Heaven and Hell

The day has come.
We finally moved.
What started last July, has been completed.
Hallelujah! Praise the Lord!
We worked hard yesterday.
Sweated our hineys off.
In 100 degree heat.
Hottest of the year so far.
New house didn't even have air until after noon.
Thank goodness for the pool!
(never thought I'd say that...)


(I'll be on hiatus for a while. Catch you later!)

An American in Paris: Part VI

"Miser Brothers"
1975 was a good year for the Miser brothers. The Rankin-Bass hit, "A Year Without a Santa Claus" had just come out the Christmas before and they were on top of the world! Well, actually, Snow Miser split his time between the North and South poles and Heat Miser had the equator. Like most people, the fame soon got to them. Heat Miser did time in jail for beating his girlfriend Chiquita Banana. He lost his temper one night after somebody commented on her melons. Snow Miser became addicted to drugs - ice to be specific. He couldn't get enough of the stuff.
Eventually, the brothers went to rehab and worked through their demons. Today, they lead low-profile lives and work the front desk of a Paris hotel. Snow Miser works the day shift and Heat Miser works at night. Yep. Or at least that's how I explain the temperature in our room.
When I first got to Paris, Steve had a run-of-the-mill room in a Marriott by the airport. It was nice and looked like any other hotel room in the U.S. Once we were on "our" time, we had reservations at a Best Western in town. The room was quaint (realtor talk for small) but clean and it suited us fine.

We had a quiet room on the second floor off a small courtyard. We knew we would spend much time in the room so we weren't too concerned about it.

That held true except for the heat and air. Many hotels didn't even have air conditioning, so we were glad to have it, but there was no thermostat in the room. We were told the front desk controlled it. Well, during the day, apparently it was ON. It was so cold, you could have hung meat! So I went to bed with my PJs and my socks on with the blanket pulled up to my neck. I awoke a few hours later sweating like a Biggest Loser contestant hiking up a hill with Jillian on my back! Apparently, during the night, the air is OFF. I stripped off the covers and my PJs to get some relief. I enacted the fine, Southern tradition of flipping my pillow over to the cool side.

This temperature trauma was repeated for Sunday and Monday nights as well.

As for the Miser brothers...they had a deal in the works with E! to make a "True Hollywood Story," but then the shit hit the fan with Jon and Kate and, well, I don't expect their phone to be ringing anytime soon.

Commercial Break

We interrupt your regularly scheduled program, An American in Paris, to bring you this important message:
This is it peeps. Tomorrow is the final house inspection. The day where the fate of our house lies in the hands of some county employee. So I am selfishly asking you all to say a prayer, send good thoughts or whatever that it passes and we can finally move in our new house!!!

An American in Paris: Part V

"Royal Cheese"
Remember in the movie Pulp Fiction when John Travolta is telling Samuel L. Jackson about McDonald's in France? It's true. They do eat mayonnaise with their fries and the Quarter Pounder is the Royal Cheese. And it was damn good. Call me a redneck. Call me clueless. Call me tasteless. I don't care, but I was not crazy about the food in France. I had REAL French cheese, wine, quiche, and crepes and it was all OK. I love cheese: cheddar, feta, provelone, Swiss...but that stuff I ate over there just didn't taste right. Needed more salt or something. The wine: too sweet. The quiche: (see the note about the cheese). The crepe: it was good, but not a whole lot of taste besides the Nutella it was drowned in.
We ate dinner twice at local cafes. It was fine, but it took forever (culture thing) and dinner for 2 one night ran us about $90 U.S. We were just as happy to eat at McDonald's, KFC, Quick (fast food) and the corner bakery. We knew what we were getting, it was fast and it was cheap.
I will say the desserts and breads were very good. We had breakfast 3 mornings from the local bakery: A sweet roll and and bottle of water we could eat on the train hit the spot.
Any sandwich was served on traditional French bread and it was always good. Probably our 2 favorite things we ate were dessert from the cafe one night. Steve had dark chocolate molten cake and I had pistachio creme brule. Mmmmmm!

