Movin' On Up!

Errr, rather, moving to a cheaper place not within walking distance to a metro, so to some that may be movin' on down.  But, this is Step #2 in our my house buying plan.  Step #1, the self imposed budget detailed in #9 (which we are almost finished with Month 2 and things are going well.  Tough, but going well.  Thinking twice about every purchase makes you realize that things aren't always necessary.).

After analyzing our monthly "goes in" and "goes outs," we realized that we just wouldn't be saving enough to make this house purchasing dream feasible in a year if we stayed in our current apartment.  And by feasible, I mean, being able to purchase a house in the area we want to purchase.  We will either need a bigger down payment or buy a fixer upper, either way, extra savings will be needed.  So about two weeks ago, I began stalking Craigs List for a new temporary home.  We were really trying to find a small townhouse or house that had a yard, so we wouldn't have to elevator down multiple stories (or worse, walk down multiple flights of steps!) to take the K-Man out.  Oh, and the place had to be cheaper than our current monthly rent of course, which let's be honest, wasn't too difficult since we were paying a pretty penny.  But in order to find what we were looking for, we came to the conclusion that it was very unlikely that we'd find a livable (read: clean, safe, non-dilapidated) place near a metro that met the criteria: yard + cheap.

As horrible as "not being metro accessible" may sound at first, after putting some more thought into it, it really shouldn't be that bad.  First off, I drive to work the majority of days.  I get to expense the cost of the parking garage and it cuts my commute by 20 minutes, so it's kind of a no brainer at this point.  However, my current job location will be changing in June as my client's office space is moved to the Mark Center as part of BRAC.  The Mark Center is off 395 in a non-metro accessible location, so I'd already have to metro to a different metro station to catch a shuttle bus to the office since parking will not be available to contractors.  So we focused our search in the Shirlington and King Street areas of Arlington/Alexandria.  

The first place we went to was this really huge, 3BR + basement duplex, but it was very outdated.  It had a yard, but it was mainly dirt.  The current tenant is a jack of all trades and dabbled in a lot of activities, including raising fish, a vegetable garden, and brewing beer - all of which was set up in the backyard.  Hmmm.   We didn't love it and it was a few hundred more than we were hoping to spend a month, so we kept on looking.

Then a few days later, I found a post on Craigs List and almost immediately fell in love.  It was a 2BR townhouse that had been completely renovated.  And the owner had created a separate blogspot web page with even more pictures (since CL only allows four pics to be posted).  I loooved the fact that she put it all out there since it meant she had nothing to hide.  I fell in love with the place from the pictures before even going to see it and I was so nervous that it would be scooped up by someone else.

We saw the place, and it really looked just like the pictures.  We saw one other place later that evening, but emailed the lady before bed to let her know we wanted to proceed and she let us know that G$ and I were her first choice and were hoping we wanted it as well.  Good thing we come off as a stable, financially sound, normal married couple! :)

A little bit about our new place:
It is a historic community, called Parkfairfax, which began as rental units constructed to meet World War II civilian housing needs. In 1978, Parkfairfax was converted to condominiums.  Check out the detailed history! Funny, G$ and I had actually driven through this little community on the way to softball fields, but never had any idea just how large it was (132 acres!) or how old the townhouses were (built in the 40s!).

A few pictures...
 

Yes, that is a chalkboard wall AND a wine fridge!

 

Dining room with door to patio.

Patio!

Family Room

Family Room with view of stairs

There are a few things that will be different:

• Living on two stories.  I have never lived in a non-one-level apartment since I moved out of my parents' place!
• Only one bathroom, which is on the second floor.  I think I'd rather it this way than the opposite and having to run downstairs to go to the bathroom in the middle of the night!
• Window A/C units, but our heat is boiler/radiator, which is included in the rent along with the gas and water!  We just have to pay electricity and cable/internet! 

Master Bedroom - looove her rug!

2nd Bedroom - which will be our office

But, it has...

• A completely renovated kitchen
• Ample storage space in the attic for G$'s school papers that he refuses to get rid of!  Admittedly, also for some of my stuff as well. 
• Patio with space for an outdoor grill!  I cannot even begin to explain how ecstatic I am about this!
• No elevators or stairs or long walks to get to the designated dog area multiple times a day with Kairo
• Saving $700 a month!

