Karma...The Gift That Keeps On Giving

So.
Recognize this little cutie? Yeppers, it's our old house, all dolled up and missing her front yard trees. Pretty! And for sale...STILL.
The asking price is $192, 000.00. You freaking heard me! So, these two yokels who bought the thing for $116, 000.00 stand to make, erm, let's see...carry the three, borrow 97...yep. LOTS of dough. The funny part is that for as fast as they gave us the boot and hauled ass getting the place gutted and redone, it still hasn't sold. Coming up on four(ish) months. I have to be careful here, I don't want to piss Karma off, but I get to feel a little bit thrilled that they have yet to collect their giant check. My awesome gal-pal Sam did a little recon for me when they had an open house a while ago, and she said that while it looks gorgeous, it's pretty "vanilla" and definitely not our house anymore. So good.
I was just telling my parents that I hope a very nice young family moves into the place and builds a life of great memories there. The house deserves that.
I just hope it takes a liittttle bit longer for that to happen.
I'd really like to email the realtor and tell him that his clients can send our portion of the profits to Bend...but I'm thinking that may be frowned upon. Ha!
Well, that's my quick update. Enjoy, more soon.
Peace!

Going Postal

So here's a new one...
Most of the people reading this probably already know that I share my name with one of my sisters-in-law. First name, last name, middle initial. Yup. You could say that both of us had the good fortune of marrying brothers. We like to say that they had the good fortune of marrying us. When she was a practicing midwife, I used to get calls from women who wanted me to deliver their babies. I was always quick to inform them that they had the wrong girl, because if I did any baby-catching there were sure to be drugs involved, whether they wanted them or not. And of course, I would pass along the correct information! We have had a few funny cases of "mistaken identity," or more appropriately, "confused identity," particularly when people thought that I was a nurse or in some way qualified to minister medical attention to the masses. I am most definitely not. Qualified. Nor, for that matter, am I a nurse.
Now, after the HELL that was the whole house fiasco, the fam and I moved in with said glorious sister-in-law and her hubby. YAY! And it was fantastic. But, clever me...I filled out a change of address form when we did...mainly because I wanted to keep getting Rolling Stone and the Fingerhut catalog. That was fine, although it did make for some excitement when the mail came. We managed to figure out which mail went to whom, and while she got MUCH cooler mail than I did, we did just fine.
Fast forward now. Remember, we moved to Bend. And what comes with moving, kids? CHANG OF ADDRESS forms. Because I am, as I think I may have mentioned once or twice, clever, I went ahead and filled out the online version of the change form. Good job, yeah?
No.
In an uncharacteristic moment that was seriously NOT clever, I filled out the change for the family instead of doing it individually. As it turns out, I inadvertently chose the "pain in the ass" version of the change form. That's right, I pretty much told the United States Postal Service that not only had I and my husband and children moved to Bend, but I essentially told them that my sister and brother-in-law had moved as well!!!!!
AAAAAAGGGGGHHHH!!!
Luckily, the mail carrier at who has their route knew them and the situation and actually knocked on the door to inform them of my faux pas. I had to go back and change the address back to the correct one for the bro and sis in law, and only change our address in the hubby's name. So my sis in law and I will still experience some confusion for a little while, but generally the mail should be getting where it needs to go and my brother in law will be getting the correct mail. Resolved, you ask? Why yes, I thought it was.
So guess what came in the mail today? Their garbage bill and their cable bill.
And while it's going to take some time to iron out the kinks, I'm not even going to lie...it was pretty groovy to be able to receive a bill in the mail (or two bills!) and be able to rip it up and not have to pay it.
Peace...

Rockin' The New Bathroom

So! I know it's been a month since I last posted, but things have been hairy, busy and fabulous. Woo hoo! As most of you know, we had packed up kith and kin (and kittens, cat, dogs and turtle) and boogied over the mountains into beautiful Central Oregon. We arrived on Father's Day, and since then it as only rained twice. For, like, fifteen minutes each. Yup, it's definitely NOT the valley. Some things I have learned over here:

1. Target, Walmart, BiMart, Old Navy, McDonald's Starbucks...They are all pretty much the same as the ones in Eugene. Which is oddly reassuring and disturbing at the same time.