An American in Paris: Part IV

"The Wheels on the Bus"
I woke up Sunday morning and my legs were so sore and so tight. They were refusing to cooperate (I didn't blame them) but eventually I convinced them it would be OK. I promised that we would NOT do that much walking today. So, we decided to do the open bus tour. You know, you've see those double decker bus tours. The top level is open to the elements and you can see out really well. They had 4 different routes that covered pretty much the whole city.
Not great for pictures taking with the constant movement, but great for seeing a little bit of everything...

We did get off the bus to have lunch and walk around a little bit. I finally found Amorino's Ice Cream (gelatto, actually) and it was so good!! We also spent a good chunk of the afternoon at a large garden (I forget which one). This was the view from our chairs:
This is us in the chairs. So good to sit down!

FYI- I've got 4 more chapters planned of the Paris trip. Sorry if that's annoying, but I personally, would rather read a lot of short posts than 1 or 2 really long ones. And I just might finish it off with a giveaway! Stay tuned!

An American in Paris: Part III

"Effin' Stairs"
Saturday morning we had to switch hotels, so we loaded up our stuff and headed out on the train into town. (more on the room later).
We were true tourists, shorts and tennis shoes included(no one there is too into shorts or tennis shoes), and hauled our butts all over town. Seriously, if I had been wearing a pedometer it probably would have said "00003" because it had rolled over already.
We walked to the Eiffel Tower, which was several blocks away. It really is quite something to see. We got there and waited in line to go up. By up, I mean 340 steps to the second level, where we went. You had to pay more to go further, I think.
Up there, you had amazing views of the city in all directions. The weather was quite warm for Paris (maybe 82 degrees) so Shannonwe needed a break before heading back down.

We left the Eiffel Tower and headed uphill to get on the train (thankfully) to go to the Arc d Triomphe. Even once we got off the train, it was a good walk to the actual Arc. And of course Steve wanted to go up. That was 284 more steps.

Again, lovely views of the city from up there. Next, we got back on the train and headed to the North end of town to Sacre Cour, a really old church on a big-ass hill. Add 225 to the step count...

I don't know what it is about this church, but there were people everywhere! Sprawled out on the lawn, having a beer, listening to street performers, you name it. Oh, and some annoying scammers trying to tie strings on us??? We didn't get it.

My legs were killing me at this point. I had climbed 849 steps in addition to all the regular walking. So we walked ourselves to a cafe behind the church and we sat and had a few beers. Ahhhh.....

We finally made it back to our room later that night, where I had to walk up 12 steps to get to our room. Effin' stairs...

An American in Paris: Part II

"Put Your Big Girl Panties On"
After I had a little nap Friday morning, I got some breakfast and then decided to venture out because Steve was working all day. At first, I played it safe. The hotel was just outside the airport and not in downtown Paris. It was in a little village called Roissy. I strolled through town and the local park.
After an hour of that, I decided to put my "big girl panties" on and head downtown. to Paris. on the train. by myself.
I managed to get back to the airport to the train station, buy my train ticket, get on the train and get off downtown successfully. Because 75% of the tracks are underground, most of the stops are underground. Maybe it seems like not biggie to some of you, but for this country girl, making my way out to the surface felt like I was crawling out of that mountain of doom in the last Lord of the Rings movie. But I finally made it and it was lovely!
The weather was gorgeous, we were right by the Seine river and I was in Paris! I took in the riverside vendors, the flower shops and even had a real French crepe!
I felt pretty safe and everyone I spoke to knew at least a little English. Sure, I saw some very rude people during the trip, but I also saw some very nice people. The train was pretty crowded by the time I headed back to the hotel, but I made it. All by myself!

