Since one of the main goals of my spring break was to take care of that huge box that's been hanging out in my living room for the past five weeks, yesterday's One Productive Thing was going to be to get the futon put together and get that room mostly finished.
Yesterday evening, Paul and I got everything out of the big box and moved it into the the guest room. Paul hurt his back helping his friend move a huge projection TV from a 2nd floor apartment on Thursday so I was going to put the futon together myself. The directions didn't seem complicated since the majority of the construction is the four sides of the base and I'm typically pretty good about putting together ready-to-assemble stuff. Not so much this time. I couldn't even get the first bracket attached. After fiddling with it for a bit, I finally hollered at Paul to come help. He fiddled with it for a bit and came to the same conclusion as me--it doesn't fit. The screws that were in place for the bracket are too far apart.
Of course, we started this project after the helpline was closed so our attempts to get started on it, much less finish, have been thwarted. We've got a couple of ideas as to what we're going to do--1. call the helpline on Monday to see what they say/suggest 2. go back to World Market to see how they assembled the floor model (we'll just look it over and see if we can make ours work) 3. head to the hardware store to see if we can find something to make what we've got work or 4. load the whole thing up again and return it to the store. It's all very frustrating--it was supposed to be all finished and I was going to finally get rid of that box. I'm glad it's no longer taking up space in my living room any long--it's been moved to the guest room for the time being, until we can get it assembled or returned. Paul, ever one to look on the bright side, gave me just a little bit of time to wallow in frustration and then he commented that at least I had something to write about on the blog now. True but I would have been happier to be able to write about how great the new futon and everything looks.
Hopefully, if/when I finally get a new dining room table and chairs, it will be much less frustrating.
Saturday, March 28, 2009
Thursday, March 26, 2009
Projects, projects, projects
I've been trying to split up my days between school work in the morning (from 8:00 until noon or so) and then doing at least one productive thing in the afternoon in addition to going to the gym. Tuesday, I did a little yard work in the front yard (hopefully will get the rest finished on Saturday). Yesterday's productive thing was making "perfect" chocolate chip cookies from this month's Cooks Illustrated. I love Cooks Illustrated because it's only got a dozen or so recipes along with product reviews so I don't feel like I'll never make the things in there. I try to make at least one recipe from each one. Both Paul and I agree that these are really good cookies. A little extra work is involved because the butter is melted and then the sugars are whisked into the butter and there is some rest time involved. But the end results are well worth the extra time involved--the cookies have a hint of a toffee flavor and the perfect chewy/crunchy mix. Yummy.
Yesterday evening, I received a phone call from a friend, Audra, who wanted to know if I could come be a "warm body" for a photo shoot her husband was doing. She knew I am on Spring Break and thought I'd be a good sport. Her husband is a photographer and was doing work for a local group of restaurants in town, taking pictures for their website and probably print ads. Paul couldn't make it--conveniently, he had meetings at 11:00 and 2:00 (the first two photo shoots were at 10:00 and 2:00). I called Devlyn but she wasn't able to play hooky this afternoon since her company had just had a shake-up yesterday and 30 layoffs so she thought it wouldn't be the best idea. Paul suggested I call his coworker/our friend Jenny who also knows Audra. I told her Paul was being a stick-in-the-mud and told her what was up. Happily, Jenny was game for this little adventure.
