oh. hi.

Riiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiight.

Did I mention that we were busy? I hope so. I hope the complete and utter lack of posting also showed that.

Let’s recap:

*On December 31st, 2010 we moved into a new rental house with a one year lease.
*In mid-April 2011, the owners of the house [heretoforthwith knows as Dickheads] (who had put it up for rent after
it wouldn’t sell when the husband’s job had him transfer out of state TWICE) called our agent to tell her that,
“Hey. The job is moving me back to [local city] and we want our house back.” Period. End of story. So begins
rental hell. With that came several months of neighbours-who-were-previously-sweet-and-super-friendly-and-who
we-later-found-out-were-friends-with-Dickheads [now to be known as Fatties or Assholes Next Door] constantly
calling and complaining about noise from guitars and band practice (they had been totally fine with it for four
months!), sometimes IN TEARS, and traffic from Ben’s students and grass being unmowed (for more than five days,
if it wasn’t mowed, they called our agent complaining about snakes–in a goddamned subdivision!!!). It was awful.
Truly truly horrendously awful. Our sweet sweet agent, who technically worked for The Dickheads, was constantly
apologizing for their retched behavior. Keep in mind, this awfulness lasted NON-FUCKING-STOP from mid-April thru
mid-September. (Including a story from September about me walking out of the shower to find The Dickheads
circling the house with open blinds.)
*On May 7th, 2011, our ten-year anniversary, we got married. It was a semi-elopement that we didn’t tell anyone
about (grandparents got 10 days notice to attend) and was more stress/work than anticipated. Because our
anniversary fell on a Saturday, that meant the courthouse was closed; which meant we had to hire someone; which
meant more money; which also meant we had to have a location in which we could be married; which meant more
money; we wanted to write out our own ceremony; which meant a fuckload of time and even more money…you see
where this is going? All along with the news that The Dickheads wanted to push us out. But you know, it was still
a whole hell of a lot of fun. Plus we had a badass four-day honeymoon of fun.

Sister made the most lovely star garland in our favourite colours for our location.

*Mid-May 2011–Very-Early-August 2011: When we got back from the honeymoon we started looking for houses to
buy…well, first we started talking about buying a house A LOT more seriously than we had planned on doing
(original buy date would be sometime in 2012) and then we started looking to buy. And we looked and looked and
looked and looked and said no to a shitload on the internet and viewed a few houses before rejecting them and our
sweet agent (that same dear hippie lady who kept apologizing for The Dickheads continuing harassment) was about to
give up on us when she e-mailed me one morning with a link to a newly-listed house and the subject line, “LOOK!
LOOK! LOOK!” and inside all it said was, “This one came up in my search this morning and it seems perfect for
you!!!” and it was ADORABLE! And looked so good!! And so very Us. We made an appointment for two days later to
view it and when we pulled up, Dear Agent walked out of the house and told us in no uncertain terms that if we
didn’t buy this house, she will fire us as her clients. Of course we loved it and of course we put in an offer and
of course we ended up buying it. And of course we are absolutely completely and totally head-over-heels-in-love
with our house. OUR HOUSE. It’s beautiful.

Hastily taken photo of front door seconds before we moved in.

I plan on writing a huge post about buying/moving with pictures of the house…but please, be patient for I will
scream if pushed to do too much too fast. My poor Rock Star nearly had a meltdown at the signing of the contract
for the bid for the house. Near. Catastrophic. Meltdown. My wonderful man does not accept change easily. But he
did. And we did. And at the first of August so we began the house-buying process. (Details to come, I hope.)

*Within days of putting in a bid, having the bid countered, signing the contract, having an official house
inspection, etc. etc. etc. we went on our already-planned 10-day vacation to see wonderful people we knew in
Virginia and to tour D.C. (I’d been twice, but my museum-loving Rock Star had never visited). After the incredible
stress of the first part of August, seeing my sister, my lovely and amazing friend, and Ben’s very best friend was
just what we needed to calm the ever-living-fuck down. We first saw Sister and her fabulous dog, Lizzy, then we
stopped at the ever-wonderful Erin’s house, then we trucked up to see Josh in DC. It was fantastic seeing my
sister as it always is when she lives too far away from me; and spending time with Erin is about as happy and
peaceful as any time I’ve ever spent. Josh was an amazing sport about letting us crash at his place and showed us
some wonderful sites (sights?) in the downtown area. With him as our guide we had some of the most amazing food we
had ever eaten. I’m so glad we know wonderful people who enjoy food and history as much as we do. We really do
have fantastic friends.

Happy Lizzy looking for a bellyrub

Me standing inside an Alexander Calder sculpture at the National Gallery of Art's Sculpture Garden

Comet Ping Pong's The Smokey & The Yaley--HOLY SHIT! You have to try this pizza!! It's too good to be true!!

