Homeownership: Day 26

Well, we're all moved in. Pretty much.

Moving day came and went without too much of a hitch. Mel talked me off the ledge re: moving everything ourselves and we went the approach of a moving company, Two Men And A Truck.

They made everything much smoother, and probably saved multiple vertebrae fractures for us. We even provided them with pizza. They had some, but didn't partake of it too much for fear of vomiting. Nice.

We had some pictures of the new house to blog, but that was before there was furniture and whatnot firmly in place. Now we must take more pictures, and those are the ones we will blog.

Soon, my friends, soon. All good things come to those who wait.

Homeownership: Day 13

Creepy. 

The first weekend of yard work is in the book

(Editor's note: I meant to take pictures of this momentous occasion but I did not. I'd like to think that I was just too into the task that was at hand. While that may be somewhat true, I was also lazy and didn't want carry a camera or my phone in my pocket while I was pushing a lawnmower around, or climbing through hedges in order to trim them an appropriate distance back from our house all while dripping - and I do mean DRIPPING - with sweat. Sorry. Sue me.)


Here's the lowlights highlights of the weekend.

Mowing and edging
When the reality set in that I was going to spend my time mowing our front and back lawn using a push mower and not a self-propelling one, like the ones I had used as a kid and for pretty much my entire life, I got a little defeated because I knew that when the chore of mowing the lawn was concluded I would likely be extra-extra tired instead of just regular tired.

Wasn't too bad, as it turns out, as evident by my still being alive to talk about it. For a push mower, and a Craigslist purchase, the thing worked like a dream and made the sometimes arduous process of lawn mowing a fairly easy - and might I say, somewhat enjoyable - task. Thank you Briggs & Stratton for constructing such a fine piece of machinery. High-five.

Edging proved to be a little more difficult because of some nasty angles near the street. That's gonna take some practice so that I don't carve up the lawn. But for now, it'll do.

ANNOYANCE LEVEL: 2 (Low)


Trimming the grapevine
When we last left our backyard, it was a little overgrown. One of the two apple trees we have was being attacked and overtaken by a nearby grapevine, creating some kind of apple/grape plant hybrid. A trip to the local hardware store (not Home Depot) produced a rather sharp pair of shears, and a little while later, a ladder, and then I was off to work.

The job of getting all this mess cut down and untangled at first appeared to be a daunting one, but once things got rolling, with a few snips here and there and then a couple of yanks I was pulling down sections of grapevine out of our poor old apple tree like nobody's business.

Granted, I'm not sure if that was the appropriate method for getting that stuff out of there, but it damn sure was effective. Most annoying part of it all was having to bag it up and throw the shrapnel away.

ANNOYANCE LEVEL: 1 (Annoyance? What annoyance?)


Weedwacking
I know what you're thinking, and stop it. There's children reading this. 


This should have been a relatively simple thing to do. There wasn't even a lot to necessarily weedwack, but I wanted to get the initial wacking (I said, stop it) out of the way. 


Sounds simple enough, right? Well, it was. Except for the fact that turned one trip to the hardware store to purchase the appropriate spool into two because I had no idea what kind to purchase. Struggling.

ANNOYANCE LEVEL: 4 (For unnecessary trips to the hardware store)


Trimming the bushes
I mean it now, stop with the giggling.

Here's where things became the diciest for me in this whole process. We had acquired an electric hedge trimmer from Craigslist at the same time we purchased the weedwacker, lawnmower, et al. All that remained needing to be purchased was an extension cord of the outdoor variety, which was picked up (this time, from Walmart, on a Friday night no less.....what possessed me to do that I have no idea). A nice long 100 foot long one (hey, I wanted to to err on the side of caution).

So as I climbed through the bushes to trim them back from the kitchen windows, getting poked at and pricked (.......) through my shorts (!!!!!!!!) and sweat-soaked t-shirt, I managed to somehow get the cord caught into the blades of my electric hedge trimmer and cut clear through the dang thing.

Kaput. Dead.

Fail.

Welp, that $18 went far.

On the other side of the house, lay the treacherous blackberry bush, complete with some of the thorniest thorns in the history of thorny plants. Let's just say I'm lucky there was minimal blood loss.


