Did I mention we bought a house?

Meanwhile, Bethany has worked during the day to get 20-some 3rd graders to stop thinking about summer break and focus on passing a poorly construed standardized test that does little to track learning but is still for some reason the sole, official measuring stick for her success. Talk about stress. (She did a great job, by the way!)

And get this. I’m one of only three reporters remaining at the Telegram right now, (No, we haven’t had layoffs. Just slow on the draw replacing a few staff writers.) and therefore have been writing about 12 stories a week. In a single day last week, I wrote about a police standoff with an armed criminal, a county-government budget work session, an update about that wounded soldier and boating safety tips.

Yeah.

That’s why we’re both so excited that 15 days from today …

… it’s beach time!

And check this out. It’ll take us about two hours on the road to get to that ocean sunset. TWO HOURS!

We live a charmed life.

Since our last communication, Bethany and I STARTED looking at houses, lined up financing and insurance and all that stuff, made bids on two homes, purchased a house — thanks, Obama! — near North Raleigh, stripped carpeting, primed, painted and touched up a lot of trim and walls, packed everything we own, ripped out a counter (to make room for the fridge we thought would fit), laid 600 square feet of laminate flooring, moved ALL of our stuff on a giant 27-foot truck, fixed a leaky pipe, bought a kitchen table, unpacked most everything we own and, somehow, still found time to watch 27 replays of Lebron James hitting the most amazing 3-pointer in Cavs history.

These are exciting times indeed. The below photos should help you understand how tired — and overjoyed — we are

Not to shabby for first-time homeowners, eh?

The living room right after I ripped the carpet out.

Snap your fingers: The living room, one week later.

The kitchen right after we closed.

Amazing what Bethany can do with a little elbow grease!

We knew we were going to like this eat-in kitchen.

But who knew it would look this nice?! Table was $18 on Craigslist, by the way.

This guy, along with several of our good North Carolina friends helped a lot! We are so blessed.

And Bowie keeps asking when we’re going to stop …

Never probably. We have three bedrooms, two bathrooms and a stairwell yet to go. We’ll keep you posted on the progress. I’m sure it will be a work-in-progress well into the next decade! More pictures will follow.

So when you going to come visit?!

Bags packed—check

Papers to grade (yuck) —check

Book to read when I’m avoiding the papers to grade—check

Blanket( maybe a raincoat since the passenger side window is broken) –check

Everything that has Bowie’s name on it (we will be leaving him with some unsuspecting soul)—check

Now I just have to prepare myself to sit in a car for 9 hours with my dumb dog.  I’m mad at him today.  Not only did I wake up to find him sleeping on our nice pillows in the chair that is off-limits, but then I found that he had pulled EVERYTHING  out of the garbage and decorated the dining room with it.  AFTER  I spent all day yesterday cleaning.   This dog is BEGGING  for me to open the door and let him go.

I’m looking forward to holding my best friend’s fat baby that looks like her husband’s clone (I’m not kidding, its kinda scary, I’ll post pics) and spending the day with my mama.  Its been way too long since we have had a girl’s day so I’m guessing we are going all out.  Shopping, lunch, more shopping, maybe a movie or a pedicure, hot tub and gossip magazines!  I can’t wait.  And NOT talking about buying a house cuz I feel like I’ve reached my limit of talking mortgages and offers. Yay!

Veteran wants state to replace ‘devil’s’ license plate

By Mike H.

A Nash County man is pleading with state motor vehicle officials to take back his newly minted North Carolina license plate and swap it for another.

The wellbeing of his soul could depend on it, he said.

“I’m Catholic, and I’m sorry,” Lenny Ruiz said this week, “but my momma would come out of her grave and beat on me if I put that on my vehicle. I mean, seriously.”

Ruiz, 59, said he was shocked – if not a little disturbed – when he picked up his new plate at the Rocky Mount license agency off Stone Rose Drive. The special Vietnam War veteran tag was wrapped in plastic and shining, Ruiz said. But there was a problem.

The number on the plate read, A666.

“I’m not the world’s most religious person,” Ruiz said, “but common sense tells you that’s the devil’s call number.”

Click here to continue reading

Less than an hour after the story was posted online, a state official with the DMV in Raleigh called Mr. Ruiz, apologized and offered free plates.

It’ll be a sad day if newspapers die.

Anyway, so we’re thinking about buying a house again. Interest rates are nearing 4 percent and the federal government wants to give us $8,000 to do it. Did we mention homes in Raleigh are selling for 20 percent under tax value?

More on this in a later posting.

Needless to say, I was more than happy to see a fat, T-shirt wearing, keyboard playing, slobbering bulldog when I came into work this morning. I needed the pick-me-up. [On a side, what does it say about the newspaper business if a local nonprofit sends a therapy dog to visit our staff every week or two?]

Meet Meatloaf:

I’ll take that over the other fat, T-shirt wearing musical artist named Meatloaf  any day.

By the way, I’m pretty sure it’s possible to sing these lyrics along to the video:

Some days it don’t come easy
Some days it don’t come hard
Some days it don’t come at all, and these are the days that never end
Some nights you’re breathing fire
Some nights you’re carved in ice
Some nights you’re like nothing I’ve ever seen before or will again

Yes, I tried it.