Ben in awe of ancient mummy in Smithsonian Museum of Natural History

Josh and Ben about to enjoy the hell out of their Dogfish Sampler of various beers

*We came back mid-August (nearly bypassing my birthday entirely [cue: guilt and extreme sadface] and began to
finalize the closing and go through the entirely stressful closing process as well as the extremely stressful
packing-cleaning-moving-cleaning-unpacking process and let me tell you, we have a lot of shit. No. Really. I don’t
think anyone understands just how much shit two childless twenty-somethings can acquire when they live in a house
together for several years. It’s way too much. It’s embarrassing. But on September 17th, 2011 we moved in to what
(if we so choose) could be the last house in which we ever live. [cue: angelic voices singing heavenly tune]

*Since then we have cleaned, unpacked, painted, rearranged, cleaned, unpacked, painted, painted painted,
rearranged, unpacked, cleaned, painted, rearranged, painted, painted, unpacked, painted, tiled, painted,
rearranged and back to tiling and painting some more. That’s house stuff. And [re: hopefully/skeptically] soon I
plan on posting more detail on house stuff if only for my own records.

*October 22nd was the Homecoming Day for my five-year college reunion. Not only did the beautiful Erin come to town
to visit, but I got to catch up with some of my favourite old art alums (how fuckin’ snooty does that sound?!?)
and that was a metric ton of fun–plus we came home with a beautiful piece of art by the always wonderful Robin
Grace Venable who provided the alumni exhibit this year.

*BUT Halloween is our favourite holiday and last year we were in the process of looking for a new place and had
previously thought we would be moving in October and didn’t decorate at all and just threw a meager little
Halloween party. This year we knew we’d be only five weeks in our new house, but we couldn’t forgo the annual
Petler Inn Halloween Bash, so we invited costumed close friends to our transitioning house for an awful good time.
And the week prior, we participated in something we had always dreamed of doing…sort of: It has been a life goal
of mine (and now the Rock Star’s too) to die some gruesome grisly death in a B-horror zombie movie. Our super
talented friend, Ben (affectionately called Other Ben), participated in a local grindhouse-style horror trailer
contest to go along with a local Horror Fest our town throws each year, and we got to be the zombies!! We had way
too much fun making it, and even though Other Ben’s didn’t win on account of it being “too pretty” and “not
grindhouse enough” (although we counter that the genre he drew, “Knoxploitation” is AWFUL) it was still one of the
best ones entered and we LOVED it.

As for our costumes this year, we went all out for the zombies for the movie and were so focused on cleaning
up/painting/tiling the house before the party, that we didn’t even start to think of anything until seven-ish
hours before the party was supposed to start (with us having to work in between that time-frame). Ben went as
Rorschach from The Watchmen graphic novel and I went as a clean basket of laundry–I was particularly proud of the
crumpled dollar bill and wad of thread I hot-glued to my tshirt along with socks and a sock on my headband. Not
too shabby for last minute; my costume problem also had to account for being able to literally throw it on when I
got home from work in less time than it takes to pee (also accounts for the utter lack of makeup as I drove home
like a maniac and ran upstairs to don Halloween garb). Even though it was small and not-that decorated, it was
still an super fun time with awesome people. And we’ve already started planning out next year and the full on
epicness that will occur.

in zombie garb for pseudo-movie

That damn basket bruised my thighs, I was so sore the next day.

Funnily enough, to answer nerd questions everywhere, he wasn't wearing anything underneath that coat.

And with that, I have skimmed my life forward to present day. There is so much left out and so much more to add. And [WITH GREAT HOPE] I will get back into my regular blogging schedule; which is to say, two or three times a month.

cheers!
-K

Read Full Post »

hey, ya’ll–remember me?

Hi.

Yeah, sorry I’ve not really been present at all. I’ve been super-duper busy. Fighting with my landlords (they want their house back WAY before our lease is due); sooner-than-expected talks of buying a house with each other, with our real estate agent; going on a quick vacation to Tybee Island/Savannah, GA that wasn’t really a vacation…

it was a honeymoon.

Because we got married. (eep!)

But we like to keep things complicated, so of course it was a secret marriage.

And I learned some things:

1. It’s reallyreallyreallyREALLY hard for me to keep my own secrets as I typically do not have any secrets and I’m used to just walking around and gabbing to anyone who is in range about what’s going through my head.

2. I do NOT handle stress well. Back in high-school/college era, I was a stress-managing machine–a good German through and through, I could itemize, list, and conquer with the very best of them. I have since turned to a life of mostly leisure and am now quite unaccustomed to a stressful way of living. This means that I turn into a little ball of bitchiness. It’s not fun. And it’s real fucking ugly.

3. I have no idea how women (or men) who plan full weddings do it. NO FUCKING CLUE. We had us plus nine people and a minister at a park on a Saturday morning and guys, it was just too much for me to handle. We didn’t even have invitations–just stopped by to visit grandparents and parents and let them know about it. Seriously, it was ridiculous.

4. Honeymoons are awesome. I mean, for real. In all our years, we’d never taken a vacation that was just the two of us. We’d always go along with our families or we’d plan trips with our friends, never had we traveled long-distance over several days just the two of us. And it rocked! We did nothing but sit on a beach and stare at the ocean for three days (fourth day we walked around Savannah), stuff our bellies with the most amazing seafood we could find, and have lots and lots of sex (sorry, mom). It was a blast.

So, hopefully, I’ll get back into regular blogging that I’m sure will be all about how awful it is trying to find a house. We’ll see.

I’ll leave you with our wedding announcement we posted after we got back. Made pretty much entirely by the lovely Rock Star:

-K

Read Full Post »

“Winter is nature’s way of saying, ‘Up yours.’”