We were instructed to dress like we were going to actually go to these restaurants to eat. Paul called this morning to let me know what Jenny was wearing--he wasn't sure she was dressed right because she was wearing a shirt that was "kinda low cut with floofy sleeves" (apparently, he thought/told her I was just wearing jeans). I reassured him that she probably looked fine and we would have dueling cleavage if nothing else. I wore a long-sleeved scoop neck shirt, trousers, and a fancy necklace. And we both looked fine. It was a lot of waiting while everything was arranged just-so--almost 1.5 hours before we were needed. The plate was moved slightly to the right and the glass slightly to the left and the stuff on the mantle rearranged three times. There were three tables prepared for the shoot--one with an appetizer, one with entrees, and one with desserts. There were two couples and three women for the shoot. Jenny and I were going for the dessert table but that was overruled because the three of us women together at the table might send the wrong message (what? that this restaurant is great for ladies' night out?). So we were relegated to the appetizer table and another man (one of the servers) was scrounged up for the dessert table so there would be three couples in the shot. It was less than 30 minutes for the actual shoot while we sat, pretended to chat, laugh, not look directly at the server who got recruited to be in the shot at our table as well (she was jokingly telling us that the other server/man couldn't eat that dessert because he was on the job). For our time, we'll receive gift certificates for the restaurant. I'll take it. I really like the restaurant but it's definitely fancier than our usual spots. We've been there once before for an anniversary dinner and I had to tell Paul to just hush about the $100 tab because 8 years of marriage was worth it.
After that, I headed over to World Market again to pick up the desk chair I'd been wanting. It wasn't in stock earlier in the month when I'd been there. I'm debating buying this print for the guest room as well. I'd actually marked it in the Ballard Designs catalog I received yesterday and then saw it this afternoon at World Market where it costs less. Paul isn't crazy about it but he's hardly ever in that room. I don't know--I think I'm going to ponder it a bit longer. I also found a small wall clock I really like at my favorite little shop when I stopped in on my way home. I didn't get it today but I think I'm going to go back and buy it.
After dinner, Paul and I finally got around to rearranging furniture. The old futon is now waiting in the garage to be taken to the curb tomorrow. I'm still a little sad to see it go. We moved the double bed up to the upstairs bedroom. It works well up there. The way that the room is now arranged, it's a little squished when you first walk in the room but I think there is more floor space with it this way. The big box is still sitting in the living room. My mother-in-law called while we were finishing up moving furniture and she asked about the new futon (she's one who's seen the humongous box just sitting there). All in good time. We have to have something to do tomorrow. Paul had actually helped one of his coworkers move some furniture from an upstairs apartment this afternoon as well so Paul was ready to take a long hot bath. Plus, that darn chair took longer to put together than I thought it would. It wasn't hard, just took longer.
A busy but productive and fun day and a nice way to spend time on my Spring Break.
Yesterday evening, I received a phone call from a friend, Audra, who wanted to know if I could come be a "warm body" for a photo shoot her husband was doing. She knew I am on Spring Break and thought I'd be a good sport. Her husband is a photographer and was doing work for a local group of restaurants in town, taking pictures for their website and probably print ads. Paul couldn't make it--conveniently, he had meetings at 11:00 and 2:00 (the first two photo shoots were at 10:00 and 2:00). I called Devlyn but she wasn't able to play hooky this afternoon since her company had just had a shake-up yesterday and 30 layoffs so she thought it wouldn't be the best idea. Paul suggested I call his coworker/our friend Jenny who also knows Audra. I told her Paul was being a stick-in-the-mud and told her what was up. Happily, Jenny was game for this little adventure.
We were instructed to dress like we were going to actually go to these restaurants to eat. Paul called this morning to let me know what Jenny was wearing--he wasn't sure she was dressed right because she was wearing a shirt that was "kinda low cut with floofy sleeves" (apparently, he thought/told her I was just wearing jeans). I reassured him that she probably looked fine and we would have dueling cleavage if nothing else. I wore a long-sleeved scoop neck shirt, trousers, and a fancy necklace. And we both looked fine. It was a lot of waiting while everything was arranged just-so--almost 1.5 hours before we were needed. The plate was moved slightly to the right and the glass slightly to the left and the stuff on the mantle rearranged three times. There were three tables prepared for the shoot--one with an appetizer, one with entrees, and one with desserts. There were two couples and three women for the shoot. Jenny and I were going for the dessert table but that was overruled because the three of us women together at the table might send the wrong message (what? that this restaurant is great for ladies' night out?). So we were relegated to the appetizer table and another man (one of the servers) was scrounged up for the dessert table so there would be three couples in the shot. It was less than 30 minutes for the actual shoot while we sat, pretended to chat, laugh, not look directly at the server who got recruited to be in the shot at our table as well (she was jokingly telling us that the other server/man couldn't eat that dessert because he was on the job). For our time, we'll receive gift certificates for the restaurant. I'll take it. I really like the restaurant but it's definitely fancier than our usual spots. We've been there once before for an anniversary dinner and I had to tell Paul to just hush about the $100 tab because 8 years of marriage was worth it.
