 or 5 more growing. Apparently the eggplant do not love the Alabama heat like the peppers do. Melons? EPIC FAIL. Tomatoes? Grape, yes, and again, once the weather broke I now have maybe 45 blossoms, but not one regular size tomato all summer long.

Oh, I got sidetracked talking about the summer garden, when my point was to show you my fall garden party area. (I likely will not have a garden party, but I love sitting outside reading magazines in the sunny breezy gorgeous weather we have been having...and I call that my garden party.)

BEFORE: (now before you get oh so judgy about the hideousness of my yard, remember this is a rental!)

Way down at the bottom of the hill is Mr. P whacking weeds!

and NOW: TA DA!!

And the piece de resistace:

A different vantage point:

My summer garden...the frame thing is what Mr. P built so I could have all my plants at the apartment, and I still like it so I still have it.

It is kinda weird that we have all this set up in the front yard, but my back yard is all tree roots and shade. The "deck" and chairs were out back, but Friday night Mr. P and I sat out there with a beer, but Joe (the dog) kept wanting to be out front. We admitted we like out front better too...so we just said, "WhatEV" and put the garden party in the front yard because that is how we roll up in here.

I really love it, but now looking at the pictures---I am wondering if it is more really weird than kinda weird....