*the above quotation is from Robert Byrne*

Oh, we’ve had all sorts of Winterish adventures here; many more than any in Ye Ole Petler Inn would like to see. And we’re a bit worried about all this awful weather as we’re going to be moving in nine days (!!!ANDNOTAFUCKINGTHINGISPACKED!!!); Christmas is in three days; and the winter solstice was last night (although I missed the eclipse as it was way too cloudy above our house). Also, I would like to put on record that we live in East Tennessee. And although my “No-Good-Very-Bad Weather” may not be a flurry to those in northern states, but let me tell you: We are not used to true winters. At the very idea of snow, we panic. We’re not used to it. We’re not prepared for it. It’s not good at all.

Winterness Adventure #1:

On my way to work last Sunday afternoon (the live show runs from 6pm-midnight EST), I received a call from my boss/friend, Brandon, to check on the progress in my commute. Here is the conversation (also, it should be noted that I P-A-N-I-C at the idea of inclement weather and having to drive in it; during snow/ice possibilities, I become almost unbearable):

him: So, how’re you doing?
me: Fine. …why?
him: You driving okay? –You’re still coming?
me: What? I’m [halfway there]. It’s totally clear, not a cloud in the sky…. …why?
him: ……oh. ….no reason.
me: …WHAT?!?!?
him: Ummm….it’s snowing here…
me: Snowing?!? Is it bad?! HOW BAD?!?
him: Oh! Not bad! Not bad at all! In fact, the sun’s coming up!!
me: Bullshit. HOW BAD?!?! Did you call me to freak me out? Should I be worried? What does it look like?!?!
him: …it’s all sunshine. It’s great up here.
***[to note: the studio where I work is at the base of some pretty famous mountains, at a much higher elevation than my home]***
me: ………
him: ….it’s all white.
me: WHAT?!?!?! ALL WHITE?!?! ARE YOU SERIOUS?!?! IT’S SNOWING?!?!?! HOW LONG HAS IT BEEN SNOWING?!?!?
him: Only about an hour…maybe less.
me: AND IT’S ALL WHITE?!?!?!?!?!
him: Yeah, and it’s sticking. I’m watching cars almost hit each other trying to get out of the parking lot. It’s pretty bad. Be very careful.
me: ….shit. shitSHITshitSHITshitshitshitshitshitshitshitshitshitSHITSHITSHITSHITSHITshitshitshitSHIT!!!!
him: You’re almost here. You’ll be okay. Just drive slow and be very careful.
me: …
him: See you soon!

Needless to say, I did make it to work; I did panic for the rest of my commute even more the few times I felt my tires slide on the snow/ice; and I continued to panic for the duration of our six-hour show. However I must note, panic makes that long six-hour shift go by oh-so-very-quickly. I hardly noticed the time passing because I was much too busy FREAKING THE FUCK OUT. And it was bad. I kept asking the support staff to the hosts what the weather is looking like outside. CONSTANT VIGILANCE! Little good it could do me. I was stuck in the show for the duration. And when it was all over, we locked up the studio and went outside.
And the world was white. Oh-so-very-white. Virginal. Except what I was thinking wasn’t virginal at all. It was more along the lines of OH-HOLY-SHIT-WHAT-ARE-WE-GOING-TO-DO?!?!-WHAT-AM-I-SUPPOSED-TO-DO?!?-HOW-AM-I-GOING-TO-GET-HOME?!?!-I-REFUSE-TO-BE-FUCKING-STUCK-HERE-IN-THIS-NON-HOME-PLACE-WITH-THESE-GOD-AWFUL-PEOPLE-AND-THEN-WHAT-ARE-WE-SUPPOSED-TO-DO-IF-WE’RE-SNOWED-IN?!?-I-CAN’T-STAY-HERE-WITH-THEM-THERE-IS-NO-WAY-IN-HELL-I-CAN-DRIVE-DOWN-THAT-FUCKING-MOUNTAIN-TO-GET-TO-MY-HOME-HOLY-SHIT!-HOLY-SHIT!-HOLY-SHIT!-WE’RE-SO-FUCKED!-WHAT-AM-I-SUPPOSED-TO-DO?!?-FUCK!-FUCK!-FUCK!-FUCK!-FUCK!!!
There was a back-up plan. Our miserly supervisor had even called in to tell us that he would pay for a hotel room for the crew; but we didn’t really want to do that. Luckily, the other camera-operator working that night also lived in the same town as myself and Brandon. And the three of us decided it would be best to stay together in The Other Guy’s new(ish) four-wheel-drive vehicle, rather than in our separate cars (Brandon’s being a sedanish type car, and myself owning a 16-year-old jeep cherokee). And The Other Guy drove us back home. It was extremely slow going; and we slid several times; and the roads were totally whited out; and the snow was coming down in an awful way (that would have been very lovely had we been safely in our respective homes); and even the interstate was in an awful white-out-ish condition that was made scarier by the insistence of the tractor-trailer drivers to continue their work; but slowly and if not surely, than certainly with great trepidation, we made it back home. Or, rather, The Other Guy drove Brandon and I to my house as there was no fucking way on this Earth that any kind of vehicle would be making it up the giant steep hill where Brandon lives, and The Other Guy made it back to his apartment. Brandon slept here that night, and we poured the wine and watched a holiday comedy classic, and collapsed into bed (or in Brandon’s case, collapsed into an air mattress). And the next day, although the snow continued to fall and stay all over the fucking place, it kept off the roads and we were able to pick up our cars courtesy of my beloved, Ben.