After that, I headed over to World Market again to pick up the desk chair I'd been wanting. It wasn't in stock earlier in the month when I'd been there. I'm debating buying this print for the guest room as well. I'd actually marked it in the Ballard Designs catalog I received yesterday and then saw it this afternoon at World Market where it costs less. Paul isn't crazy about it but he's hardly ever in that room. I don't know--I think I'm going to ponder it a bit longer. I also found a small wall clock I really like at my favorite little shop when I stopped in on my way home. I didn't get it today but I think I'm going to go back and buy it.
After dinner, Paul and I finally got around to rearranging furniture. The old futon is now waiting in the garage to be taken to the curb tomorrow. I'm still a little sad to see it go. We moved the double bed up to the upstairs bedroom. It works well up there. The way that the room is now arranged, it's a little squished when you first walk in the room but I think there is more floor space with it this way. The big box is still sitting in the living room. My mother-in-law called while we were finishing up moving furniture and she asked about the new futon (she's one who's seen the humongous box just sitting there). All in good time. We have to have something to do tomorrow. Paul had actually helped one of his coworkers move some furniture from an upstairs apartment this afternoon as well so Paul was ready to take a long hot bath. Plus, that darn chair took longer to put together than I thought it would. It wasn't hard, just took longer.
A busy but productive and fun day and a nice way to spend time on my Spring Break.
Tuesday, March 24, 2009
Catching up
My goal is to keep up with this place better the rest of the spring. I've got a good grasp on school work now--I think that first paper I had to turn in on the database was so difficult because it was so outside anything else I'd done. Hopefully, I've got it down (ha!). Or at least get it enough that I can devote more of life to other things.
Spring Break started yesterday and we've got no real plans. Paul is swamped with work and I've got a paper due on Wednesday (already completed and turned in) and one due on Monday (should be working on it but taking a break right now). Yesterday, I did the majority of our income taxes. It wasn't as bad as we thought it would be--I always psych myself up by preparing to owe at least 5 digits. We never have owed that much before and most likely never will but it's makes even $1500 much easier to swallow. And good news for us, we're now wealthy, at least according to our new president. Paul and I were recently talking about how frustrating it is now that the economy is tanking and everyone is touting the benefits of frugal living and saving since we've been doing that for years. I remember telling a coworker at the beginning of the economic downturn last year or so that there's not much more Paul and I can do. I'm a comparison/coupon shopper, hate throwing away any food, try not to pay retail for anything, we both put as much into our 401(k) or 403(b) as allowed, invest and save quite a bit of our income, try to be frugal with purchases (we do have "fun" splurges like the Wii but we still have a 10-year old TV given to us as a wedding gift, our newest car is 5 years old, etc). We won't benefit from any stimulus payout, mortgage packages, or anything else that is making news. But, hey, thanks Mr. President, for letting me know we're wealthy while our investments and IRAs are hemorrhaging money. And thanks, IRS, for not taking as much of our hard-earned savings as we thought you would.
