Un-greening

Later this week we are closing and over the weekend will be moving into our new house. We are really looking forward to it and are mostly packed up and ready to go. We've even completed all the fix it items in our current house (new hardwood in the entry, painted blemishes, etc) to put it on the market as soon as we are out.

But I just found out one crappy, crappy fact about our new house. We don't have ANY recycling program at all. L-A-M-E! We are only moving a block away, less than a mile literally from door-to-door, yet we go from our (what is normal in most of the country) curbside recycling to zero. How stupid is that? And keep in mind, we aren't changing city limits or anything like that, the new neighborhood just doesn't get recycling pickup.

So once again, we are going to have to cart all of our recycling to the Ellington Field recycling drop off because Houston has, once again, proven how behind the times they really are.

Dinner Options

Lately, I've been getting home from work and, after a bit, heading into the kitchen to make dinner. When I wander into the kitchen the routine has been going something like this: open fridge and stare blankly at some leftovers, open freezer stare blankly at the frozen items and think about how I should have defrosted something yesterday, and finally open the pantry and staring blankly again at canisters flour or pasta. Then I make something easy (tonight: grilled cheese) because I am, if you haven't guessed it, drawing a blank.

I need to go grocery shopping soon, so who's been making what for dinner lately? Got any good suggestions for easy but good dinners? This isn't the time to throw out cheese souffle or Bayless' 27 ingredient mole recipe, I'm too preggo for those, but it's time to rotate in some new dishes to our dinner possibilities. What are your best mid-week meals?

Air Inflation

Helga (the Audi wagon) has been beeping at me for several days about needing air in the tires. Don't know why but this is the second time I've had to fill the wagon wheels up. Today I stopped for gas and pulled out the pressure gauge and, sure enough, all 4 tires were running lower than recommended. Must fill them up so I can do my part to save the environment right? I pulled up to the air pump and grabbed a couple quarters only to find I needed THREE of them. Really 75 cents for a couple minutes on a compressor? I remember when it was free, which really wasn't THAT long ago, at least since Michael Jackson was actually popular for his music and not as a circus side show.

Resturant Week #1

August 10-23 is Houston Resturant Week (which is sort of two weeks, but shhh don't tell) and last night Alicia and I headed to my favorite local resturant Bailey's for dinner. For anyone that hasn't heard of a resturant week in a city, many fine dining establishments, and even some not so fine, put out 3-course chef's special tasting menus for a fixed price of $35. Part of the proceeds (a minimum of $5 a plate) then go to the Houston Food Bank.

At Bailey's last night, I was suitable impressed. I've been several times and really like the chef's food there and they pretty much had their best dishes on the Week special menu to pick from. I had my favorite appetizer there, the fried green tomatoes with goat chess and lump crab, a GIGANTIC portion of prime rib with yukon gold gratin, and for dessert the raspberry white chocolate creme brulee. It was totally yummy and made this preggo woman very happy. We were even chatting with the waiter and he said they don't skimp on their portions just because it's the charity tasting menu, which I heartily agreed. I still have half the steak and potatos in the fridge for lunch today.

So for any other foodies in Houston, here's your chance to get out and have a great meal for a good cause. More than 75 local resturants are participating and there are some great places to pick from, locations and menus on the link above.

Abode Agreement

Just a quick post. As of yesterday, we finalized the contract for the house so that makes it pretty much official that we are moving labor day weekend. The inspection turned up a few pretty much usual suspects in any house and a couple that left us a little annoyed that they weren't included in the Seller's Disclosure. In particular, the fact the both the oven and the vent over the stove just plain don't work. So we had an estimate completed on all of the repair work and have a credit from the seller which for the most part will cover the bulk of the cost which was what was completed yesterday to arrive at the agreement.

Note to all: I am officially tired of realtors around here and the lack of customer service. If anyone ever gets one that they REALLY, REALLY like please let us know. Considering our realtor didn't even find the house and has only had to draw up contracts for us, I would have appreciated a little more effort on our behalf. Our major complaints have been the slow response in negotiations from all parties and our realtors comments and pressure to just settle on the house repair agreement without waiting for the repair estimate. One of their major comments was that the seller's agent was still fielding phone calls with offers for the house. You know what? Big whoop-dee-doo if she is, we have a contract and are in process so you can't force our hand just because there is other (too late) interest. In general, John and I both agree that if we conducted work and negotiations like this in our jobs we'd be in big trouble or fired. And that's extra sad because I'm a government contractor...

Baby Day

Today was my off-Friday, which really just means it's the free time to schedule baby checkups. This morning's regular exam included the gestational diabetes check. Fortunately, at the birthing center they handle it a lot better and I don't have to drink the nasty sugar concoction that everyone complains about. I had to eat a specific protein rich, sugar limited breakfast which included eggs, toast, and water with prohibitions on fruit and juice. Not a big deal. Then I headed to the office with my choice of 12oz grape juice or 16oz coke (for the record in that pairing I pick coke any day) and drink up. An hour later they drew my blood and that's it. While there, I was told to schedule another ultrasound, so I actually went ahead and did that this afternoon and got John to meet me there from work. All is well in baby-land. Baby is running on the small side (30th percentile) but still totally acceptable and in-range and, frankly, a smaller baby will be A-OK with me come October. Here is an updated portrait of mini-Merancy.

Relocation Redux

So any regular blog reader here knows that we almost bought a house 6 months ago before finding some really fantastically bad construction inside and walking away. Well, now its round 2. After the initial fiasco, we said forget it we'll stay where we are and just continue to save for awhile... only that doesn't work when we then keep poking around on HAR just to see what becomes available.

Turns out the same floor plan that we liked 6 months ago in Autumn Creek, was also built in Northfork which is only a block from where we currently live. The house was available for $36k less and arguably has some better features inside and doesn't back a busy road. We like the area we currently live in and the ability to stay on the north side of Clear Lake was a big plus. So we went to the open house, which led to a 2nd walk through with our agent, which led to an offer, which was accepted and here we are again.

So we are in the midst of squaring away financing, inspections, and all that jazz to hopefully complete the deal this time with a planned closing on Sept 3rd (house is already empty). And suddenly we now have several things to do in what was supposed to be a quiet month. Status to come...

Plenty O' Pilots

Last week I was in Boulder for work for the week and got to have dinner with The Sanders and Marotta. Good to see them all once more and we had a great time at dinner. I was glad for one last trip up for work, because I'm pretty sure I'm quickly approaching the commercial flight limits while preggo. We have officially entered the third trimester and, aside from some trouble sleeping, all is still well.

But while I may not be able to go fly commercial for awhile due to the time en route whilst trapped in a tin can and the pressurization, I can still go up in private aircraft flown by moi. For reference commercial aircraft have equivalent pressure altitudes to 8000 ft which is why you feel so tired and dehydrated after flying, but is also not good for an already the already stressed respiratory system on late term preggo people. Today though, Jen M and I took off on Clown Flight part deux for a round robin to Angleton for lunch and back, which maxed out at an altitude of 2000ft. We also had to get a picture to document since we don't think we'll be able to do this again before both of us are ready to pop. Jen also appropriately wore the right t-shirt for the occasion.