Winterness Adventure #2:

The following Wednesday, I was making my way to work (on totally clear roads) when I decided to check up on my parent’s progress to Boston where they were working on moving Sister’s belongings into a storage facility and bring her and her enchanting dog home for the holidays. And my dear sweet old Papa dropped this bomb on me, “You ready for the ice storm?”

…WHAT?!?!

Like all good upper-middle-aged men, my father obsessively watches the weather. The Weather Channel is always the first channel he finds when with an unfamiliar television, he leaves it running on his TV at home, he even has an app for it on his droid.
Apparently, East TN, which has rarely seen the likes of any sort of ice storm [at least in my lifetime], was expecting to be sheeted in ice starting around 7pm till around sunrise–with the worst bits freezing around midnight.

Great. Just fucking great.

That Wednesday show? It runs from 5pm–midnight. Oh-ho! How wonderful!!
I spent the duration of that seven hour show chanting quietly to any force of nature or god who could possible hear me, “NoIce.NoIce.NoIce.NoIce.NoIce.NoIce.NoIce.NoIce.NoIce.NoIce.NoIce.NoIce.NoIce.NoIce.”

It didn’t work.

When we left the studio and walked outside, the entire parking lot was one super thick sheet of ice. Boss-man Brandon, Other-Regular-Camera-Guy Roger, and myself turned on our respective old vehicles, and skated around the parking lot and out onto the roads to test the conditions for the next 15 minutes.
I am, of course, panicking. I have to get home. I can’t be trapped up here. I have a ton of shit to do. Christmas shopping to finish, and packing to pretend to start, and gifts to finish making, and a house to clean, and TOMORROW IS MY OTHER DAY OFF AND I CAN’T BE STUCK UP HERE.
But Brandon offered to drive me home, and I figured if his dinky little car could make it the near 25 miles back to our house, than most certainly I would be able to do so in my Jeep. And Roger lived just as far away in the opposite more rural direction, and so we parted ways, wishing each other luck and safety. And Brandon gets a five minute head start just in case something really awful is ahead, he can call and tell me about it first.
And I call Ben and tell him to keep up a constant stream of conversation to keep me from losing my absolute head whilst I drive home. And of course, he doesn’t understand because at our house, there is no ice. Just a whole lot of slushiness. But not a single slippery patch. But he does it anyway. And what normally is an easy 30 minute commute, turned into a 90 minute unnerving drive home.
And just as I get to my home; my sweet old house; my warm safe immovable house; Brandon calls.

And he’s stuck. He slid down a large hill and his car is now stuck in a frozen parking lot and can we come and get him?
And dear sweet Ben, offers to let me come inside and he will take his car out to get Brandon. But I am the only one of the three of us with four-wheel drive, and I’ve already been driving for 90 minutes, so what’s another 15?
And so Ben walks out to my car at the end of our street, nearly falling on his ass in the process (Ice? What ice?) and ends up skating to me. And so we head off to get Brandon, and as we’re nearing him, I realize that from his location, hills either up or down, are our only option of getting home. So we call Brandon and tell him we’re going to turn around and wait for him to walk to us; and apparently he can already see the Jeep making it’s precarious way to him.
And I turn the car onto a small side-street. And we start sliding. And the car is moving laterally. And I look at Ben and yell, “WHAT DO I DO?!? WHAT DO I DO?!? WHAT DO I DO?!?” And he’s saying, “…I’ve never moved sideways in a car before…I don’t know…” All observant and not-very-present-in-this-god-awful-uncontrollable-moment. So I steer the sliding car into a large yard (or very small field, whichever you may prefer) and then sit there.
What the fuck.
I was home.
I MADE IT HOME!!!
And fucking Brandon needed rescuing. Damn it all to hell and back.
So we climb out of the car, and nearly fall down because the entire world is now iced over. What looks like snow? Ice. What looks like clean road? Ice. What looks like a slushly sidewalk? ALL FUCKING ICE. And I start berating myself in my head for not listening to that little voice that wanted to ask Ben to bring me my winter boots before he skated to the Jeep, because we were in a car and he would only make fun of me for panicking. And we make our way back to the road where Brandon has made it and is gleefully watching us. And the three of us make it ever so slowly back to the house, learning the very best way to walk through ALL THE ICE EVERYWHERE is to step in the long grassy bits right beside the road: the ice is only on the top layer and body weight crushes it down and it gives all of our poorly clad feet purchase. Of course, there were some scary bits, crossing the road was extremely treacherous, as was crossing the sidewalk and going up the few steps there too. But eventually we made it back. And had nice big drinks for everyone; and watched another holiday movie classic; and blew up the air mattress for the second time in three days; and fell oh-so-very-exhausted into bed.
And the next morning we woke up and there was still ice. Although from the time I woke up at 10am, till the time the boys got up 90 minutes later, cars were able to drive on the roads again, and the ice was turning into slush slowly as the temperature rose.
And eventually we bundled up and headed out to collect the cars.

