For Sale Near Us

 

We had spied what looked like a for sale post in a house one street over. It was strange. They bought the house a little over a year ago. Momoko said the property was kinda cursed because there was a murder of the previous tenants.

I like a lot about the house. It has more than 50% more property acreage than our yard. Like us, they have a 1-car carport plus extended driveway. However, they added a gravel driveway in the back yard too. It leads to a 4-car detached garage. They also have a separate shed like us. It has a better, newer 6 foot privacy fence in the back yard.

Now there are some downsides. The square footage of the house is maybe 30% less than us. The house is 10 years older than ours. And the main drawback is that it has oil heat. They also have a weird pergola over top of a koi pond. There are at a relatively busy cross street. And they back to neighbors.

The house is priced around $20k more than what our house is worth. That being said, to get the full price for selling our own house, we would have to spend some money fixing up cosmetic stuff. I think we could sell out house fast if we updated it.

It is tempting. But probably a lot of hassle to pay a lot of money to do almost an equivalent trade. I do like the idea of giving up some house space in trade for a larger property with a 4-car garage. The property is also completely flat.

An Evening With Pink Pantheress

 

Last year, the USA brought home a gold medal in female figure skating. It has been 24 years since this last happened. The most interesting thing about it is the alternative freestyle program performed by winner Alysa Liu. She retired from ice skating at 16 to go live her life. Two years later, she returned and eventually claimed the hold.

You can tell there is something different about Alysa. She has a racoon striped long hair. Her build is thick. She has a self pierced upper lip. She was conceived using IVF. Her dad is a Chinese man who escaped China.

Alysa chose a song by British singer Pink Pantheress for her winning freestyle entry. I have come to realize that Pantheress sings many songs used by TikTok videos. For instance, one song goes, "My name is Pink and I'm really glad to meet you. You're recommended to me by some people". My interest in Pantheress is piqued.

Pantheress is now on tour in the USA. It is called An Evening With Pink Pantheress. She is coming to my area. She plays on a Sunday and Monday in May. Tickets are a whopping $200. This is for general admmission. It is standing only. I did find $82 tickets for Monday on the resale market. Tried to get my buddy to go with me. He declined.

Hunan Chicken for Lunch

 

This year, I have a new favorite Chinese food restaurant for lunch. Momoko found it one day when driving around with Kit Kat. It is up near the town house we used to live in. A friend of the family bought a house up there. She sometimes hosts parties where she serves Chinese food. This restaurant is also her go to place.

I waited until 11:00 am this morning until their lunch special take effect. My favorite is the Hunan Chicken special. It comes with a tiny bit of soup. But for an extra 50 cents, you can upgrade to an egg roll. Their egg roll is huge. So, I opted for one. Their hot mustard is mid. I just make sure to pick up a ton of it.

I called in my order. Before leaving for the restaurant, I had to reattach the plastic tarp that had blown off our firewood stack in the back yard. I only did a haphazard repair as it was cold and raining. I decided I did not have time to buy a lottery ticket due to this delay.

At the restaurant, I opened my bag to dump in the hot mustard. There was no egg roll. I told the employee who handed me the bag. He seemed confused. My bag did not have my Hunan chicken order. It was chicken with broccoli. I worried it would take a long time for them to cook my correct order.

I think they just tossed the chicken broccoli in the pot, added green peppers plus Hunan sauce, then repackaged the result. I was okay as this got me on my way quickly.

Dust Under the Bed

 

I spotted a lot of dust under our bedroom bed. I had thought I cleaned it somewhat recently. Oh well. I grabbed the vacuum cleaning from the main level closet. At first I could not find the necessary attachments. Then I found then in a gym bag hanging from the wall in the closet.

I lay the vacuum on its side. Then I attached a small plastic brush. I kept pushing the brush under the bed. It seemed to clean okay. I moved all around my side. By the time I crossed over to Momoko's side, the vacuum did not seem to pick up as much.

I tested the attachment. There was suction. I did the best I could. There were more things in the way on Momoko's side as well. When I was done, I pulled off the attachment. That's when I found the thing jammed with mostly hair. I pulled the junk out and tossed it in the trash. Might have to clean again later.

The vacuum collection area was full. I went outside to empty it. It was snowing. So, I just did the work in the carport. Got two large sections of newspaper. Wet both of them to adhere to the dust. Then wrapped everything up in a grocery bag.

Fireplace Check

Today I wanted to test out our fireplace. Last time in the fire pit, the logs did not fully burn. I took a fat log from our carport shed. Used the chainsaw to cut it up into three small pieces. I also picked up a bunch of pieces of a tree branch I chopped up this weekend. The wood had softened up. I think the termites got to it.

I opened the flue in the fireplace. It was kind of weird. Felt like I just pushed it up. I know it must of worked. Because cold air came down on me. I put a lot of crumpled newspaper on the metal grill. Then I tossed some kindling. Some pieces were kinda thick. The I put the chopped logs on top. I lit the thing with matches and it started to burn.

I have maybe 10 full newspapers on the side. I kept crumpling the pages up and pushing them under the grill. It got so hot my legs felt singed. Even when I had a long pair of sweatpants on. I wanted to give the logs the best chance to fully catch fire and burn. The heat lasted about 6 hours. I closed the flue before bed.

Lighting the Fire Pit

I was trying to convince the family to light up the fire pit for the season. This is actually a new one we got from Momoko's sister. Nobody ever seemed remotely interested. So, today I lit the thing up myself.

Made sure to put a ton of newspaper balled up at the bottom. Then I grabbed some kindling from the trash can we filled in the car port in case of power outage. Finally, I grabbed a couple small logs from the car port shed. Again, we placed them there in case of power outage.

At first, the flames roared high. Only one of the log seemed to be marginally lit. I got a lot more newspaper that kept lighting and burning out. In the end, the logs seemed singed at best. Got to figure out what is wrong. Maybe need some lighter fluid?

Using Tech to Figure out Songs

Momoko and I went out to a steakhouse for lunch on the holiday. A sign out front confirmed they still offered $10 steaks to go with your meal. They suspiciously removed the signs for this from all the tables.

While eating lunch, I heard a song. I could not identify the artist. My iPhone informed me it was Castle on the Hill by Ed Sheeran. I was surprised. The chorus did not sound like him.

At home, I tried to find the song on YouTube. Had to google songs by Ed Sheeran where he talks about friends. Here is the chorus:

I'm on my way
Driving at 90 down those country lanes
Singing to "Tiny Dancer"
And I miss the way you make me feel, and it's real
And we watched the sunset over the castle on the hill