An American in Paris: Part 1

"That's My Cue"
Overall, the trip was very nice. We has a good time and Paris is a lovely city. However, I feel like I spent and enormous amount of time waiting to get there and even once I was there, waiting in line (cue).
Originally, I was to fly out of Charlotte at 2:30, fly into Philly and from there to Paris. Well, US Air being the competent dears they are, didn't let that happen. Long story short: after waiting at the gate, a gate change, lots of misinformation, and 1 1/2 hours in line at the check-in counter, I miraculously got booked on the 4:30 flight direct to Paris. Oh, look. It's 4:20 now. What?!?! So the check-in counter lady runs me to the front of the security line (which was very long), I hurry through and am running down the concourse - just like you see int he movies! I'm completely out of breath as I hand my boarding pass to the agent. Whew! A 7+ hour flight later and I finally arrived at the hotel around 8:00 am Paris time (2:00 am EST) and took a much needed nap.
That night, Steve and I were both tired after our evening out and decided to call it an early night, so we got on the train at 9:45, hoping to be back in the room by 10:45. Nope. We got stuck on the train and it was hot and stuffy and this couple next to us was making out! Ugh! We didn't get in until 12:00 am PT (Paris time).
Other time "well spent" in line included waiting for Steve to finish work and get back to the room, standing in line 45 minutes to buy a train (subway) ticket, multiple train delays on Friday, and standing in line to go up the Eiffel tower. Add that to the 8+ hour flight home, and I spent a third of the trip waiting.
Want to hear about the rest of the trip? Sorry. You'll have to wait for that.

Bon Voyage!

I'm off tomorrow morning to go catch up with Steve in Paris! I'm excited, but since I've only been planing this trip about 2 weeks, I'm not crazy-excited. That and the shitty job and house news I got this week (we probably will NOT be moving in the week of the 15th).
I've looked a lot on-line to try and figure out what to do, where to go and what to eat (besides the fries, dressing and toast). Foreign hotels sorta scare me so of course, I looked that up, too. Even though this info came straight from the Best Western website (BW in Paris? who knew?), it was obviously written by someone whose native language is not Engligh:
"Our 34 rooms offer exceptional comfort in a contemporary style with modern warm colors and exotic prosecutors. All rooms have air conditioning, with a flat screen, WiFi access, individual safe, trays of courtesy, hair dryer, and quilts. Our team welcomes you with attention."
Exotic prosecutors? What does that even mean? Samoan lawyers? And trays of courtesy? I think they mean all the little shampoos and lotions that I stuff in my bag.
And this occupancy notation was on there, too:
"Child Policy: For Every Two Paying Adults, One Child 2 And Under Is Free In The Existing Bedding."
Dang! I left my kid home with grandma for five days. I sure don't want another one, even if it is free and comes with it's own blankie.
Until then, au revoir!...I think...I don't know a lick of French!

WTF?

I found out yesterday that I am getting knocked down to part-time next year. Not surprising considering that I work for a public school system and the current state of the economy. What was surprising is that even though they offered a 36% cut in pay, and a 33% cut in hours, they expect me to do the same job duties.
Hmmm.....same workload but less pay and less time to do it in? Don't think so.

I smell...

...a bargain! I had another day of deals this past Saturday and was waiting until I had my photo to write the post. And wouldn't you know that Rhoda at Southern Hospitality is having a Mr. Linky yard-sale-a-pa-looza!?! I love Rhoda. She is very sweet and has a beautiful home with lots of great decorating advice.
So mama and I hit the big highway-long yard sale that started in one little town and ended several towns over. We didn't make it the whole way, but let's say we made it far enough! We started at 7:00 and I left Steve and Savannah home in bed! Whiny husbands and 3 year-olds do not make good yard sale companions.
I took a "group pic" of my finds because I'm too lazy to take a pic of every little thing and then upload it. Sue me! I got a small Christmas tree, an old table runner, an old basket, a vintage pair of Mr. & Mrs. Claus salt & pepper shakers, a Pottery Barn Kids step stool, two small paintings, a striped storage bin, a milk-glass vase and a Southern Living at Home plate all for $15.50! Yeah, baby! Mama got several things including a $5 chair, plant stand, a few dishes/pottery and a braided rug.

