Halloween Post #2

I probably won't post every day or twice in a day like I did this time, but I think the last post was kind of a downer so here is my random Halloween Post:

My Top 5 Scary Halloween Movies (in no particular order. You may not agree with my picks but these are the ones that scared me):

• The Changeling -- you know, with George C. Scott? The end is cheesy but I just saw a part of this movie the other day and it still scares the ish out of me. That part with ball coming down the stairs after he throws it in the river? Yeesh.
• The Birds -- I didn't see this one until I was in college. Imagine being by yourself in creepy-ass Sewall dorm during a thunderstorm watching this one for the first time. No kidding at one point I thought a bird was tapping on my window in the middle of the night.
• The Exorcist -- satanic possession + creepy little girl + sleepover when I was 14 or 15 = not able to watch this one again by myself, even now.
• The Blair Witch Project -- ok, I admit after the first time it loses a bit of its effect but I was extremely freaked by this one when it came out. D do you remember we went to see it when you had just found out you were pg with X and I had just come back from the jungles of Panama?
• A Nightmare on Elm Street (the first one) -- They ruined this one in my opinion with all of the crappy sequels but I still remember how scared I was when I first saw this. Of course I was maybe 7 years old but those are the ones that stick with you, right?

Your picks?

The First Post - Where Will You Be?

Where will you be in one year? How about 5 or 10? They ask you this when you interview for college, when you interview for a job, the bookies ask when you place a bet at the sports book (ok, just kidding Vegas hasn't changed us that much). This has been The Big Topic at the E household for months now, and from the sounds of it at the W and R households, too.

When we first moved to LV it was a fairly random decision based on money, fun, being sick of snow, and did I mention money? We had the "Five-Year Plan," which wasn't really a plan but it sounded good. In our fantasy we would own a "3 bdrm 2.5bth central a/c 2-car gar w/pool GOTTA SEE IT" within, oh, 6 months. Just thinking back on that makes me laugh hysterically, only...here we are 3 years later and it's not so funny. Reality hit the first time we pulled into one of the 5 billion new construction developments in LV. The houses were of decent size and the community was gated (being newbies in LV, we thought that was tres chic only to find out that even trailer parks here are "gated."). When the salesperson asked my occupation and I said I was a vet, his eyes lit up and he went into the spiel about how these homes would be perfect for us. And they were. Again, being newbies at this whole game we were suitably impressed with all of the upgrades, not realizing that the actual basic house would look more like an Army barracks than the episode of "Cribs" that was presented. But I digress. Long story short, visions of granite counters and built-in barbecues danced in our heads ...until they whipped out the price sheet. Holy. Crap. (substitute your own epithet here).

So we re-grouped. We made plans to "save some money" and figured we'd have enough for a down payment in a year or so. And then, of course, life intervened: The jobs for TH were slim pickins for a while, after a few months The Dreaded Vet School Student Loans (also known as Dark Lord Bloodsucker, my archenemy) kicked in, I started to realize just how many hours of work at My Former Job were required to keep up with the cost of living here, J was conceived, health issues sprang up from out of the woodwork....and here we are. Still renting at 30, with no end in sight. We make "good money." We don't have credit cards anymore. Our bills are paid on time. But when a 20% down payment on an average house around here can run almost $60,000, well, you do the math.

So, the dilemma. Life is good and we are definitely blessed, don't get me wrong. But as usual the future is pretty murky. It seems like every year we're saying, "maybe next year we'll finally settle down and have an idea of where we're headed." And then another year rolls around and we're still on the road, but we haven't figured out the destination. Do we stay here for a few more years? Is it time to end the Great Desert Experiment and hightail it back to Colorado? Is this how it always is, you make plans to make more plans? When do you get to a point where you stop waiting to exhale and you frigging exhale, already? Sigh...Maybe I should consult the Magic 8 ball...

Alright, so I've jumped on the blogging bandwagon. I'm not sure what possessed me to start this up -- I have to admit that there are a few blogs I read regularly and I often think how vain it is to post your thoughts for all to see, as if anyone cares....but yet I still read them. I'm pretty sure the only people who will be interested in this are friends and family but who knows?

A little about me (and only a little, I'm a bit wary of putting too much info out for the masses). From the title, obviously I am one member of the E family, and we live in Las Vegas. There's me, hubby (referred to hereafter as TH as in "the husband"), baby (referred to as J), and our 2 cats. From my own vain perspective our life is pretty interesting. I'm a relatively new mom, a wife to my high school sweetheart, a veterinarian, and as of this year (gulp) 30 years old. I have a great and equally interesting -- if not downright eccentric -- extended family that this blog is mostly for (but not necessarily about so don't worry.)

I have lots of topics that have been on my mind that I want to talk about and I hope others chime in. There are certain aspects of my life that I won't air on this blog but here are the main things that are constantly in this DVM's mind:

• Being a first-time mom to a toddler
• Maintaining a (hopefully) happy marriage
• Being a vet, and thus a working mom
• Trying to obtain the American Dream while living in Viva Las Vegas

I'm sure other randomness will pop up from time to time. Anyhoo that's the blog, I'm not sure how often I'll post but we'll see. (We'll see if anyone reads it but me ha ha). Well, as usual with perfect timing I hear J waking up from his nap. I'll put up the first "real" post later today (maybe). Let me know what you think...

DesiDVM