2. Moving into a lovely, nearly brand new house and getting lovely, totally brand new furniture rocks. A lot!


3. Ahhhh, cable (or rather, satellite) tv is, no matter what the "experts" say, a beautiful and wonderous thing. And don't get me started on the miracle that is DVR. Sigh...all the episodes of Dog the Bounty Hunter, Sunset Tan, Miami Ink and The Soup a girl could ever want.

4. Let's not forget about high speed internet. For appropriate adjectives, please see item #3.

5. There exists, in Bend, a street called "Xerxes." That, and Robal Street is LABOR spelled backwards.

6. Children, no matter where they live, still seem to be incapable of locating and utilizing a trash can, laundry hamper or dishwasher.

7. Seeing your kids finally happy after years of real misery is priceless.

Pretty sure there are more, but you'll just have to be satisfied with that for now. Deal.
Now on to more important things. Like our "Hell" bathroom. Because I now have two bathrooms (I keep telling Zak and the boys that they aren't allowed to use my fabulous master (that's right, I said it, MASTER) bathrooom for any reason other than showering. Hasn't worked yet, but I shall perservere. This weekend I spend most of the my time making some additional "decor" for the "public" restroom. With the flaming shower curtain and devil-y things from our bathroom on Skipper Ave, I did a whole bunch of "art" to go with that hell-ish theme. It rules. I know it's weird to decorate a room based on the Underworld, but it's no newsflash that am just a skosh on the weird side myself. LOVE it. And besides, if it disturbs anyone, there will always be the MASTER bathroom. Only, if you are afraid or bothered by zombies and zombie paraphernalia, probably you should run up to the Chevron station on HWY 97 and ask for the key.

So I have interspersed (ooh, vocab word...add it to the collection, Angie Sue) this blog with pictures of our happy hell (please do note the oh-so- clever touches I added because I am a huge nut job). I can tell you all the painted stuff in there is mine, and (come to think of it there are some things that aren't painted that are mine as well, but picky-picky. Shhhhheeeeeoooott!) Nothing in there is intended to be scary or offensive. Well, maybe a teesny bit. Scary like cheesy horror movies are scary. Not scary like in Devil's Rejects scary.
So there you are, kids, brief history of this branch of the Zacharek Family. Oh YEAH. Love, and Peace...

Junction City Community Market

Just so you all know, The Junction City Community Market begins June 3rd! I will be there as often as I can, commuting from Bend after June. Please please please spread the word, everyone involved in this endeavor is fabulous, and a lot of work has been put into the Market this year. We even have a GREAT new location right on Hwy. 99, so our visibility will be better. Plus we won't have to shut down for the Scandie Festival, which is good too. Anyway, if you are interested in participating, and can't see the tiny numbers on the bottom of the above picture, call Jean 998-2391, or Brian 998-5158. Or me. Spread the word. You tell two friends, and they'll tell two friends, and so on and so on and so on!

Indiana Jones and The High Desert Adventure

So first things first.
You may think I will be addressing the house/home situation first, but sorry. It's FAR more important that I share this:
Yes. We found this while we were moving, and as I have been unable to locate the He Man drawing, I did, smartly, manage to take a photo of this most awesome and somewhat disturbing toy from Zak's childhood.
Yeah, it's' supposed to be Indiana Jones. No, it does not look anything like the enduringly fabulous Harrison Ford. He is, indeed, missing a boot, shirt and the multi-purpose tool, his whip. And I know, he does look very much like the cookie cutter "male" (uding that term loosely...) Barbie, Mr. Ken. But Just take a second and ponder this. I'm not sure if he was purchased this way or if he was a Ken doll somebody modified (please note the oversized felt hat) in lieu of buying an Indy doll. GOD, he rocks. Anyway, now that I have shared that little piece of Zak memorabilia with everyone, I'll update you on our situation. Settle down.

So. We are 98% sure we are moving to Bend this summer. Yay, us! Everything has been pretty much pointing this direction for some time now, and we finally just had to accept the fact that we must be meant to make this decision. As a good friend at school said, "That's called the stars aligning, my dear."
True that. We won't be officially moving until the end of June (I think) and we will be doing a considerable amount of commuting back and forth over the pass the summer to honor commitments, appointments, birthdays, etc. But it looks like we've made the choice, and we'll keep everyone posted. My sis-in-law said, "What's the worst that could happen, you come back to Eugene if it doesn't work out?"
Pretty much. This family hasn't had a great, positive adventure in YEARS. We have been isolated, ill, depressed, and basically surly for so long, I think we all feel like we are waking up from a really long nightmare. And we're pretty sure the whole BS with the house was the best thing that could have ever happened to us, because now we are free! And ready for a new chapter, new opportunities.
So thank God for cell phones and Internet, which make it so much easier to stay in touch. I'll be letting everyone know what the actual plan is when we have one. Actually. High Desert, look out. The Zachareks are coming!
Peace.