After mama drops me off back home, she calls me about 20 minutes later. She's stopped at a few more sale on the way home and finds a bedroom suit that would be good for Savannah's room. So, me and Savannah load up and check it out. 30 minutes later and I have bedroom furniture for Savannah for $300. It's a little more than I would normally pay for used furniture, but it was in good shape and it was a chest of drawers, dresser with mirror, nightstand, twin headboard and mattress. Here's the chest of drawers with one little ding on the bottom that daddy can fix.


Wow! I'd say that was a good yard sale day! Some of you had asked about the furniture I got last week for the thrift stores. I don't have before pics. We got to scrubbing and painting before I could get a pic!
Here's my $7.50 chair after some serious TLC. That's my $6/yard fabic on that seat. I feel like I "rescued" this one because someone had "inscribed" on the back of the top: Weed, 2008 and drew a marijuana leaf. Nice.
Here's the chandelier. Before, it was your typical 1989 shade of brass. I'm holding out for finding some shades, Rhoda!
Here is the table I bought a while back on Craigslist. I got a table and 6 chairs for $100!!! The top was scratched and stained but we sanded the crap out of it and stained and finished the top. The chairs will be recovered in the same fabric as above.

Here's my $7.50 mirror. Before, it had a weird grey-ish paint wash on it. We scraped 90% of it off with our fingernails. The rest took a little more muscle, but wiped it down afterwards with some wood oil and it looks great!

Detail of the top of the mirror.

So there you have it!!! Soon, I will be moved into our new house and take all my yard sale and His House junk with me. I love it!

Hole-y Moley!

We were supposed to have the final inspection done on the house Friday, which would mean we could close on it and finally move in. Nope. This happened instead...

My cousin, the electrician, fell through the ceiling. No lie. He didn't fall all the way through, but as you can see, that is a 40-year-old man sized hole.

Ok, well, that isn't the only reason we didn't have the inspection. All the hand railings hadn't been put up either and we need those to meet code. But still...there is a HOLE in my kitchen ceiling!! Easily repaired and my cousin is ok so, we'll try again next week.

really? REALLY? Well, nobody gives a crap!

It's been a long time since I have shared a WTF? moment. So...without further adieu (see, I know a tiny bit of French!)...
I confess. I have taken one or two quizes on Facebook. Can't help it. I was lured in by "so and so challenged you", but I was new to the game. We all make the mistake. But, really. Who the f**k cares what movie you are, what beer you are, what horoscope sign you are, what Disney princess you are or what Hollywood legend you are? Even if you thought it was just something to do for fun, there's no reason why you must "publish" your results each and every time so that the rest of us have to read it. And the next one, or the one after that or that new one your co-worker sent you. I could have told you that you were a Corona-drinking, Beavis who loves to whistle while you work while popping pills after a breakfast of Lucky Charms without answering silly questions!
Then, to top it off, you have to post a comment like, "OMG! That is so true! LOL!" or "Gosh, I had no idea!" Come on! I like a silly quiz as much as the next guy. I have quizes at the bottom of this page. I just don't care to know about every single one you take.
In conclusion, if you simply can't resist finding out what state you should be living in or what your hippy name should be, that's fine. Just warn me before we become friends on fb so I can block your ass!

French Fried

Steve and Savannah made it in fine on Sunday. It was nice to see their faces and thankfully, Savannah wasn't drinking a beer and her teeth were brushed. However, there' nothing like a pre-schooler to suck the life outta you. Yesterday and today I have been so tired! Maybe I'm just recovering from all my happenings last week.
This week I plan to finish up work for the summer and then I have to get ready to pack. No, not the house, although it looks like we may be moving in the week of the 15th. I'm packing for Paris! Ya'll know Steve travels all the time with work. This time he is making stops all around Europe and I'm going to fly out and meet him in Paris. His flight will be paid for and we got my fight SUPER cheap with frequent flyer miles, so I'll still have some $ leftover to buy a few things for the house.
Anybody been to Paris and have some travel advice? I've been doing my homework and have some ideas. Also, Steve was there about 5 years ago. The Eiffel tower is a must as is the Louvre, but I'm open to other suggestions.
I know... some of you want to drink the hater-ade, but I might bring back a sercy as a giveaway!