The rest of my Project List for the week is some furniture rearranging, cleaning the yard if the weather is nice enough (been cooler and is supposed to be windy this week), and cleaning out some clothes and straightening/reorganizing the closets again (an annual thing since I just throw things in during the year). We're redoing the guest room to make it a more usable space for the 50 weeks a year we don't have company. I bought a desk for me to use in that room and found a futon at World Market a month or so ago that I really liked for the guest room. It is little narrower than a queen bed when flat but it is the length of one which is what I wanted. It was on sale last month ($200 off) so I insisted on getting it RIGHT THEN even though we weren't quite ready to actually own it. There was debate about keeping Paul's old futon and storing the double mattress and boxspring for later but that raised the question of where, donating the mattress but then if we have a child we'll end up buying almost the same thing in a few years, and on and on. And in the meantime, we've been living with a really big box in the living room for the last month while we decide what to do. People have been over to my house with this huge box sitting just a few feet from the front door. It's times like that when people see a bit too much how we actually live. After some sentimental agonizing, we decided to donate the futon in the upstairs bedroom to a local charity. I was hesitant to do that--it's the last thing from Paul's bachelor days and I felt bad about getting rid of it, especially since it would be because we're keeping the last thing from my single days. But Paul is much less sentimental than I am so the futon is being picked up on Friday and we'll move the double bed to the upstairs bedroom for at least the time being. I've debated repainting the room. I won't get to it this week plus, I still really like the color of the room. I'm going to put down the rug that used to be in our living room, buy a new desk chair, sprinkle around a few knick-knacks and wall art and we'll have a "new" guest room.
Our yard desperately needs to be cleaned up and pots replanted. Mostly, it will just be cleaning up some old growth and raking up old leaves. One of the bushes in the yard needs to be trimmed way back, too. I need to figure out what to replant in the shadier spot of the yard--one is a dwarf crepe myrtle that has been there for over five years and it isn't growing at all. I think we lost a few plants over the winter so I'll need to either replace those myself or get the landscaper out to do it. I just hope the weather cooperates this week. It was so beautiful last week--too bad we couldn't have had Spring Break then.
So, that's my week off. Spring Break will be a low-key but busy week. If nothing else, I've got to get this paper finished with hopefully less agonizing than the last paper caused me. And hopefully, I'll catch up over in these parts a bit as well. It will be good for me to write a little fluff along with that academic stuff I've got going.
Spring Break started yesterday and we've got no real plans. Paul is swamped with work and I've got a paper due on Wednesday (already completed and turned in) and one due on Monday (should be working on it but taking a break right now). Yesterday, I did the majority of our income taxes. It wasn't as bad as we thought it would be--I always psych myself up by preparing to owe at least 5 digits. We never have owed that much before and most likely never will but it's makes even $1500 much easier to swallow. And good news for us, we're now wealthy, at least according to our new president. Paul and I were recently talking about how frustrating it is now that the economy is tanking and everyone is touting the benefits of frugal living and saving since we've been doing that for years. I remember telling a coworker at the beginning of the economic downturn last year or so that there's not much more Paul and I can do. I'm a comparison/coupon shopper, hate throwing away any food, try not to pay retail for anything, we both put as much into our 401(k) or 403(b) as allowed, invest and save quite a bit of our income, try to be frugal with purchases (we do have "fun" splurges like the Wii but we still have a 10-year old TV given to us as a wedding gift, our newest car is 5 years old, etc). We won't benefit from any stimulus payout, mortgage packages, or anything else that is making news. But, hey, thanks Mr. President, for letting me know we're wealthy while our investments and IRAs are hemorrhaging money. And thanks, IRS, for not taking as much of our hard-earned savings as we thought you would.
The rest of my Project List for the week is some furniture rearranging, cleaning the yard if the weather is nice enough (been cooler and is supposed to be windy this week), and cleaning out some clothes and straightening/reorganizing the closets again (an annual thing since I just throw things in during the year). We're redoing the guest room to make it a more usable space for the 50 weeks a year we don't have company. I bought a desk for me to use in that room and found a futon at World Market a month or so ago that I really liked for the guest room. It is little narrower than a queen bed when flat but it is the length of one which is what I wanted. It was on sale last month ($200 off) so I insisted on getting it RIGHT THEN even though we weren't quite ready to actually own it. There was debate about keeping Paul's old futon and storing the double mattress and boxspring for later but that raised the question of where, donating the mattress but then if we have a child we'll end up buying almost the same thing in a few years, and on and on. And in the meantime, we've been living with a really big box in the living room for the last month while we decide what to do. People have been over to my house with this huge box sitting just a few feet from the front door. It's times like that when people see a bit too much how we actually live. After some sentimental agonizing, we decided to donate the futon in the upstairs bedroom to a local charity. I was hesitant to do that--it's the last thing from Paul's bachelor days and I felt bad about getting rid of it, especially since it would be because we're keeping the last thing from my single days. But Paul is much less sentimental than I am so the futon is being picked up on Friday and we'll move the double bed to the upstairs bedroom for at least the time being. I've debated repainting the room. I won't get to it this week plus, I still really like the color of the room. I'm going to put down the rug that used to be in our living room, buy a new desk chair, sprinkle around a few knick-knacks and wall art and we'll have a "new" guest room.