Ben, Brandon, and myself (with Attila and spazzy Ollie) setting out on the quest for cars.

Even though there was still ice all over the sidewalks, and parts of some yards, the roads were clear and we set out. Oh, and we also had my mom’s super spazzy dog that needed walking (to rid him of his Crazy energy) and Attila too.

Ice still present but slowly melting away.

First we came up on my poor Jeep.

Still icy jeep

And although it was still coated in ice, it would not be a lot of trouble to get it home.

Not too bad, easily able to get out (with crazy Ollie)

So we left the semi-frozen Jeep and kept walking towards Brandon’s car. The hilly parking lot where he left his car was now occupied by three other vehicles, one of whom had been stopped by a telephone pole, and the lot was still very icy. But it seemed as if it was thawing out a bit. All the same, Ben, the dogs, and myself decided to stay safely on the flat sidewalk whilst Brandon went down to check out his car situation alone.

A small graphic strip of Brandon's car, and please excuse the poor quality as I was forced to use the digital zoom on our point-and-shoot camera.

Brandon’s car had slid to a stop so very close to my parent’s currently abandoned house and we decided the best idea was to break in and see what we could forage up as a small smackeral of something delicious.

A hearty snack of carrots, pretzel rods, peanut butter, ritz crackers with a delicious cheesy spread, and M&Ms.

After food the roads were deemed easy enough to travel, and we made a shopping list up so Ben and I could make German chicken noodle soup (I don’t know exactly how it’s different from other chicken noodle soups [perhaps more potatoes?], all I know is Mama got the recipe from Oma, who uses the same recipe her Mama made in Berlin before the war–it’s the only kind of chicken noodle soup I know.) And Brandon needed to buy any type of food for his bachelor lifestyle (he got hot pockets, milk, and cereal–good grief!!).
So we left the dogs and walked back to Brandon’s car, and slid slowly out of the parking lot and then safely back up the road and to the closest grocery. And Brandon very kindly took us (and the pups) back to our house while he went back up the doubly steep hill to his apartment.

No shopping was done. No gifts were made. Nothing truly productive was accomplished. But it was fun, and retrospectively makes for a good story.
And here’s hoping that the old adage, “Winter bites with its teeth, or lashes with its tail.” Is a true one for us this season.

-K

Read Full Post »

O Tannenbaum

Ben's skull sculpture is used every season to house our favourite holiday treat.

The holidays are most definitely here. And we’ve officially bought our first tree together. Due to my awful allergies, we can’t have a real one (although I’ve bought a huge real wreath for our front door so Ben can get that sweet pine smell he loves so much).
We’ve had a Christmas tree before, but it was a hand-me-down from Oma when we first moved into this house over three years ago.

Goodbye to our first tree together

From the right, in silver says, “from Oma 2007;” next in Oma’s handwriting in red, “6FT Give Away Tree Good;” and then lastly the note I taped on as we dropped in off at AO (Appalachian Outreach), “In good condition; all parts/pieces/instructions are included. An old but loved tree. Happy Holidays.” We dropped off the tree on our way to some stores and by the time we passed by it again, someone had already taken it. I hope it’s found a good home.

Although, if we’re going to be honest about the situation, it should be told that we pulled out Oma’s old tree; set it up and complained a lot about how scrawny and old it was; started putting lights on; argued about putting the lights on the tree in a way to best hide all those cords [impossible in such an old, sparse tree]; and finally deciding to just go and buy a pre-lit tree so we will never have to argue about lights again. Sometimes money can buy happiness.

We bought our new tree (“Boston Pine”) and brought it home and set it up. And let me tell you-although folding down and spreading the branches is a bit tedious, it is LOADS better than individual branches plus lights. LOADS, I tell you.

Ahh, the peace of a pre-lit tree.

Also, one of our favourite mentions in the holiday season is the papasan chair must be moved out of the corner to make way for the tree. This chair is mainly used by Attila for daytime napping. And he is NEVER happy when his chair must be moved to make way for the tree; really, he gets visibly upset.

Papasan sitting near hallway, whilst we set up the tree. A possessive dog desperately hanging on to his favourite nap site.

So we decorated the tree as best we could; it’s half a foot bigger than the last tree and definitely much fuller, so our ornaments are a bit more spread out than normal. We’ve bought a tacky ornament every season we’ve been together and sometime in the next week we’ll go out and buy our ninth ornament. Nine. As Oma says, “Gut Lord.”

Silly Rock Star with our fancy new tree.

And it looks good, I’m really liking our new tree quite a bit. Even Attila begrudgingly approves, once he found out we were going to try and figure out a way to make room for his beloved papasan this year.

On his cushion under the tree--just not the same as his chair.

I hope you’ve got some lovely holiday decorations that bring a smile to your face.
-K

Read Full Post »

I have an awesome new job.