"Houseless," Not Homeless

Ok, this will be quick (at least that's the plan), but I just want to update while I have two seconds. Two seconds on a borrowed laptop and the school's wireless, that is! Yay for that.
SO. We have moved in temporarily with bro-and sis-in-law, who pretty much rock the freaking world and we LOVE them for helping us out. We loved them before, but now we love them 80% more! Ok 90%. Maybe even 100%. Our kittens are with us, minus VooDoo, who found a happy home yesterday and whose new mommy will completely spoil him rotten. Cool. The pooches are staying with Zak's other awesome bro and his family, thank goodness. We will be here until the end of June, unless something exciting happens before then.
Now for the skinny.
We basically got the boot on Monday the 23rd of April, and we left a crapload of junk behind because we couldn't haul it, store it, or dump it in time. So sucks for the new owners, but I have to say I don't really care. I realized that it's not their fault (completely) that we're "houseless," but it feels good to dislike and trash talk somebody I don't know because I feel yucky. Yes, I am that petty. Whatevs. The last day of moving all of us were having graphic fantasies about what sorts of acts of vandalism we could commit to surprise the new owners "JJ" that Monday morning. My personal favorite came when I was packing the contents of our chest freezer into coolers. The contents were mostly meat, and either Zak or his brother asked if I would like him to stuff some of the packages into the crawl space in the attic...oooh. Love that one. Also discussed leaving the water running when we left, dumping the litter box into the toilet, and the ever-popular butter smearage on the walls. Of course we did none of those things. But the dream was beautiful. And therapeutic.
I drove by the house yesterday and saw that they had not only chopped down my cherry tree (I cannot tell a lie...) but my giant blue spruce as well. Sad. It looked like they were ripping the rock faces off the front too. I will be curious to see what they do with it. I reserve the right to hate it unconditionally.
So now we are trying to make some decisions concerning our future. Sue the lawyer? Maybe. But that sounds like a pain in the ass. Probably we'll ask the State Bar Association to do an independent case review to see if there was any wrongdoing. But we're waiting until the bankruptcy stuff is final final final. Grrrrr. We're looking for a new job for Zak (yep, I said "we" because that is how we roll). There is one possibility, of maybe living and working in Bend. There is an offer on the table and it's a good one. Guess we're hoping for the BBD...bigger better deal. Risky, I know. We'll see what happens.
On the plus side, we found some really FABULOUS crap while we were packing like maniacs...including a drawing Zak did of He-Man And The Masters Of The Universe when he was lots younger. I'm going to try and locate it and scan it in somehow without him knowing. Because he will end my life if he knows I'm doing it. Ha ha. I did get a photo of one item that particularly excites me, but I'll have to share in another post. Because I gotta boogie now.
Peace.

Super-speedy update...

Just a quick addendum...
Our attorney received a fax from the attorney of the jerks who bought our house (let's call them "JJ" from here on out), which essentially said we have until Thursday, April 19, to collect our things and get the hell out of Dodge. Yep. That's less than a week away now. The good news is I've accomplished a lot over the last couple of weeks in terms of getting rid of our JUNK. Really, there is probably about five years' worth of stuff that has piled up in various parts of the house, waiting for me to rummage through them and dispose of accordingly. We've made three Goodwill donation runs, with both my car and Zak's pickup truck COMPLETELY crammed full. So that's progress. And my niece and my sis-in-law came over on Thursday and brought boxes and helped begin the daunting and terrifying task of weeding through the boys' room! And my friend Sarah has been tremendous, making phone calls, organizing a packing party, and generally being a kick ass friend. Thanks to everyone keeping us in their thoughts. It's times like this when you can feel lower than a smushed snail on the bottom of a Birkenstock, and still be able to recognize the blessings of having such great friends and family.
I've got a kid waiting patiently for me to wrap it up,so I am off to stuff some more boxes. Peace.