As some of you may have seen, I recently starting pinning area rugs on Pinterest.  Since we will be coming from a carpeted place, we are going to have to buy a few area rugs (which aren't cheap!), so I'm doing my research early in hopes of finding a good deal on a super cute rug.

At first, I was nervous to make the commitment (who isn't a little apprehensive about change!), but the more I think about it, and the more I see those pictures, the more excited I get about the new place.  Now, we just need to schedule the move, find movers, and pack...ugh!

Hope everyone has a great week!

K$

Kairo Update - Part 2

I know the last post was titled "Kairo January Update - Part 1" but this update has actually extended into February, so I think I'm right on track for once. 

When we went to the vet for Crisis #1, we also asked the vet about this small bump on Kairo's chest.  It had started out about the size of a pimple and at the time of the vet visit, had grown to about the size of a dime.  The vet said not to be concerned.  Since it was a growth on the skin rather than more internal near organs, it was likely non-cancerous.  Phew.  Well a few weeks later, I get a call from G$ informing me that daycare had called him to let him know that Kairo's chest growth had been cut open and was bleeding.  Gross.  Since the vet visit, the growth had grown from the size of a dime to probably about a quarter/half dollar and was protruding even more.  To be on the safe side, G$ called the vet and they were able to fit him in that afternoon.

The Diagnosis:  A benign fatty tumor
The Treatment: Wait 6-8 weeks to see if Kairo's body would dissolve it on his own, and if not, surgery to remove it.

Now that it was cut open, it started to bleed pretty easily, which would then lead to Kairo incessantly licking it.  The vet recommended either making him wear the cone/inner tube of shame or to put a t-shirt on him to prevent the licking.  So for the past 6-8 weeks, Kairo has been sporting cutoff, midriff t-shirts.  He had five shirts in rotation: two old softball shirts, a kickball shirt, a mock turtle tunic shirt from my Goodwill pile, and the classiest of them all, a Coors Light shirt from my cross-country road trip (yes, Jack, I randomly thought of and found the incomplete blog we kept during our adventures to California and back.  Talk about a trip down memory lane!).  Since he only had five shirts, I was doing dog laundry more frequently than human laundry.

It was a vicious cycle:

1. Wound would scab over at night
2. Wound would re-open during the day either while at daycare, on a walk, or at playtime with the dogs
3. We'd clean it, change his shirt, and he'd go to bed.  
4.  Repeat

The failed attempt with the inner tube.  He. Hated. It.

 Kind of funny, if he saw you go for the bactine, he would try to run the other way because he knew what was coming.  G$ and I had it down to a science: we'd put the clean shirt on his head, then G$ would pick him up from behind, I'd spray the wound, then slip his arms into the sleeves and tie up the shirt 80s style so the shirt neck wouldn't stretch to the point where he could lick the wound.
At first, both G$ and I were very self conscious.  We didn't want to be those people who dress their dog in clothes, so if anyone made a comment about the shirt (and even sometimes when they didn't), we'd quickly say, he's wearing the shirt because he has a cut he keeps trying to lick.  Yes, yes, we did.

He did look super cute in the shirts though, don't you think?  :)

Well about two weeks ago, we noticed that the scab was getting smaller and smaller, which could only mean that tumor was gradually shrinking.  Hurray!  Then last week, the scab was so small, it was hardly even a scab anymore, so we decided it was time for Kairo to go nakey again.  And man, we had forgotten just how beautiful his sleek coat is! 

Now the most important February update is that there are only five more days left.  Which if we can make it five. more. days, then we we will have had a vet-free February!  And I probably just jinxed us...

Hope everyone has a great weekend!  I know I'm super thrilled about our plans for Saturday: helping my parents' mulch!  Heavy sarcasm, of course.  But carrying 50 pound bags of much will be a good workout, right?  If not, I can squat them or do a weighted run to the backyard. 

<3
K$

Be Mine!

Happy Valentine's Day!