And although I sit at a desk and write all day for a living, I am at least capable of looking real manly when I do it. You should see the face I’m making as I type this.

Bad. Ass.

And if that is not enough, here’s more evidence:

Oh yeah, that’s a Bobcat. And I’m driving it. Real man like.

It was so ridiculous, I burst into a spat of giggles! Hehe!

Long story short, I was working on an article about a local guy who lost his dream home when the interest rate on his mortgage surged and his tree removal business tanked (see video on right). I was getting some footage of him and his crew cutting trees, when he decided I should drive heavy machinery around his client’s yard. He started the Bobcat, showed me the controls, then said “have fun” and left. Later he had me rev up an industrial chainsaw so I could feel the torque and sent me home with a stack of wood so I could start a fire.

My man-stock soared several hundred points that day.

Tomorrow, I think I might sit down and scrapbook the entire event!

Some of the higher-ups at work have been upset with this series of stories I’ve been working on titled “Faces of the Recession.” Check it out if you get a chance. I’ve written stories about a rehab home shutting down, an upscale sandwich joint closing, a woman who lost her “domestic partner” and might lose her home, and a logger whose dream retirement home went into foreclosure this year.

Anyway, my bosses’ boss thinks the series might be too negative. My editor said to keep up the good work.

Right. Otherwise, life is great in the NC. When I get a moment this weekend, I’ll update ya’ll in more detail. Crazy stuff happens in our lives.

For example, I drove a bobcat yesterday. And today an eye doctor asked me if my “mom and dad” had helped me pick out my new glasses.

And earlier this week, my teacher wife made a kid pee his pants.

Good times.

Although Jack is small, pampered and sort of delicate, he also seems the perfect high-society compliment to Bowie’s …  gruffness.

Look at how they’ve bonded:

Bowie has been only a little possessive so far, and for the most part has been quite hospitable.

Plus Jack shares our family passion for lounging, laying and overall laziness.

This message is for both blog moms: Jack is the perfect dog for you – yes mother Hix, even you. He’s small. He loves to cuddle and snuggle. He fits in your palm. And he doesn’t shed. At all.

Don’t tell Bowie, but Jack actually slept in bed with us last night! Which led to an odd sensation I never thought I would feel:

The fear I might be cheating on my dog.

So what does my “Girl’s Night” include you ask?  Chinese food from the one and only (literally here in Zebulon) Good Taste Chinese Food, sweat pants, a warm blanket, movies (Sex and the City, Shag, Under the Tuscan Sun) and some kind of chocolate (maybe the cheesecake I bought for Mike).  Oh and my dog curled up at my feet.

So we “celebrated” Valentine’s day today.  We aren’t suppose to have parties so it was short and sweet.  And I wouldn’t have it any other way, 20 kids with down time and sugar?  No thank you!  Anyway one of the best things about being a teacher is the gifts.  Even if some of them are weird.  I got a flower, a candle, tons of candy, and a giant pencil (from one of my trouble makers).  Mike even got some candy.  I also had a conversation with one of my students about “tricking” a lock and how he would get his mom’s gun if someone broke into his house.  Sometimes work breaks my heart.  I did get hugs from two of my “tough” boys, so I guess it was a good day.  I try not to force hugs on the kids but it always makes me feel better when they give me one.  I don’t think I could teach and not get the random hug.  Even if the kid has ringworm (yes, ringworm).  So far the rest of my class hasn’t gotten it yet.  We’ll keep praying that’s the case.  The joys of being an elementary school teacher!

I figured since Bethany posted something for the first time, we would be good for about a month. That was a big deal, right?

But my logic is probably flawed. So, once again, sorry to all the people (moms and carrie) who have missed us. Someday I’ll learn to be consistent.

What’s up with our lives right now, you ask? Well, we’re both entirely distracted by work and the fact that it has been 65+ degrees and sunny everyday this week, including a few days in the mid-70s. Eat it Ohio!

Bethany is ready for the summer. She’s been saying that since late September, though.

The Fayetteville Observer job that I interviewed for fell through – they went from hiring two reporters to laying off two – so I’m in Rocky Mount for a while longer. Although, things don’t seem to be going much better there. I received my writing awards last night at the banquet that I mentioned before. You know, the one I was pumped to bring my wife to. But there was an unfortunate twist. The paper lost so much money the last two months, the higher-ups are cutting expenses wherever they can, and so, spouses were un-invited.

I was more upset about it than Bethany, I guess. I just wanted to see her in that dress!

And although I bumped into the editors at the Fayetteville paper last night while holding my awards, and even though they said they would have hired me in a heart-beat had economics not turned sour, the demise of my industry has me thinking about maybe going back to school. Not to abandon journalism or writing, but simply to broaden my options.

Do you think I would make a good teacher?

Bethany said I’d be better off dead … whatever that means. I’m hoping it’s not a threat.

Anyway, for those of you who actually stumble over to this site thinking we might update it, answer me this: If you could go back to school and be whatever you wanted when you grow up, what career would you choose?