Dave and I are both pretty comfortable saying that we are made for each other.  We truly feel blessed by God to have found one another and had that epiphany: “ooohhhh, ok, now I get it. . . this is right.”  With that it mind it is pretty hilarious to think that, if we were made for each other, would we have known that when we were nine?  Were we made for each other starting at birth and just go through life like that until we find eachother, or do we change and move around until we lock in (like a slot machine)?

I am not saying I know the answer, but I am going to share some photos from Dave’s childhood that make me think, it was just a matter of meeting up.  Enjoy!~

I don’t think I would have ended up with the boy who had the “no absences” award, or the “best science experiment”.  However “doodle king” strikes me as attractive for one reason or another.

This is a grenade one of Dave’s friends gave him to communicate, “you are the bomb!”  I am not sure if this makes me like Dave more or the girl who gave it to him.  Can you imagine how cool it felt to be told you are the bomb with an actual hand grenade in 1996 or when ever he get this?  Either way, Dave was part of this transaction and that is endearing to me.

This one is a real heart stopper for me.  Maybe because I am pretty sure my little brother Tim would have been right next to him making a clay oozie.  It is comforting he would have fit in the family, even then.  The fact that Dave needed to clarify it was not just a gun, but a GAT, well, it just shows he is a man who strives for excellence and details count on important issues.

Last but not least.  His Cabbage Patch Cat.  He assures me that Xavier Roberts gave the cat a terrible name in true Cabbage Patch fashion (I got a CP cornsilk who’s name was Dorcus).  This cat has been loved, therefore I love this man even more!  Wouldn’t you?

I hope this post didn’t make anyone sick to their stomach.  I just took a romantic spin on some pretty hilarious stuff of Dave’s I just had to show you!  Really though, it does drive home the point that Dave is too perfect for me!

As Jessie mentioned in the last post, this move has been hardest on Moogs, our cat.  The ride over here was miserable for him, he meowed almost every 2 seconds for the first half of our 14 hour drive.  But he eventually broke and calmed down quite a bit.  We thought we had won.  But little did we know what the next week … nay, month! … would have in store for us.

The 1st week.

The first week in the new house Moogs was confused by the new space and spent most of his first day shivering away in the hall closet.  Then he started this new adorable behavior where he’d spend 14 hours a day burrowed under the covers.  It was a Cute Overload moment that could break the heart of Stalin himself…

Then came the nights.  Being completely nocturnal due to his 14 hours of mid-day slumber, Moogs was left to wander around the empty house alone at night meowing in fear, and then being scared by the echo of his own meow, only to run out of a room meowing, to find the same result in the next room.

He would try to use his cat instincts to stare out of the window, only to find the interested neighbor cats lazing in our yard looking back at him.  Causing him to meow… and freak out… and meow… and freak out… and … etc…

This kept Jessie and I awake all night as if we had a newborn.  Only, this newborn would resist cuddling & comfort.  And if held would spaz out and scratch the [cuss word] out of you with his razor-like claws -the killer extension to his advanced muscular system- which I assume most newborns lack.

The 2nd week.

Once it became “clear” that we were actually going to own the house (that’s another story!), we started demo’ing the kitchen because we had big plans to put new floors in our house.  We knocked out the 1960s era breakfast bar (sorry, Craig) as well as the noggin-offending cabinet above it leaving an knocked out portion of drywall where the cabinets were previously attached.

When Moogs first found this hideout, it was a blessing.  We had plans for workers coming in and out of the house over the next few days, and him being out of sight not running through glue was a great idea.

But what was first perceived as a blessing was really a curse.  His hideout enabled him to continue his 14hour+ sleeping schedule, and his incessant nocturnal bitching and moaning.

The 3rd week.

At the end of the 2nd week after the floors were finished being installed we had to go to Houston for a family emergency (another much sadder story). This put us out of the house for 10 days.  I can only assume it was filled with long hours spent above the cabinets, and meowing nights.

The 4th week.

We came home from Houston and just spent a few breaths in the house.  Moogs’ nocturnal nights turned into our nocturnal nights and we enacted an Anti-Hideout Family Policy.  We tried our darnedest to discourage his attempts by stuffing various articles in the hole, but to no avail.  He always broke through our defenses.