Our yard desperately needs to be cleaned up and pots replanted. Mostly, it will just be cleaning up some old growth and raking up old leaves. One of the bushes in the yard needs to be trimmed way back, too. I need to figure out what to replant in the shadier spot of the yard--one is a dwarf crepe myrtle that has been there for over five years and it isn't growing at all. I think we lost a few plants over the winter so I'll need to either replace those myself or get the landscaper out to do it. I just hope the weather cooperates this week. It was so beautiful last week--too bad we couldn't have had Spring Break then.
So, that's my week off. Spring Break will be a low-key but busy week. If nothing else, I've got to get this paper finished with hopefully less agonizing than the last paper caused me. And hopefully, I'll catch up over in these parts a bit as well. It will be good for me to write a little fluff along with that academic stuff I've got going.
Monday, March 16, 2009
My poor little neglected spot
Still here, still doing the school thing. The one week I had a bit of a break, we went to Nashville so I haven't had much time to just sit down and gather my thoughts here. I need to--I've got a mess of stuff floating around in my head that I need to get written just for myself. Next week is Spring Break--maybe I'll get to it before then. Maybe sooner.
But now, have another paper to agonize over. Apparently the agonizing is paying off--97 on the first portion and a 98 on the short research paper I had to write. I would have been happy with a low 90 or high 80. But I'll definitely take those grades.
But now, have another paper to agonize over. Apparently the agonizing is paying off--97 on the first portion and a 98 on the short research paper I had to write. I would have been happy with a low 90 or high 80. But I'll definitely take those grades.
Thursday, February 19, 2009
A lovely dream
School is keeping me busy around these parts--three papers due in two weeks. I turned in one today--a short briefing on database management systems. It was like trying to learn Russian--totally new concept for me but I got it done and I think it's decent enough. A second one isn't as bad--a needs assessment of my library based on a survey of students. I've gotten the survey written, just need to pass it along to some students. The third one, due on Monday, is kicking my butt--starting to actually create the database. It SUCKS. I'm having a hard time focusing because I don't understand and don't know where to start. Thankfully what's due on Monday is just a preliminary draft so I can make corrections before it's actually due the following Monday. I think life will be a little more enjoyable since the papers are a little more spread out the rest of the semester. Postings here are few and far between because I'm not really in a mood to write at the end of it all.
I want to write down a dream I had last week that has stuck with me. I think it was last Friday or so when I had this and I know I woke up smiling as a result. As happens with most dreams, it picked up in the middle of the action. It was a nondescript location, fuzzy parameters, etc. (I'm going with heaven). Paul's grandmother was in the room as was another lady I didn't recognize. In my dream, Reva didn't say anything to me, and she just looked like Grandmother in a healthier, stronger form (as I think we will be in heaven). The other lady smiled and told me, "We are so enjoying having her here."
Reva has been on our mind a bit these days. When I was at ABQ Uptown recently, I bought a snickerdoodle at the cookie store to share with Paul because that's what his grandmother always made him and we shared a smile about the boxes of cookies we used to receive on birthdays. One of Paul's cousins recently adopted a little boy and another just had a baby so there is the bittersweet thought that Grandmother would have loved more great-grandbabies. We still miss her dearly. I'm glad to think other people are enjoying her now as well.
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