Yes. Yes I do. My mother and father used to give Ben and I such shit about how eventually we were going to have to finally “grow up and join the rest of the adult world.” You see, we are night people (Ben more than me even). We aren’t conventional people. Ben is a musician who has started painting guitars on the side. And I am an artist who is so very sick and tired of working in retail to pay the bills. My parent’s kept trying to convince us that our late-nights and casual attire were going to have to become a thing of the past. HA!! I say. We have become some of the lucky ones. Ben teaches guitar and I have recently been hired as a camera-woman for a local vendor show. We each “work” only about 20ish hours each week (actually if you include his swirling time, Ben works about 30ish probably). And they’re both late shift jobs. Ben in the afternoon/evening and me during the evening/night. Our days are totally free. We’ve become that couple you see walking around on a Tuesday afternoon and you (or at least I would) wonder how their bills get paid.
I love it. It’s so wonderful. And it’s just further proof that if you stick to your goals, you don’t have to wind up some grumpy old man who hates the job he’s had for the past 30 years.

We beat the system!! Cheers!!

-K

Read Full Post »

Where we’ve been: A summer recap in images.

Although technically we’re not done with summer yet and we’ve still got some major events coming up in the next two weeks (a birthday party; a bachelor party; a wedding), I just cannot handle how absent I’ve been from my blog. So, to recap in a few images, this has been our summer. (I should also note that Ben’s swirling venture has picked up considerably, and a good portion of this summer as been spent with guitars as a whole and in pieces laying about/dangling down our entire house–fortunately we’ve moved all his music-ish/guitarish things into his new blog and I won’t have to reiterate it here.) We’ve been:

:painting lots of furniture…

now it's black and in the music room/library

:doing a lot of organizing, clearing out, cleaning up…

what you're missing are the five other stacks around/behind the coffee table

:dog-sitting…

If you can get Ollie to sit still, he still looks a bit crazy...

:having Ben’s birthday parties…

well into the night for us

Boston Cream Pie cupcakes over homemade vanilla ice cream

:taking walks at the lake…

and don't forget the Sonic slushies!!!

:going camping with my family…

Those are two outdoorsy kids if I ever saw some!

We make the best camping food ever! EVER!!!

...to be fair, I'm pretty sure princess here was chewing on a stick

Ollie gets all kinds of filthy when he camps

My research-loving, librarian-in-training sister figured out that this is actually an elm sawfly or Cimbex americanadoes. There's a link to it in the comments section. (Thanks, Jess!)

:taking baths…

cleanliness is very important here

:going to the beach with my family (including Sister! YAY!!!)…

PALE PEOPLE!! PALE PEOPLE!!! (it's much better in a doomish sort of voice)

basically this is all I did for seven days; it was blissful

perfection

–and whilst we were at the beach, my poor berated mother forced everyone into a black and white portrait session; and while I think the best family image is only adequate, I really love the more individual shots:

My parents may be the cutest couple I've ever met--they're celebrating their 30th anniversary in September this year.

To my mother's constant chagrin, we cannot help being goofy.

caught in a moment of sweetness

My sister, the most adorable woman on the earth.

The motivation behind the entire photoshoot. Please note the underlying sense of aching hunger within each person.

It’s been a great summer and it’s not quite over yet!
-K

Read Full Post »

Busy Busy, All a-dizzy

Sorry about the privatization of the last post–it’s not so much about hiding it from any of the random readers, it’s more about keeping it Un-Googleable. Just message me for the password if you feel so inclined.

We’ve been super busy here at Ye Ole Petler Inn. I L-O-V-E being unemployed. And I love that Ben is being so beautifully supportive about me being unemployed. I’m going to hate it in another month when it’s time for me to find another shitty job to help pay the bills. I’ve gotten so much work done around the house and now that the house is significantly more de-cluttered (we two are notorious pack rats), I can focus more of my energy in creating things. Luckily for me, there is a whole slew of birthdays and weddings coming up that will be taking up a significant amount of my time.

Ben and I have spent a lot (A LOT–A LOT) of time playing Tekken 6 for the PS3. We love that game and it’s one of the few video games where I actually stand a chance against Mr. Ben a.k.a. Best Videogamer EVER. Thus far my favourite (new) character is Alisa, although I’m getting some good play out of Zafina as well. I usually try to stay away from the girls as I want to avoid being The-Girl-Who-Chooses-Girl-Characters plus usually the men have better combos. But Alisa is BAD ASS, she promises to be quite amazing and I look forward to learning the extent of her fighting skills. Zafina is just simply too weird to be predictable which makes it easier for me to beat Ben (ha!). There is a big fat American character, Bob, who is surprisingly agile, and although I can’t do a lot with him (I’m just horrible at the larger characters, I’m not used to their slower reflexes) Ben does very well in kicking my ass using big fat Bob.

We saw Mastodon AND Baroness in concert and they were both FAN-FUCKING-TASTIC. I kept meaning to have ole Benard write up another concert review but both he and I kept forgetting.

We went to a Mormon ring exchange. The groom is a convert to the religion and this was a way for the majority of his friends and family to celebrate his wedded bliss (as non-Mormons cannot attend any formal ceremonies). It was sweet and nice and fun. And they asked me to be the photographer for it. Which was pretty cool and which I would have enjoyed a whole lot more had I had more than TEN HOURS notice to shoot it (also, I didn’t even get to the venue until 75 minutes before it all started). I hope they’re happy with the results. They’re a super fun (and totally bizarre) couple and I wish them the very best.

