I need to rant for a minute because this whole Buying a House business is getting on my nerves.

Chad and I have a list of things we are looking for in our next home. We check the listings every day to see what is new and to see what meets our needs and wants. If something peaks our interest then we email our Realtor and book a viewing. Sometimes it works out and sometimes it doesn’t. When things work out we go and see said potential house.

With in a minute, Chad and I know whether or not we could see ourselves living there. It may have everything on our checklist, but if it doesn’t feel right, then it doesn’t feel right. Feelings aren’t tangible. We can’t say “Oh, the bedrooms are too small”, or “We prefer having a 2 car garage”. All you can say is it doesn’t have chemistry. This is something people can’t seem to wrap their heads around.

I understand the difficulty in this for a Realtor who works with tangible items, but the fact of the matter is, if it doesn’t feel right we are not going to buy it, that is the bottom line. I am not about to spend $700,000 on a house that “meets our needs” but doesn’t make me happy. Do you want to come home to a house that you don’t really like for the next 20 years of your life?

I have lived my entire life based on fate, letting things work out according to what is meant to be, following the path God has planned for me. If I try something out and it fails, then it’s not meant to be. If I try something out and it works, then its meant to be. School, work, love I have all left up to fate, and honestly it has all worked out pretty darn well, because I can’t imagine myself doing anything else or loving anyone else. So why then wouldn’t I leave this huge next phase of life up to fate?

Yes, we are picky, but wouldn’t you be if you were spending your life savings on something that is supposed to house you and your family for a large portion of your life?

Nothing is perfect, I get that. I am not living in a delusional world where I am waiting for that perfect little heritage house in the perfect colour, with the perfect vintage fixtures, with the perfect landscaped front yard. I am looking for a house with some character that will probably need fixing up, that is big enough to fit a family, in a quiet neighborhood close to family and friends. And if it takes us a year to find this house, then so be it. We are not in a rush and we know that when we find the house that is meant to be ours, we will feel it in our core, and no matter how beautiful or dilapidated it is, it will be fate

They say you have to kiss a lot of frogs to find your Prince, so we are prepared to look at a lot of ugly houses before we find one that makes us happy.

So we found out today that due to UFC being the biggest pile of crap ever, Alicia had to move her birthday location to an Asian Hipster Club.

Now let me first discuss how UFC is the stupidest thing on the planet.

It is now physically impossible to find a place to go to on a Saturday night if UFC is playing. Why is this you ask? Well, because every establishment on the face of the planet has decided that they are going to show this ‘amazing’ display of human strength as to draw in all the douchebags and their skank girlfriends who will sit there for hours drinking beer and ordering food. It is obviously a huge money maker for them and they care not for the general public who does NOT want to watch such trash. So my friends, if you and a group of your closest want to go out to a pub or your local watering hole for something to do, or say the Birthday of your closest half-breed Asian girlfriend, you can’t unless you want to try and fight off said douchebags and skank girlfriends. Now, this could be tolerated if UFC happened once a year, or every other month, or here and there, but it seems these days it happens EVERY FRIGGIN WEEKEND. Alicia purposely didn’t have her birthday last weekend because the fights were on only to find out that THIS weekend they were happening again. Is that really necessary? I mean, don’t people get bored of seeing the exact same guys fight ALL the time?

Thank you Christian Audigier and your craptastic line of Ed Hardy Merchandise for turning the world stupid.

Now, secondly, Asian Hipsters. What does one wear to an event hosted by Asian Hipsters? Well my friends, I asked that exact question earlier this afternoon.
 

It seems that my original skank outfit is probably going to be too classy for such an event now that I think about it. I will have to go shopping tomorrow to look for some of the more elegant items described in the above discussion in order to fit into the scene properly. I actually love that Alicia has picked this destination to ring in her 23rd birthday because only excitement and hilarity can ensue at en establishment such as the Fortune Sound Club. I’m pretty sure Chad is going to show up with out any sleeves and quite possibly will be borrowing Steve’s Prelude with a Fin.

And lastly, discussing Asian Hipsters all day made me think of my most favorite quote. I said this to Alicia while driving around the underground parking lot of Metrotown.

“If you weren’t half Asian and in this car right now I would be throwing down some harsh ethnic slurs”

Last night was Matt’s birthday extravaganza. Well it wasn’t really an extravaganza it was just dinner at our favorite sushi place by Metrotown.

We talked business as usual. A bunch of people got laid off at his work, including 5 of his friends, but he was safe. He is a genius and they know it.

He had a work birthday dinner last week and the rule was everyone had to wear fur. So classic Matt. Reminds me of the time I bought him fur for his birthday many years ago.

After dinner we went and saw Zombieland. OMG the Bill Murray part was the best part of the whole movie. I think that’s why I loved the movie so much. Hahahaha when they started to act out Ghostbusters hahah PRICELESS. Damn I love BM.

Speaking of work, I have to go out to the warehouse this afternoon and clean the crap out of the Notions room. It is the only room in the entire building that has never been cleaned and organized and yours truly is left to the task. Piss me off.