I saw this picture on ARLnow.com, an Arlington blog I follow and I thought it was only appropriate if I also posted it here:

photo by Chris Rief

G$ and I have no big plans for this evening.  We were actually slackers and didn't get up to go to the gym, so we have a date night at CrossFit.  Whoop! 

<3
K$

Kairo January Update - Part 1

It’s been quite an eventful January in the Kairo department of our life.

We started off the New Year with a trip to the emergency vet.  What a way to say “Hello 2012!”  On Sunday, New Year’s Day, we decided to take a loooong walk with the K-Man (and perhaps to walk by some of the houses for sale in the surrounding neighborhood – you know, just for fun, since they are either entirely out of our price range, or are in our price range, but overlooking the waste treatment facility, where I can only imagine the stench in the summer is unbearable).  After walking about two and a half miles, we were at a park close to home (actually, right by the softball fields we sometimes play on), and Kairo decides to take off after a squirrel, running full speed until he hits the end of the retractable leash.  He was then thrown back and to the side, completely wiping out on his left side.  And he didn’t get up right away and when he did, his leg was in a very odd position, almost like his hip was dislocated.  He gradually put his back left leg back down, but would not put pressure on it to walk.  He slowly hobbled/three-legged walked over to the bleachers next to the softball field.  At which point, G$ and I decided that since we were still about a half mile away from home, we better get the car to pick him.  So, I quickly walked home, grabbed the keys, and drove back to pick up my injured puppy and husband. 

Loving the collage feature on Picnik

We got back into the apartment and Kairo was still not putting pressure on his leg.  We of course started Googling and looking into emergency vets.  Apparently, a dog not putting pressure on a leg is in veterinary terms called a “lame leg," which was on the list of symptoms that justified a trip to the emergency vet.  We decided to wait a few hours to see if things improved naturally on the off chance that maybe he was just shocked.  No dice.  Around 6:30 or 7:00 that evening, we called the emergency vet, explained what happened and his symptoms, and they said we should bring him in since they would not be able to diagnose his problem without feeling the joints, etc.  So off to the emergency vet we went.  It was a relatively quick process, especially considering the price-mark up (almost 3x a normal vet visit!).  The one thing I didn’t like is that they took Kairo to the back without us, did the evaluation, and then the vet came and talked to us.  Maybe that’s normal with other vets, but with our regular vet, he does the examination while we are in the room. 

Anyways, during our chat with the vet, she said it appears he either sprained or tore his Cranial Cruciate Ligament, or the human-equivalent of his ACL.  Greeeeeaaat.  She prescribed him with an anti-inflammatory and pain killer pills and told us to keep him immobile for the next few days, then schedule an appointment with our normal vet for a check-up towards the end of the week to see how he’s doing.  Once again, greeeeeaat.  Oh and she also threw out the evil “S” word – surgery.  In the context of, depending on how he’s doing in a week, it’s possible it was a bad tear and he could need surgery.  Awesome.  Fear, sadness, regret for going on the walk in the first place…every bad thought we could have crept into our minds.  We got home and tried to keep Kairo calm.  He napped, and for the most part didn't move too much that evening.  G$ did some research on the surgery and found there are tons of sites explaining the expense ($2-3K), questioning the quality of life of the dog after the surgery, as well as stating that once one leg is done, there’s usually a good chance the other leg needs to be done.  Oh man. 

We wake up the next morning and if G$ and I did not witness "the accident," we would have had no idea it even happened.  The K-Man was back!  But being overly cautious, we were going to follow the docs plan of no playing, only walks out to the bathroom and back.  Let's just say that Kairo was none too happy when he could hear his friends playing outside at 9:00 PM and we kept him inside.  Keeping him from playing with other dogs wasn't too bad - we just didn't take him outside for playtime and daycare was of course out of the question.  What was difficult though, was keeping him from playing inside the house.  He had a lot of pent up energy and was over excited leading to donuts around the house - on the couch, up on the bed, like a crazy man dog.  And there was little to nothing we could do.  I kept chalking it up to him being better; however, G$ was more nervous that there was still damage.