Later that same night we had Ben’s band (and respective lady-friends) over for making our own sushi. It ran too late (sushi always takes FOR-EV-ER to make), but it was still AMAZING and even though we ate as we rolled, we still had a ridiculous amount of food leftover. It’s a really good group of folks and I’m glad I can call each of them my friend.

Prep Work=DONE!

Luke, Joe, and Ian making some rolls.

FINALLY ready to sit & eat: Joe, Angela, Jessica, Ian, Ben, Luke, Karlee, and Kris.

For our anniversary we went to one of our favourite semi-local cities, Asheville. We spent the day wondering around and making some more dishes for our already too-full kitchen.

Mother’s Day was spent having the regular family brunch at Copper Cellar (WONDERFUL as per usual). And then Mama (and Ben) desperately wanted to see the aquarium. So we took Oma and the five of us spent the afternoon at Ripley’s Aquarium of the Smokies. After that we headed to Ben’s mother & stepfather’s house for some Mother’s Day hanging out.

Memorial weekend has always been spent celebrating my paternal grandfather’s birthday on the 29th (75 years old this year!) and the next day is spent celebrating Oma’s birthday (82 now). Monday we hosted band practice at our house as the drummer is at his home in Ohio for the next few weeks.

It’s been a super busy month for us, as May nearly always is and June promises to be nearly as full. We do have Ben’s birthday to celebrate at the end of the month, and he’s asking for a big party (we’re looking for a theme if anyone has any ideas) with all of our friends as it has been ages since we’ve done something with err’body and it will be good to see all of our friends in the same place again.

-K

Read Full Post »

Man Man!

Last Thursday, Kate and i trekked out to Lexington KY to see one of our absolute favorite bands in the world, Man Man! They are a band that we came across because Kate’s cousin suggested we check them out when they came through Knoxville last year. He told us that they were the best band he’d ever seen live, and that we wouldn’t leave disappointed if we saw them… he was totally correct on all accounts. They blew our minds, and we’ve been hooked ever since!

Rather than trying to describe what they sound like, which would take far too much time and every adjective in the book (plus a few made up ones), i suggest you head over to their myspace page and give them a few plays. every song they have written is awesome. seriously. super cereal.

So we headed out around 5 pm thursday to KY… we used my new Tom Tom, Damien, for guidance, and it guided us there no problem! We got to the venue (Cosmic Charlie’s) and we initially very amused at the eclectic bunch huddled outside the club. there were stereotypical hippies, trendy scenesters, a few “normal” people, and WAY more metal-looking people than you would have guessed.

I saw one of the Man Man dudes at the venue, so i said hey and told him how much we loved their music. he seemed down to earth and cool! (Notice i didn’t say i saw the band’s “bassist”, “guitarist”, or whatever… you can’t label any of the dudes in the band with a particular instrument because they’re all constantly playing so many different things! keys, horns, drums… nothing is safe) He also told me that they are going to begin recording a new album here soon, so i’m already pumped about that.

The opening band was from our town of Knoxville, yet we had never heard of them! Strange, huh? They were called Shortwave Society, and they really impressed us! It’s also some really strange music… semi-electronic, semi classical, a little Radiohead… odd stuff, but very cool! check them out at their myspace page.
So onto the main event, Man Man… they started off with a song we had never heard, and it was great! It had almost a surf feel to it, which is unusual for the band. Very cool. They played another few songs which we got to enjoy before the unfortunate appearance of Dance Commander.

I do not know Dance Commander’s true identity, but he is at every show i ever attend, no matter the location or the band. You have probably also met Dance Commander. He’s the douche factory at every show who feels obligated to show you how much he likes the band by dancing enthusiastically in very close proximity of you, usually stomping on your feet, bashing into you, and whipping your face with his hair. He often appears at metal shows under the guise of Mosh Commander, the guy who knows that even though you are clearly just there to *watch and listen to* the bands play, what you really ought to be doing is moshing with him and the other sweaty guys in the pit. He is oblivious to any attempts you make to let him know that you are happy doing what you are doing. He knows better than you.

This time, Dance Commander (henceforth “DC”) was in the guise of a tall skinny guy with lank blone hair, wearing an army jacket. He looked like a wormy, scrawny mid-20′s version of Mike from Opeth. He looked like shit. We were standing next to a couple we didn’t know, and the girl was even shorter than Kate. I feel bad for short people at concerts, that can’t be much fun at all… so, DC gets all riled up and is bashing into all four of us, especially the girls who were farther in front so they could see better. We all are trying to grab him by the shoulder, push him forward, keep him away etc, and the guy just keeps his jive on, flipping out like some poor shit afflicted by St. Vitus’ dance.

