We are 'those' people

It's official. We are definitely those people. You know, those neighbors that you hate to have.
Their dog barks. (In Phoebe's defense, she's barking at our neighbor's dog. I'm sure they're just comparing doggie treats. 'Oh yeah? We get pupperonie!')
That woman drives up and down the street blasting ridiculous music out of her sun roof. Doesn't she know that A. She's white. and B. She is not a 'single lady' so she really should turn it down? And also? This is not the Daytona 500, it is a neighborhood. And yes, you have a spoiler, but that little Altima is not race car, so slow it down.
And some weeks, the trash can lingers on the curb a little too long, if you know what I mean.

OK, nobody has said these things about us, but still. They're probably thinking them.

But truly, the biggest problem is our knack for the do-it-yourself projects. Which turn out really nice. But sometimes take a tiny bit longer than if we had hired a professional.
Exhibit #1. The house paint.

If you remember, we let our builder pick a brick. Any brick. Because we were planning on painting it. And I wanted to paint it immediately, but everything we read said that you had to let the mortar cure and stuff. (OK, fine, I don't know the reason, but Brad was adamant that we could not paint the brick for a couple of months)
So the house looked like this:

Fine. No problem.  Then we tried to find a color that we liked. Enter the paint swatches on the back wall.

It stayed like that for longer than I would like to admit.

And then, we finally started painting. Yeah! But...
We couldn't really reach the top.

And then the weather turned really rainy.

And so our house stayed that way, until Brad bribed me to get up there and finish.

And so I did.

And of course, our lovely six month paint project was mentioned in a good-natured Thank-God-They-Actually-Finished-It sort of way at a neighborhood meeting last night.

So Brad felt the need to point out that it's already happening again.
With the shutters we built on Saturday.

It's a long story that I really don't want to get into, but I will say that  I would have finished, but there was this terrible mix up with the stain color we chose and then I [very wrongly] thought that I could stain two huge shutters with one (already opened) half pint of stain. And then called every Lowe's and Home Depot in the area, as well as Sherwin Williams and a few hardware stores. And can't find this color in a quart. So I'm going to have to but about 5 half pints.

Because our house currently looks like this:

So despite best efforts, we are still those people.

Did you know?

No, you didn't.  You probably have no clue the following randomness I am about to bestow upon you.  Here is my own personal version of '10 things you didn't know about me' (And to be honest, I don't know if you really want to know them.)

10. If given a preference, I like to eat pretty things.  Yep.  Where Brad will suffice to eat 'flat' lunch meat, mine has to be folded in pretty loops.  Gravy.  Gravy must have a cute little edge to hold it on the [mashed] potatoes, you can't go haphazardly sloshing that stuff around.  Don't get me started on desserts.  Brad gets mad when I HAVE to have chocolate shavings on something that only he and I are eating.

9.  I'm entirely too strange about my feet.  Like, I can't stand if my socks get bunched under my toes.  And my socks have to match.  I don't care if I never take my shoes off (which, I don't), I can't have the knowledge that I am wearing mis-matched socks.

8. My first foray into advertising was creating election posters for my sister [for student council] when I was 15.  The posters garnered so much attention in our little junior high that she was disqualified from the election until my mom threw a fit, made them do the election over and she was unanimously voted 10th grade rep. (I still feel a little bad for the girl who won then was dethroned, or whatever you call not being in student council anymore.)

7.  Despite not being able to remember a single thing from the four times I took History of Civ II, I can recite the Preamble to the Constitution, the Gettysburg Address and The Jabberwocky (which has nothing to do with history, but more my general obsession with Alice in Wonderland)

6.  As mentioned in #7, I had to take Civ II four times.  The last time I begged for a 'D' and then had my friend fix my paper in order to pass.  I really hate history.  For the record, that's the only class I ever took more than once, in my entire college career.

5.  I tried out for my high schools flag line. I made the 'team' but quit when I realized I would technically be a member of the band and would have to attend band camp.  (I was dorky enough, I didn't need anymore help.)

4.  My mom has 'droopy' eyelids.  I am afraid I might have inherited them.  Only time will tell.  And if I did, I'm not above getting them lifted.  I'm just putting that out there. So if you ever see me and I look surprised, you'll know why.  And I warned Brad of this recently.  He is prepared.

3.  I like to sing really loudly in my car.  Therefore I turn the radio up even louder to drown myself out.  I will probably be deaf in a few years.

2.  I love puns.  They make me laugh.  My boss hates them.  Occasionally I like to slip them in because I know he will freak out.  Now, that makes me laugh.

1.  I think I'm funny when I get on a tear.  I will 'freak out' over something small because I think doing so is funny.  I realize this might make me look a bit melodramatic, but again, it makes me laugh.  And apparently, that's all I really care about in life.  I just hope others are laughing with me.

I'm going to try to get back on the NaNoWriMo horse today.  Wish me luck.  I'm vastly behind and see very little opportunity to finish the 50,000 words, but I have made progress and I think I managed to make a break-through where I can proceed with my writing.
We shall see.