ANNOYANCE LEVEL: 8 (For obscenely high levels of plant hating)


Painting wraps up this week. Moving day is scheduled day for Saturday. 

Almost home. 

Homeownership: Day 8

The painting process is about to commence at the new domicile. Our loyal group of painters are lovingly taping around every windowsill, electrical outlet, and anything else you can think of that we would completely screw up if we decided to do this ourselves.

Already one big transformation has taken place from the previous owners to the Vittas's: The large-sized circa 1970's box light hanging down from the cooking area of the kitchen has been removed and replaced with regular can lights. A major improvement.

I've tentatively planned on Saturday being the first ever yard work day under new ownership, and am somewhat sadistically looking forward to it. 

Keep in mind, while the process of painting, moving, and whatnot transpires, Mel has been taking pictures and will at some point be blogging about all of it. And we all will be happy with that. 

In the meantime, here's a somewhat relevant song to everything we're talking about. 

Enjoy. 

Homeownership: Day 2

The lights came on at 500 Hinsdale today for the very first time under ownership of a Vittas. How did we celebrate this occaison?

I went over after work and sprayed some hornet nests with bug spray. Get used to a lot of this, boy.

One startling discovery that was made was that to go along with the vines of grapes growing in the backyard, the apple tree, the plum tree, and the herb garden, we also have blackberries growing on the side of the house. So knowing that, the fruit salad may be a frequent specialty at the new residence.

Or not. Who knows.

To be perfectly honest, it's still a little new to the both of us, this "home owner" moniker. But I'm sure that once the new coats of paints have have been applied, each one with a stroke of tender, loving care (that sounded gay) things will begin to feel more and more like home.

More to come soon.

John Rhadigan thoughts

Tom Grieve has the same look on his face that many of us had during the Rhadigan era.

John Rhadigan was relieved of his Rangers television broadcast duties this week after almost two tortuous months of play-by-play calling.

Needless to say, it made a lot of people feel a little like this.

Us included.

First, let's get it all out of the way: As a person, I like John Rhadigan. I think he has a pleasant and friendly demeanor. Seems like a very likable person - the kind who would get along good with children. The Rangers offered him the chance to do something he had been dreaming about and jumped at the chance to do it. For that, I cannot say I blame the guy at all.

But while it seemed a fun occasion at the time, that Rangers Rally last November should have been a red flag. Take a listen again and hear for yourself. Very nerdy. I know, that crowd is eating it up. But back then that was a crowd fresh off witnessing the first World Series appearance in club history, of course there was going to be some level of excitement. Hell, Rhads could have come out and read from the Farmers Almanac and I think you'd still have fans doing the Claw and Antler for the camera.

Fast forward to this season, and where do you begin? I wish I could put together a playlist on iPod of his worst in-game performances during his time at the television helm to listen to during bad days at the office or something. A few of these little ditties might be on it.

(Before I get into all that, let me present to you what I estimate to be the BEST call John Rhadigan had during his tenure here. David Murphy's two-run double on Opening Day against the Red Sox.  It was a pretty big hit in the game - the go-ahead runs I believe. You had all the elements: Big game, big moment of the game, crowd was really into it. The only thing that would have ruined that call would have been if Rhads had just stopped talking and started making gurgling noises. The only thing you could maybe have a legit complaint about is how he goes from monotone to excited like he did. I happen to think that's a good quality, but that's just me.)


This one may probably be the worst moment for Rhads, occurring just last weekend in Philadelphia.  The ball CLEARLY did not go over the wall, yet Rhads gets a bad case of homerun call envy and starts stumbles all over himself. Just cringe-worthy.

Other notably bad moments of sports broadcasting by John Rhadigan:

A double-whammy on this on this one, first with a "Get that kid a contract!" comment about the young lad who catches the homerun ball on the hill, followed by "it's a Lone Star Longball".  I don't even know where to begin to analyze how retarded that sounds. It's not even only the fact that he thought that was a cute enough phrase to use on-air, it's that he tried to make it sound so subtle and matter-of-factly that he chose to work it in while the flag waving girls were running around. I feel weird even using the capitalization that I did. Put it all together, and you get this.