Dude doesn’t let up. I am in the habit of pushing DC’s forward with my elbow rather than my hand (god forbid i jam a finger and don’t get to play guitar for a few days at the cost of some dancing shithead at a concert). I am a bony guy in the first place, but i had also just sharpened my elbows on my grindstone that morning in preparation for any potential DC episodes. So i’m grinding my elbow into dude’s back to keep him away from myself and the short girls (have i mentioned NOBODY else around us is dancing, just this guy? what a douche), and he just flips out and acts all pissed for a second and shakes off my elbow. He is such a bitch that he never turns to any of us to say “screw you guys, i’m having fun!” or anything like that, either, he just stands there for a second, then resumes with his spasming. Kate grabs him by the arm with kung fu grip for a solid 5 or 6 seconds before he even acknowledges her, and he looks at her all pissed and tries to get out of her grip. That pretty well pissed me off. So, i step in front of the girls to try and better keep DC away. After a song is finished, i put my hand on his shoulder and say “dude, you can have a good time without slamming into everybody. you’re pissing everyone off. knock it off”. He, of course, didn’t even act like he heard me, but when the next song started, he was a bit more chill. then his phone rang and he walked off. The show was MUCH more fun after that.

They played a few familiar songs, but about 75% of the tunes were new! They sounded fantastic. A little less gypsy influence than their old stuff, a little more drum heavy, and a lot of xylophone (which i could always use more of). As a followup, a few songs later, DC returned, although he was several rows of people in front of us. He stood in front of a few teenagers who looked pretty much just like the crew from the movie Kickass. They all had matching “WTF???” looks on their faces, and endured many brutal hair-lashings by the end of the set.

Overall, it was TOTALLY worth the drive. They really put on an amazing show, and put a lot of feeling (and fun) into what they do. If anyone could see this band live and not crack a smile or nod their head with the beat, i would be convinced that they may be some type of replicant. In the latter scenario, i would have no choice but to administer a Voight-Kampf Test then and there.

Don’t ever be Dance Commander, people. Man Man’s music is SO fun and they are SO great live… yet i was so distracted by this crapbag that i didn’t even get to enjoy a handful of their songs. If you’re at a show, be respectful of people who are standing around you. At metal shows, there is usually a section of the crowd that is made up of other moshers; join them, and leave others in peace. At rock shows, there might be a group of people dancing and bashing into each other all willy nilly. If you want to do that, go stand there. Leave everyone else alone! DON’T BE DANCE COMMANDER!!!

-Ben

Read Full Post »

tusa is tusa amháin, go deo

Today we celebrate nine years together. Well, technically tomorrow we celebrate them, but today is the official day. Today I had to work, and he has a show to play tonight. Oh, the life of a rock star. But tomorrow we do nothing but stare at each other until we’re ready to spend a day apart.

Not really.

Really, we’re going to Asheville to wander around and visit some of our very favourite spots. And be all ooey-gooey in public and wish we had enough forethought to order our gift early enough to use. (Anniversaries mean community gifts here at the ole Petler Inn; and this year the gift was a brand new [14 megapixels with super-macro wide angle lens!!!!] point-and-shoot camera for us to carry with us everywhere and also so Kate doesn’t have to be thisclose to an aneurysm each time Ben touches her good Nikon.)

Nine years with a person is a really long time. And it’s even longer when you live in the second notch of The Bible Belt and are still unmarried and have the absolute gall to live together.

And yet it seems like barely anytime at all has passed. He’s still the most amazing person I’ve ever met. And I’m still just so happy I walked up to that bowl-cutted (it’s a word now, dammit) homeschooler shopping with his mother and bugged the ever-living crap out of him until he agreed that yes, I am the most wonderful and fascinating person on the planet.

our happy zombie family

-K

Read Full Post »

Beguilements #2

Sorry we’ve not been updating much; between my mind being occupied by nothing else other than “GottaQuitMyJobNOW!!GottaQuitMyJobNOW!!GottaQuitMyJobNOW!!GottaQuitMyJobNOW!!GottaQuitMyJobNOW!!” whilst searching for nonexistent employment and Ben writing/recording music and friends coming into town to visit, we’ve been pretty swamped.

Things also occupying our time include:

Alice in Wonderland (3D): I love Tim Burton. I love Helena Bonham Carter. I love Johnny Depp. I love the books of Alice in Wonderland and Through the Looking Glass (although, oddly enough I’m not a real big fan of the Disney version). So it only makes sense that of course, I thoroughly enjoyed this movie.

Fantastic Mr. Fox: GREAT movie!! An amazing use of stop-motion animation (the real thing–none of your fancy-schmancy CGI stuff here). And an adorable story to boot–highly recommended.

Garbage Warrior: A really fascinating documentary about a revolutionary architect. Makes us want to buy property and hire this guy to build us one of his gorgeous green homes.

Novacaine: This one is a super dark comedy that was really enjoyable. Of course, I’m a huge Helena Bonham Carter fan and I love Steve Martin’s dry sense of humour.

The Shawshank Redemption: A classic. Sadly, Ben had never seen this wonderful movie before; his life is now a bit more complete.

Heathers: Another classic, I always forget how much I love this movie. I also take a whole lot of hope in knowing that there is no way hollywood can cash in on a remake of this destructive ’80s fun.

LOST: We’ve started season five with the hopes of catching up to watching the final episode of the series in real time. I’m not a huge fan of this show; I think there are a whole lot of problems that could have very easily been avoided by some basic forethought. Ben loves this show. LOVES IT.

Fast Food Nation: I’m halfway through this book and it is beyond informative/astounding/wonderful. Love.

My Sister’s Keeper: I’ve never seen the movie and I’m 3/4 of the way through this book, but it is powerful stuff.

-K

Read Full Post »