We scheduled an appointment with our regular vet for Thursday after work and let me tell you, Thursday could not come soon enough.  We met with the vet, he cleared the K-Man, while also micro-chipping him (since we forgot to have that done while he was getting neutered).  And we went out for evening playtime that night.  We decided we would wait to take him to daycare until the following week.  So Crisis #1 averted.



Onto Crisis #2...which I will leave for another post. 

<3
K$

11 Things

I was tagged by my good friend Heather from Then Comes Baby. But, since I don't have any other friends with blogs, this is where the chain ends...

11 Random Things About Me...

1. I laugh at everything.
2. There are weekends where I am completely content hunkering down for a marathon TV watching session - the best is when the series is over and you can watch episode after episode.  Although the K-Man has made this a little more difficult. 
3. Although I am very organized with life and work, I cannot keep our apartment clean.  Inevitable, our just-cleaned peninsula counter gets cluttered once again.  It frustrates me beyond belief, but I just can't keep the crap off it. 
4. I have a way of making very convenient things inconvenient - in my head anyways.  Today a co-worker mentioned that she brings her clothes to the dry cleaner below our building and I actually said: "Wow, that's so convenient.  I have one in my apartment building, but it's just so inconvenient to get to that I usually leave dry cleaning there for a couple weeks after it's ready."  And as soon as it came out of my mouth, I realized how ridiculous I sounded.  Yeah, the door to the dry cleaning place is not near the entrance to my apartment building, especially if I'm driving and parking in the garage.  But to say it's not convenient, that's just absurd.  I'm lazy. 
5. I am dying to buy a house.  Let's chalk it up to "nesting."  I peruse Redfin at least a few times a week, if not once a day.  
6. I am obsessed with DIY & Home Design blogs where people take some ugly furniture from a thrift store that they bough for super cheap and make it look beautiful!
7. Reading all these DIY blogs, led me to embark on my first DIY project - magnetic chalkboards for my brother and his wife's wedding gift and one for G$ and I.  Let's just say they are still a work in progress - Scott and Amy got married last May.  I have all the supplies, I've just realized that I have a few roadblocks in my way: 1) not having a backyard to spray paint in and 2) a dog that likes to get into anything, so even getting non-spray paint and doing it inside is out of the question.  Ahhh, once it's warmer, I am going to take Scott and Amy up on using their yard to finally finish up this project that has been in progress for well over half a year now... 
8. I'm an addict.  I have a coffee/caffeine addiction.  If I don't get "the juice" in me, I have a splitting headache by mid-afternoon.  
9. G$ and I have been following a strict budget in 2012 to curb our discretionary spending (i.e. eating out, online shopping, etc.) to add more money to save more money in the "the house fund."  We each have a set dollar amount for the month, so it's kind of become a competition, which helps.  January wasn't too bad, but man, I had an expensive first week in February.  Must bring lunch for the rest of the month, so we can have fun on the weekends.     
10. I'd love to take an adventure vacation like hiking Machu Picchu and Kilimanjaro
11. A few weekends ago, a rat came into my cube at work and ate through a gallon sized bag of trail mix and nibbled on a quarter of an apple.  Let's just say I was grossed out and sanitized everything.  Now all food is stored in a sealed plastic bin.  Take that, rats!
    

11 Questions from Heather...

1. You're singing karaoke. What's your song of choice? 
   Bon Jovi, Living on a Prayer, but I would need to be 1) intoxicated and 2) "performing" with a group. 
   
2. What is your most prized possession?
   This is a tough one.  I'm not sure I have one - or at least nothing jumped into my mind while I was writing this...  I'll let you know if that changes. 
   
3. What was the worst job you've ever had?
   My worst job was also my best job.  Lifeguarding.  The good: I will never have another job where I can bask in the sun and get a tan while working.  The bad: cleaning public restrooms, especially pulling out the dry-deck mats to scrub them and the disgusting floor underneath them twice a summer.  Dreaded. It.
   
4. Do you have any phobias?
   Not a down right phobia - have you seen the show Phobia?  Those people have legit phobias.  I'm just not super keen on spiders, snakes, and dead animals.  Kairo has a tendency to want to sniff dead birds and squirrels and when I finally realize what he is smelling, I FREAK OUT.  Like super-high-pitched-girly-scream freak out. :)
   
5. You are wearing your favorite outfit. Do you put on heels or flats?
   Flats.  I can't remember the last time I wore heels with a outfit for a non-dress-up occasion.  Shocker, right?! 
   