I had to go in there yesterday to look for some binders and I blew a gasket. It is so gross in there I can not tell you. When they re-did that section of the roof they didn’t cover anything so there is a layer of dirt everywhere. It is so so so gross. Not to mention all the old crap they shove into corners and forget about instead of just chucking the stuff they don’t need anymore. It doesn’t make any sense.

I brought old clothes, an apron, and rubber gloves because I know half the stuff in there is going to need to be washed. Pretty sure when I signed up for this job it didn’t say warehouse maid. I mean I don’t mind cleaning up and organizing things, but this is ridiculous. I’m actually really annoyed about it. It seems that no one except the Italian Housewife cares enough to get off their ass and clean something. It is very frustrating. I spent three days last week cleaning different parts of the office, and if it wasn’t for me, no one would do it. No one would sweep or wash or organize. We would just live in more filth then we actually do. I tested it and when I wasn’t cleaning no one was cleaning. Ok, I’ve gone off on a rant here but I am just frustrated. I know people do help out in a small way here in there, it just seems like the big projects are left to me. Or maybe I just take the initiative to do it. Ugh, oh well.

I guess in the end, I am the one who needs to use the room the most and if I have a problem with it I should fix it. I just don’t like the idea of it being covered in dirt and grime.

If only I wasn’t so damn good at cleaning!!!

Finally the server is  back up and running and I can post!

I thought for this mornings post I would discuss something that drives me insane, the Potluck.

Now as an Italian Housewife we are known for our hosting and hospitality. When you come over to our house for dinner it is an insult to us if you help us in the kitchen or clear the table, only because we take pride in doing everything that is concerned with hosting a dinner ourselves. You are our guests and there is no need for you to do any of the work! We enjoy making all of the courses and all of the food and serving them to you almost as if you are in a restaurant. The thought of you bringing your own food is appalling. Here in lies our hatred for the potluck.

This hatred I have for potlucks most likely stems from my Mothers hatred of the potluck. Her mentality is, why should you have to prepare all this food for your family, only to pack it up and take it somewhere else, when you could just sit and home and eat it like normal people, with less hassle and less mess. This I totally agree with.

Now there are only a few circumstances where I feel a potluck is an OK idea.

1. When you get a group of friends together and say HEY! lets have a picnic and BBQ some stuff and bring some chips and dip. – Simple enough, enjoyable, and the potluck is mentioned upfront.
2. When you and your friends decided that you would like to do a dinner party with a theme, say Greek Food, and you split up the menu so everything bring something Greek, that way you can try lots of different things. – Organize between friends and everyone knows what they need to do.
3. When you and your friends or family decided to do a holiday dinner together and everyone is told what they can bring and the work is shared. – Leaves the guessing game out of it and it is organized together.

These three example are situation in which I have NO problem participating in a potluck, mainly because the idea of the potluck is the reason for the get together, it is simple, organized, and everyone is told what to bring upfront. These are the only reasons I would not be in a rage about a potluck.

But here is why I hate potlucks.

This situation seems to happen over and over again to me and I can not stand it.

You are invited over to someones house for dinner or a party or something and they give you all the info. This date, this time, yadda, yadda. So you say Hey! I would LOVE to come over to your house for a Birthday party! Sounds great! Then, you get an email the week before the party that says, Oh Hey, forgot to tell you that the party is a potluck, so you have to bring something.

Insert Rage.

Here is why…

1. If you are going to have a potluck make it UPFRONT so that people aren’t scrambling at the last minute.
2. Split the menu up and TELL people what to bring, otherwise you end up with 10 appys, 2 salads, and no main dishes.
3. I actually find it insulting that you are throwing a birthday party for yourself and are asking all your guests to supply the food. Never in my life would I EXPECT my guests to bring food. The only time guests bring food to my house is when we throw our annual Christmas party and I supply all the food, but some people like to bring a dish themselves to help out. I NEVER ask anyone to bring anything.

The bottom line is, if you want to have a potluck, make that the reason for the gathering. ‘Thanksgiving Potluck’ or ‘Picnic Potluck in the Park’. Don’t invite people over to your house, where they expect that you are supplying food, hence you inviting people over to your house, and then spring it on them that they need to bring something. That is just rude and inconsiderate. Does it really take that much effort to buy a couple bags of chips, some dip, and some appys at Costco?

In the end, I think the idea of a Potluck is just a very ‘mangiacake‘ kind of thing. Italians would never dream of having their guests bring anything to their house or their party. It may work for some but it doesn’t not work for me. My culture would hate me for it.

There is nothing more thrilling then being woken up every Friday morning at 6:40 by the garbage men coming to pick up the garbage of the apartment across the lane, which happens to be directly outside our window. Its even better in the middle of summer when all the windows are open because it is hot out and they let the truck idol for 10 minutes while they do whatever the hell it is they do. I didn’t know city workers actually started that early. It’s shocking actually.

Why must they ruin a perfectly good morning?