basement

Yep. That's my new basement. Michelle and i moved into the little house in Berkeley on Friday. All went well with the move. We hired movers which seems so terribly decadent but wow! What a difference professional movers can make in your life! They packed us up and delivered our stuff safely to its destination in about 2 hours! It would have taken us a week if we had done it ourselves! And of course we would have to buy our friends a few 12 packs of beer and at least 4 pizzas. So...savings there for sure. Once the movers left we turned on some music and started unpacking. We were so excited to be in our new home! A couple hours into the process Michelle asked if maybe we should go look in the basement. Yah! Lets go look in the basement! I've never had a basement before so that sounded like something new and exciting. We opened the little wooden hatch and...FLOOD!!!!!!!!!!! ITS FLOODED!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! WAIST DEEP!!!!!!!!!!HELP!!! FLOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOD!!!! The pump that is supposed to shoot the water out of the basement in the winter rain was shooting it instead back into the basement like a whirlpool spa. OY VEY. I channeled MacGuyver and grabbed a long pipe to shimmy across to reach the plug to the pump. I didn't want to step into the water just in case i might...you know...electrocute myself. Miraculously, I got to the plug without falling in. I pulled it out of the wall and suddenly...silence. The water stopped pumping. A small victory indeed. I shimmied back and felt a sence of satisfaction. Next up? Plumber! I tried to get a local plumber on the horn. That was another hurdle. Plumbers seem to leave early on Fridays. We finally got one to put down the happy hour drink and swing by for a draining the basement party. But now the next problem was revealed. The water heater was submerged in about 4 feet of water for god knows how long. No hot water. Of course the water heater isn't something this particular plumber can handle at happy hour so we wait...and wait...for another plumber to find time to come and bring us a new one. So no hot showers for us. Which pretty much means no showers at all. Because I'd rather be dirty than stand naked with freezing water splashing on me.

So that's the latest. We have a new home but we are VERY dirty girls.

Warning

This is what buying a home looks like...

paint

I've become absolutely addicted to the home and garden network. I love watching people do miraculous home improvement projects all in the span of a half hour. They start out with a run down shack and end up with a palace! After watching hour upon hour of HGTV programming i was ready to paint our tiny apartment. Since we're moving out we have to cover up all the whimsical artwork michelle applied to the walls. I worked ALL weekend on the project and now we have really bland beige walls just the way the building managers like it. But here's the thing. I CANT MOVE! I'M SORE!!! I don't think painting is a natural motion for humans. So i have a suggestion for HGTV...create a program that shows the aftermath of what your body goes thru once you've completed the great overhaul. Now THAT would be reality TV!

Pool Party

Dear neighbors at 415,
Michelle and i will miss you all terribly when we move to Berkeley. We know crossing the bay bridge is an almost insurmountable obstacle BUT...we've come up with something that i think might just lure you all east. A NAKED POOL PARTY!!!! WEEEEE!!!!!

legal stipulations: Please keep clothing on at all times.

moving

Its official. The White-Strongs (otherwise known as the Wrongs) are packing it up (packing it in?) and moving across the bay. Yes, to quote a wise dry cleaner from the 70's...we are movin' on up to the east side! We spent every penny we own and bought a little bungalow. We're scared to death but...excited too. See ya on the other side of the bay!

HAPPY 2010!!!!!!