6. Have you ever met anyone famous?
   Nope.
7. Do you have any pet peeves?
   Here we go...
   • Unformatted - or not properly formatted - Word documents, PowerPoint presentations, or Excel spreadsheets: Frustrates me more than you would know.  
   • Dishes in the sink
   • Common grammar errors: your/you're, their/there, its/it's
   • Incompetent people who slow down everyone around them: Sadly I get to deal with this on a daily basis.   
8. Name the best concert you've ever been to and why.
   Also a tough one.  I'd probably have to say the first Kenny Chesney concert I ever went to back in high school since it's what hooked me on country music and going to many a country concerts with friends and family for summers to follow.
   
   Oh and it wouldn't be fair if I didn't mention my first concert ever - Marky Mark and the Funky bunch - where I was soooo embarrassed when Marky Mark did his whole pants dropping thing that I looked down. 
   
9. Do you collect anything?
   Nope, which is probably a good thing as it would be another thing to organize and on display in our small, but not tiny apartment. 
   
10. Favorite breakfast food to eat?
    Omelets or breakfast casserole - eggs, meat, and cheese, please. 
    
11. Let's play "Do, date, dismiss" (hahaha): Ryan Reynolds, Bradley Cooper, Tom Brady :)
    Ohhh, throwback. 
    Do: Ryan Reynolds
    Date: Bradley Cooper
    Dismiss: Tom Brady (sorry Heath)

That was fun!  Hope everyone had a good Hump Day!  Only two more until the weekend!

<3
K$

CrossFit

I was originally planning to do a Kairo update (don’t worry it’s still planned), but since my last post was enlisting folks to do theMid-Atlantic Tough Mudder with us, I figured I should probably do a post regarding what G$ and I are doing to prepare since running that damn race again without training is not an option!

In the middle of November last year, G$ and I signed up with a CrossFit gym – Trident CrossFit in Alexandria for anyone in the area.   

What’s CrossFit, you ask?  Only the most amazing workout you’ll ever experience.  Ha!  Well, that’s true, but to be more specific CrossFit a combination of strength and cardio exercises, including push-ups, pull-ups, abs, box jumps, burpees, rowing, running, lunges, squats, and weight lifting (I wont even get into the names of the weight lifting moves, since they meant nothing to be before I started). 

And I think the best way to summarize my opinion on CrossFit: I have never enjoyed working out so much since high school sports, you know, when it really didn’t even feel like working out.  Now that’s saying a lot since it’s been almost 9 years since high school (and man that makes me feel old...).

How we got started?  A bunch of people I work with are huge CrossFit fan, some having been doing it for 4+ years.  I’ll admit, I was intrigued, but slightly deterred by the price.  I don’t want to get into numbers here, but let’s just say it’s comparable to small group personal training classes; therefore, not super cheap.  But, since I had tried almost everything to get in shape – including signing up for crazy runs in hopes that it would encourage me to run/train – to no avail, it was time to try something different.  And from what I heard, CrossFit was just the thing I needed, which was confirmed when G$ and I were channel surfing and came across the CrossFit Games on ESPN.  We watched and I was hooked – the competitive nature, the variety of workouts, and the push of having to give my all since others would be watching.   Since I’m the queen of justifying spending money, I figured if we tried it and liked it, the mere fact that I would actually be working out on a regular basis for the first time in 9 years, well, that’s probably worth the money, right?  So we bit the bullet and added the CrossFit payment (which is discounted since we get a couples rate) into our monthly budget. 

