wil and kris (and gracie and ava)

so i decided to drop out of o’more. i got to thinking that i didn’t like design so much after all, and was really being called to something else…plumbing. yes, it is true, i am now an official plumber.

ok, not quite. last week i had quite another interesting experience involving a toilet and an inch of water (as all my posts the last few weeks have been so negative, i thought i wouldn’t complain on another thing, but here i go). although wil never seemed to notice, both of our toilets had been acting funny recently…like a loss of flushing power. and one night, of course while wil was out- one decided to overflow on me. and the best part? the water valve underneath is corroded, or painted, or old, and wouldn’t turn off with all my strength. here i was with every towel we own (minus our new wedding gift ones- i didn’t have the heart) and a pitcher, trying to bail myself out of the bathroom and panicking on how to turn it off (finding out that holding down the flap was the best plan!). it was actually more comical than anything if anyone saw me in my utter frustration and new wading pool.

some sopping and mopping up later, i told wil we needed to change the flap as it was beyond old and looked pretty weird and we went and bought some parts.

tonight was the night. i got out my supplies and worked up my strength to tackle the valve so i could fix the toilet. no luck…after observing flush after flush, (and some help from diagrams on the internet) i found out how to prop up a part to keep the refill from triggering and voila! a fixed toilet all on my own!

due to my success and the determination gleaming in my eye, i tackled the second toilet in no time (no problems there!). therefore, i decided plumbing is my true destiny. and you know, it felt good to do something he-manish on my own, even if i have a husband to take care of me…

who was playing xbox the whole time, mind you…

well, i just wanted to say that i got my license too… (responding to kristen’s license post) …

it’s nicer for me because my oregon license was cracked and almost broken (thus apparently making it ‘invalid’… which disallowed me to drink alchohol at certain restaurants) and was out of state, which also makes it invalid…in tennessee… whatever.

so, now i don’t have to worry about that junk! woo hoo!

it’s like i’m sixteen all over again!

-simple

other quick updates:

• i had a wonderful 5 days off from work… my weekend was extended since my boss decided that we didn’t need to go to work on monday, and with days off/class on tuesday and wednesday, i had a great spontaneous mini break! (this of course, allowing me to do my important things on the list)
• i have officially delved into my senior thesis as of the past couple days. although the summer class started two weeks ago, i was really struggling with getting a foothold into my concept and what i wanted to pursue for my senior studio project. hopefully more on that in the future as i get farther into my research and ideas.
• wil and i are planning our first trip together for this weekend…atlanta, here we come! nothing too exciting though. our plan is to stay in the cheapest hotel for a night, as we are just going to shop (not girly shopping, i promise!) for a day. we received some money from the wedding that we’ve set aside for some furniture at ikea (thus going to atlanta). and since we also received some gift cards to places we don’t have in franklin, we will be hitting those spots too. we’ll see how it goes!

now first of all, i realize that my last few posts have been fairly negative, so i decided to make sure the next one was upbeat and happy about life. but… i had quite an experience today.

the day started quite well- the sun was out, i was up sort of on time, and had a morning cup of coffee and bowl of yummy cereal. wil was off for the day to help his friend david move, while i prepared to run a few errands. upon walking out the door, the postal man caught me before getting into my car to hand me my mail (he probably didn’t know where the box was amidst the trash in the front!). there in the stack of envelopes was the certified copy of our marriage license! woohoo! i can finally prove to everyone that my name is kristen hansen!

i decided to add to my errand list a stop to the social security office to do a quick name change and request a replacement card. boy was i wrong when i thought the word “quick.”

after driving into nashville and almost getting lost in search for the office, i parked and walked in. uh oh…the place was cram packed with people…old people, young people, babies and lots of people that didn’t speak english. i stepped over to the number machine and watched as it spit out the number “96.” not soon after finding a spot against a wall, i heard on the overhead “number 53? number 53, window 4 please.” are you kidding me?!?!?!?! i drove all the way out here to wait 43 numbers to be called before me!!! knowing i wouldn’t have the time or energy to try again another day, i decided to wait it out…

TWO HOURS LATER…i walked up to the window to do the 5 minute procedure of handing over my paperwork.

but the best part of the two hour wait? oh let me tell you, it was an exciting time. it started when the security guard in the back yelled at everyone for talking, and threatened the group that whoever spoke or gestured next would be thrown out. yikes! not soon after, a man in a motorized wheelchair with one eye tried to start talking to me…i didn’t want to be rude, but i also didn’t want to lose my chance of waiting for my number to be called and be thrown out! luckily, he decided to drive away to get a drink of water (probably due to my nonsocial attitude). about an hour into the wait, i nabbed a seat. not soon after a woman who did not understand the idea of “personal space” sat next to me and i was about pushed off my seat, a few times. she went out to her car a bit later and came in, letting her friend know that she thought someone stole stuff out of her car. due to the no-talking rule, the security guard and the woman began to argue about who knows what, as the f-word flew between every other word…i couldn’t quite decipher what they were yelling as they “took it outside”! another yikes!

the adventure was the last thing i planned on today; and it somewhat spoiled my afternoon. except for one fact: i am now legally recognized by the u.s. as kristen hansen! nothing can get me down after that!

dena: i can see why you waited to change yours; don’t go through what i did and just mail the application in instead!

tonight was a pretty fun night.  kris and i went to a birthday party of a friend of hers and cassie’s.  it was alrigh, we ate some pretty tasty food, and talked a lot about horses (whoopee!)… but the best part was after the birthday party.

cassie, mike and kristen and i headed back to our house.  we played cranium and sipped some tasty coffee.  mike and i were on a team and played against the girls.  we sped our way around the board with the ladies nipping at our heels the whole way.  and on the last turn, for the win, i drew a picture of a ‘handstand’ with my eyes closed and mike shouted it out; victory was ours!!!

this isn’t the first time mike and i have beaten the girls, no no.  last time we played trivial pursuit and the time before that we played euchre… both times, mike and i were the victorious team.  that makes three games in a row that we have overtaken the girls with our strategeous minds.

i really love hanging out with cassie and mike.  they are such a funny couple and we all get along really well.  they are, by far, my favorite couple to hang out with in tennessee.  we are hoping to get a camping trip together with them in the near future.  it would be great to get out into the wilderness with them and brave the…. ‘elements’ of a campfire and mosquitos.

thanks cassie and mike, for enjoying the evening with us.  kris and i love you guys and can’t wait until the next time we get to hang together.

-simple

just some pictures of the daily madness…

you may have noticed that the look of this site is changing quite often. don’t worry, it’s not your web browser, it’s my software. some of the themes that i have been using are coming up with the same ‘glitch’ that i am trying to work around. i am working on a way to fix that glitch, but for now i have had to install new looks that are more stable. i have a lot of free time today, so i expect to come up with a solution at some point. keep an eye out for a stable and good look to my site!

*update*

i’ve got the glitch under control right now.  and it should stay that way unless i decide to ‘tamper’ with it some more.  i don’t have comments under the ‘coffee requests’ page anymore.  instead of commenting, just email me… that way you can post your mailing address privately.

-simple