Paint is like Duct Tape...

Again I've been ignoring my blog because of all the activity surrounding my recent move. Well, tomorrow is officially our final day in our town home and what a nightmare the cleaning process has been.

Seriously, where did we get so much shit? We found things we hadn't seen in over a year.

As I cleaned, I learned an important lesson. Paint is like duct tape, it can apparently fix anything.

As I was scrubbing the baseboards and counter tops, like a good resident would do before moving, I discovered that everything was actually getting dirtier as I scrubbed. How can this be you ask?

After looking at my sponge, I found the answer. Paint.

Apparently instead of cleaning the apartment when the previous resident(s) moved out it was actually easier to PAINT OVER THE DIRT! The more I scrubbed, the more paint I was actually removing from the cabinets, baseboards, counter tops (yes, they painted the counter tops) and grout. Off with the paint came the dirt from who knows how long ago.

I thought I may throw up. But, instead I continued to peel away at the layers and decided that our place is now cleaner than the day we moved in.

Let's just see how our checkout goes tomorrow...

E's Birthday

2009 has started out with a bang, or at least a fitting finale to E's birthday month. (Birthday months are so much cooler than just one day)

Friday night a group of our friends joined us to help celebrate E's big 3-2. In my family, every birthday deserves a birthday dinner. So, following in the tradition E made his restaurant selection and as any good Kansan would choose, it included all you can eat meat. Yes, all you can eat. Our destination...Fogo de Chao.

Fogo de Chao is a traditional Brazilian churrascaria with a mile long salad bar and 15 different types of meats that are offered to guests in an almost speed dating fashion. Now, this concept sounds exciting, but I think now more than ever I'm confident my resolution of becoming a vegetarian will stick without fail. I mean, really, there is only so much dead carcass one can be around before the whole thing is just overwhelming and the only thing you can smell is steak.

Don't get me wrong the restaurant was amazing, but just make sure you aren't trying to eliminate meat from your daily diet. E was more than pleased with his experience...

I'm not sure he said no to any of the choices....Management says that each patron (on average) eats 2.5 lbs. of meat. E met his quota.

mmmm...Meat!

and his favorite...Key Lime Pie :)

The dinner was a great success and everyone walked (or waddled) away full. I'm not sure we'll need to eat for the next few days but E is already plotting his dinner for next year.

Happy Birthday E!! Now if we can just track down that Blackberry for you...

all cracked up

Last night E and I headed into the city to see our fab friends Em and Z.

The night started off with wine, laughs and a full demonstration of how the iPhone works. Em is now obsessed with her new toy. If we could only get her to answer it from time to time I might be as equally impressed with the new gadget. (Let's hope she can keep this one out of the toilet.)

After a few drinks and an hour long discussion of where to eat (thank goodness for the Urban Spoon App because I'm not sure we would have EVER found the Argonaut...except that's where I'm fairly certain we had planned to go all along...and yes, Em...the app is fun. I hope your arm has recovered from all of the shaking.) we headed out for dinner and more drinks.

The evening continued back at their place where we broke out the board games. Hoopla was the main event and it. Was. Hilarious. How quickly I had forgotten what alcohol, adults and charades could turn into. Needless to say we quickly threw the rules out the window and made up our own version.

Cha-ching! cha-ching! Tupperware party anyone? (The sound effects were Em's not mine)

Somehow "spandex" involves sticking your crotch in your wife's face.
We all thought he was being a Chippendale.

I have no idea what E is doing here. With the way the night went, I'm sure it involved Lance Armstrong somehow. Or a dinosaur of some sort.

After a long night of laughing ourselves to tears, we made our departure back to the burbs. Our hours of laughter quickly turned the corner as soon as we did to a very different tone.

As we walked down the street to our precious Vera, here is how we found her...

And the culprit....

a brick.

Some jackass actually threw a brick through our window! Now, I'm not sure if this guy was just bored, had seen the iPod cord in the dash or just hates the Jayhawks. But what I do know is that I thought I was going to be sick.

The kind Samaritan that lived where our car was parked had already called DC's finest (and slowest we have learned) when he had heard the crash just twenty minutes before we showed up. We called the cops again for good measure and waited in the cold and sleet for nearly an hour and a half by the time it was all said and done. (I think my toes are still frozen)

The ironic part of the break in was that Em was just telling us on the way back from the restaurant about how they've seen very little criminal action on their block recently and the neighborhood was on the up and up. (They even have a street cleaning team now!!) We later learned that Mr. Good Samaritan had his car stolen from the very same spot (under a street light no less) just two weeks prior.

So much for the no crime but good news was that nothing was stolen (not that we had anything in the car to be stolen in the first place) and it ended up to be a huge inconvenience above anything else. We were just glad Vera was still sitting there.

Other than the disappointing end to a fabulous evening we did learn a few things:

1. E learned that the Argonaut was a ship.
2. The four of us will never be able to play Hoopla in the actual time allotted.
3. CSI is not real and to our amazement a brick cannot be finger printed.
4. Don't park on 11th St. NE