Even just in a few months, I’ve noticed:

• Muuuch better sleep.  I really only noticed this recently.  G$ and I were sick, so the past few weeks, my attendance was not great since I was opting to sleep in to prevent getting sick again.  Well this week, I got back on the horse and I could instantly tell that my sleep was improved – you know, you don’t realize the change until it goes back to bad.  Even with poop head XX Kairo wakes up in the middle of the night, it’s much easier for me to fall back asleep.  Ahhhh, nothing beats a great night of sleep. 
• All around feeling better, more awake, more energy.
• My slightly tight work pants are fitting much better due to losing some weight and body fat.  As many of you know, I lost a ton of weight about a year ago due to the stress of working crazy hours and not eating much – to the point where all my work pants were crazy loose, so I had to make a few purchases mid-winter last year.  Well, I gained a good amount of that back, but was still able to fit into the smaller sized pants, just that they were slightly snug and I didn’t feel comfortable tucking in button downs anymore.  I know, it’s a shocker, when you have more free time, eating is a little easier to do… :) So it’s been very nice to see some improvements in that department.  I know there is certainly room for more improvements, but I feel that seeing some progress is huge. 

What's a CrossFit Workout Like?

Amazing.  :)  The workouts themselves are usually not super long – anywhere from 7-25 minutes, but we are usually at the gym for about an hour with the warm-up, form skills work, lifting, workout, and cool down.  It usually plays out like this:  we arrive and start with a warm-up, which G$ and I joke is hardly a warm up, since we are breathing heavy and sweating within minutes.  Then if some sort of weight lifting is included in the workout, we do some skills work to ensure our form is good for the lifts, then we practice the lifts with weights while the trainers critique our form, then we usually do 3-5 sets with a gradual increase in weight – 75%, 85%, and 95% of your one rep max.  Then, as a group, the trainer reviews the WOD – or Workout of the Day (examples below).  Then we find some space, get our gear together (boxes, barbells, etc.).  Then the timer starts and we kick our own butt for 7-25 minutes depending on the workout.  And when I say "kick our own butt" I mean it - I am  usually dying and breathing heavy and soooo sweaty by the end of the workout.  Then we re-group and stretch to cool down.    

To give you an idea of what a CrossFit WOD is like, below are a few examples:

 

Example #1

5 min AMRAP (As Many Rounds As Possible)

 - Suicide sprint (100 yards)

 - 12 Box jumps (20 inches for males, 20 inches for females) 

2 min rest –shortest 2 minutes ever!

5 min AMRAP

 - 250m Row

 - 15 Kettle Bell Swings (I did 26 pounds)   

Then you post the number of rounds you were able to complete on the board.   

After posting our results for this one, we re-grouped in the area where we usually stretch, only to be faked out with the treat of an additional four minutes of work:  one minute of max effort at each “station” – sprints, box jumps, kettle bell swings, rowing.  Fun, fun!

 Example #2 

For Time:

 - 50 Push Presses – weighted barbell being pushed over your head, 50 times

 - 40 Burpees – if you don’t know what a burpee is, you don’t know what pain is.  I loathe burpees. 

 - 30 Row (calories)

 - 20 Wall Balls – Squatting and throwing a weighted ball into the air

Then you post your time on the board. 

Apparently, I'm not the only one who hates them!

T-Shirt from here

Sounds like fun, huh?!  :)  As I enthusiastically mentioned before, I love it!  I will periodically keep everyone posted on how things are going.  G$ and I have a scale now that measures body fat percentage, so I’m trying to get into a routine of tracking weight and body fat percentage on a weekly basis.  Nothing is more motivating than seeing results.

My Goals:

• Continuing to go at least 3 times a week (hopefully 4)
• Unassisted wall climb
• Pull-Ups
• To feel comfortable in a two piece bathing suit this summer

Happy Friday!  Hope everyone has a great weekend! 
 

<3

K$

Anyone Up For A Challenge: Tough Mudder Mid-Atlantic Sign-Ups!

It's official, G$ and I are insane and have signed up for another Tough Mudder race for Saturday, September 8.  This year's event is on a farm (read: NO SKI SLOPES), about an hour northwest of DC.  Click the link for more information and if interested, let us know and we can give you the password to join our team, which I assume ensures we all start at the same time!  You have until February 7 to sign up before the price increases.  Even though it sounds super crazy, just remember, G$ and I dragged ourselves through the finish line enthusiastically finished it last year without training.  Not that I would recommend anyone doing that, I just mean to say, although it is a badass race, if I can do it, I know most of you can do it too!    

Are you tough enough!?