- "Saddle up baseball, you're going for a ride!" during what I believe was a Josh Hamilton homerun in a Spring Training game on March 14th. Again, as annoying as John Sterling can be, I don't think I could even fathom him uttering such a cornball phrase. Or maybe I could. I don't know anymore.

- Incorrectly identifying Neftali Feliz as "Pedro". I don't remember this actually happening. May have been in a comatose state.

- "It's time to play ball, ya'll!" uttered I believe as the TV broadcast is going to break right before first pitch. All I could think of whenever I heard that was: I mean, what is this? What the hell is this?

I could track down so many more moments that made me want to lose my lunch during the Rhads era, but frankly I don't care to. It's sad when you think about that as crazed fans as Mel and I both are, we were muting the television and watching these games he was broadcasting with no sound.

But alas, just like Joanie Loves Chachi, Saved By The Bell: The New Class, and The Chevy Chase Show - this television experiment has thankfully, and painfully, come to an end.

Update

(Editor's note: Not actual representation of our house.)


Not a lot going on. Still waiting to finalize some stuff on the new house. Cross some t's, dot some i's, this and that. Mel and I are getting kind of antsy at this point and are ready to begin our future at the new abode as soon as possible. Good things come to those who wait I suppose.

One thing that we have begun is the packing process, starting with the bookshelves. One of the things I hope to do is gradually increase our library collection once we move into the new house.

This book will probably not be purchased.

One of the things I have yet to investigate is performing a time study on the amount of time it takes me to go from the Ballpark to our future driveway. I have estimated that with traffic lights, it will likely roughly another 2-3 minutes of travel time. Plenty of time to sit behind the wheel and get frustrated about the offense sucking and the bullpen blowing another game.

More to come in the coming days and weeks, I'm sure.

Enjoy your Sunday.

Playing Catch-Up, April 3rd-9th

Since my husband has started the theme of 3 notable tidbits of each game we are at (or watch) - and has obviously fallen very far behind, I have decided to pick up the slack. Albeit - all in one week-encompassing blog.

Sunday, April 3rd:
1. This was a family affair. The entire Dunlap/Vittas/Dunn clan was in attendance. (Maybe I shouldn't reference us as a clan) Pa-Paw also made an appearance at a game for the first time in s-e-v-e-r-a-l years. Oh Pa-Paw. (The usher is a failed photographer.)



2. Tyler is again a member of the Jr. Rangers, thanks to Aunt Wittle and Uncle John. And was also introduced to the greatness of batting practice.

3. Matt Harrison. Alright, okay. Broom. Sports.


Monday, April 4th:
1. We got our rings.


2. Robert met the gnome.

3. A 6-4 lead, going to the top of the 9th, and idiots trying to start the wave. These stupid bandwagon fans led me to order this t-shirt:



Tuesday, April 5th:

1. I had little faith in Alexi Ogando to make it through 6 innings of this game. Much less 6 scoreless innings.

2. After this game, Mark Lowe's ERA sucks. 27.00 to be exact. I would be quite happy not seeing him pitch again. You were a throw-in last July-and did nothing to prove otherwise.

3. I did not watch the diving catch in the top of the 7th. I do not trust noodle-arm Borbon. Luckily, for me and the 30,000+ other fans there, he proved me wrong. (this time at least)


Wednesday, April 6th:

1. While I had to leave during the 7th inning stretch and head to work, I sat in the parking garage at NE Mall and listened happily to the end of the game, waving my broom in solitude.

2. I need to better apply my sunscreen.

3. Sitting peacefully in Fred's section, basking in the sun (which later proved a horrible horrible move), I heard a girl say "I get Beltre and Napoli confused since they're both new." Yes, she might not be a total BW for knowing they are both new to the team.... but I would venture to guess that is where their similarities end.


Thursday, April 7th = Off Day
Friday, April 8th = rain out

Saturday, April 9th:

We only saw some of the first game, but....... my less than doting opinion of Adrian Beltre continues. All or nothing. 2 GIDPs in game 1. And even after his 3 run HR in game 2 last night, the $16 million offense is hitting .182. Awesome.