Before we left for our Burbank/Palm Spings/San Diego trip (that’s another story!) that Friday, we stuck a snare drum into the hole which prevented his attempts fairly well.

The 5th week.

I dunno.  I was in San Diego learning to boogie board.  (That’s another story!)

The 6th week.

We got back from San Diego only to find the snare drum on the ground.  On it’s 8ft plummet it gathered enough speed to put a sizable divot into the new hardwood floors.  Absolutely terrible and bothersome, but as we quickly learned, it’s the nature of hardwood floors to be scratched up and stuff.

The nights have been tedious, but we’ve chucked him in the garage a couple times.  We’ve tried various objects to sway Moogs away from the hideout, more boxes, old pieces of sheet rock, etc.  With only 1 break-in, we’re doing pretty good.  We’ve got a bucket and a box with one of those balance balls in it.

Moogs spent the first night yet outside last night, but has yet to return.  He’s either hiding somewhere and afraid to come in because of the neighbor dogs (likely) or he’s on his way back to California (hopefully not).  Hopefully we’ll hear a meow from him soon.  Otherwise we’ll have to canvas the neighborhood and bother our dear neighbors (that’s another story!) with a daily “Have you seen our cat?”  Hopefully he’s not getting himself into too much trouble.

PS

A special thanks to all our friends, The Rodens & Sean who took care of the hidden Moogs while we were out of town.

We are finally putting up a real post.  Not due to lack of trying, it just seems like everytime we start a post something comes up and then when we finally get back to it, it is OUT OF DATE.  I am not one to be, “so five minutes ago.”  so you will most likely never see those posts.  Enough apologies.

The HOUSE!  It is starting to feel familiar.  Moogs is still struggling, we have sleepless nights of hearing him meow for his old neighborhood (I feel you bro).

Dave and I have only made a few changes, but the house really feels like we made it our own.  The people who had it before us “made it their own” for 48 years so I find it surprising that new floors and paint can transform a house and make it seem new.  We are still in process in the kitchen, the demo was easy, but finishing it off has proved to be a struggle.

Come visit soon!

Pictures, Pictures, Pictures!!!!!

About a week ago we moved out of our charming little 1920s bungalow located in the heart of Historical Highland Park, Los Angeles, California.  We sent our stuff away with Jessie’s parents – they are completely the best to us, piled the car full with left over odds and ends and drove over to our temporary residence with our friends, The Gladdens.

We’re calling it “Camp Gladden” because we have campfires and sing-a-longs every night.  Actually, instead of doing all that whenever we’re all home we sit around the TV and watch the first season Battlestar Galactica… which is AWESOME.

Camp Gladden has been wonderful.  It’s been more than ideal for the 2 of us as we stay and finish up Jessie’s school year.  Kyle & Char have been the easiest people in the world to be around.  We’re going to miss them a lot, but are already planning bi-annual family vacations… you know, the usual “Let’s go to Tahoe!” and “We’ve got a timeshare in Acapulco”.

Unfortunately, not everyone seems to be adjusting.  Moogs, who meowed at a 2-second interval the whole drive over, is freaked out by Francine, Kyle & Char’s awesome cat-dog (cat-like, not actually feline).  Moogs meows which causes Francine to bark, which causes Moogs to hiss, which causes Francine to bark, et cetera, et cetera, et cetera.  Oh well.  You can yell at a cat, but it’ll just face the other way and ignore you.  Francine just wants to play with her new friend, but Moogs is a little emo right now.

We officially start heading East on June 15th, our 1 Year Anniversary.  T-minus 5 days until we leave.  It’s going to be bittersweet leaving the town where we fell in love and so many dear friends, but we’re headed the right direction for us.  We’ll stay with Patty & Henry for almost a week, pack up a truck and drive out our closing on June 22nd.  This is outrageously soon!

Tomorrow Jessie and I will head to Austin, TX for a 6-day exploratory trip where we’ll look for a house to buy with our pre-approved home loan.  Here is a map I snapshotted from Trulia (where we spend most of our evenings) with 928 homes in our search area.  Home buying in an exploded housing market inspired recession has created a plethora of options inside Jessie and I’s price range.  And thanks to the Internet, we can see every single one and make rash judgments based on terrible realtor photos and wide-angle lenses.  All these options are making the decision extremely hard.

Nostalgia wants me to think that it was easier “back then”.  My ill-conceived version what buying a house in the 80s was like goes like this:
COUPLE: We want a house.
REALTOR: Well, we have these 4 available.
COUPLE: We’ll take that one.
REALTOR: Congratulations!  Here’s a key!  And a fence!  And a dog!

Actually, I bet most people in the 80s were forced with a “BUY or BUILD” dilemma.  I know my family did one of each.  Jessie and I have thought about getting a lot and putting a prefab “ultra-green, made of compost and recycled diapers” house on it, but even that fancy double wide trailer home costs you half-a-freaking-million dollars.  So that’s holding us back.  That and cursed indian burial grounds.

So, it’s shaping up to be an exciting week of looking at zillions of houses that we’ve only seen through wide-angle lens photos.  Will the Ruperts find the house of their dreams? Will they be close to or far away from Dave’s work at Paravel Design in Marble Falls?  Will they brave the gentrified ghettos and settle East?  Will they have  the chutzpah to negotiate?  Wait and see!  It could all happen this week!  Stay tuned!

If this were an Onion article it’d be titled “SPOILED YUPPIE HAS SO MUCH MONEY HE CAN’T DECIDE WHICH HOUSE TO BUY”.  Dang.  That’s some humility right there, son!

Well, its that time again, Jessie and I are releasing another track. I hope you enjoy listening as much as we enjoy making these songs.  We’re on a mission to do this quarterly, if not more often.

The song we chose to record is “Once A Day” by Connie Smith. We decided to do this song while driving home from Bakersfield, California. The song came across the ol’ XM radio and it reminded Jessie of her family there and she said “We’ve got to do it!”.  It reminded me of Texas. Bakersfield, if I dare say, is like the Texas of the West.  And being a sucker for country music and steel guitar, we gave it a go.

So enjoy!  We’re going to start recording another one in about 15 minutes! Yee Haw. I love listening to my wife sing.  Again, enjoy.

Download: Once a Day

Requests and dedications can be filed in the comments section.

real quick, wanted to let everyone know you’re at the right website. I freshened up this blog for the spring time. i’m actually not quite done yet but i wanted to push this out the door anyways so i could maintain it rather than have it loom over me. so if you notice anything shifting around, don’t worry about it.

but welcome. and to celebrate the redesign, you can have this cheesy rupeandconk wallpaper!

Well ladies and gentlemen, it’s officially official.  The Ruperts are making the move to Austin.  To some this may come as a shocking surprise, to some a mournful dirge, but maybe there’s one person out there who is saying “That’s great! Here’s a thing of Jell-o!”

But this isn’t the sappy post where we ball our eyes out and profess our love of each and every Los Angelino – I’m talking about you “Next Door Neighbor Fletch House of Cholos”.  This is just the beginning of a long process of getting us (and our stuff) out East.  We’ll save all the weeping and gnashing of teeth for anther day.

Our trip got broken up into 2 parts.  A trip to Phoenix, then to Austin.

In Phoenix, We saw Jessie’s little brother Tim marry his girlfriend-since-college, Jen.  It was a gorgeous wedding and a charming event.  On a personal level, it really redeemed the city of Phoenix for me.  Who knew there were really cool and beautiful places in Phoenix!?  But seriously, we’re really happy for them and wish them the best and can’t wait to hang out with The Conklins.

The next part of our trip was a long 16 hour drive to Texas. We loaded up the Scion full of boxes and things from our garage and now it’s here safe and sound.  The drive was long and grueling and can be summarized in 3 bullet points:

• From Phoenix, AZ to Las Cruces, NM there was a constant 30mph headwind.
• Pep Boys at Exit 28A in El Paso, TX is worthless.
• We almost hit a deer near Fredericksburg, TX at 3am.  Missed by inches.  Scary.

But we finally arrived at 4am to the Walton residence and passed out soon thereafter.   Last night, I disavowed all my hippy PETA-based “Animals should be allowed to roam free” theories in a single second.  Other than that, it was a pretty eventless trip across America.

We’ll be back in LA on Sunday.  Leaving my Scion in Austin, we’ll be a one-car-family until we move all of our stuff out to Texas later this summer.  We know, we know, “moving to Texas in the Summer?!? bad idea!” – but sometimes you gotta play the cards you’re dealt.  Until then, we’re looking forward to packing things and hanging out with our friends.