Let the Good Times Roll

2

July 19, 2010

A lot of fun things have been going on lately:

~ I’ve downloaded Boggle and have been playing against the computer.  I used to love this game, but sadly Randy isn’t very good at it so I haven’t played in a very long time.  That isn’t the only game I’ve been playing, though.  When the power went out the other night due to storms, he and I played Yahtzee.  I won 2 out of 3 games, but that was just blind luck.  Naturally I called an end to the games before he had a chance to catch up and beat me…

~ I had a transcontinental movie date last night with Leah.  “What is a transcontinental movie date?” you may be asking yourself.  She and I watched the same movie (“Eclipse”) at the same time.  I went to a late show, while she went to an evening show; we were watching simultaneously.  I know it sounds silly, but it was fun.  How else are you going to watch a movie with a friend who lives on the opposite coast?  We talked on the phone for about an hour and a half afterward, about the movie, and life in general.  It was the first time we’d spoken anywhere other than online.  It was pretty awesome!

~ I’m going to Atlantic City next week with another friend I met through the internet, Emily.  We’ll be gone for a couple of days, and I can’t wait!  We may be spending a day in Cape May with Dustin, which is pretty cool.  I hung out with both of them in Manhattan for a day last year, along with our friend Becky who happened to be visiting Emily at the time.  I’m so excited!  I just wish Becky could be with us again.  Maybe next year, eh Becky?

~ I’ve been slowly cleaning and organizing my house.  While this definitely does not qualify as a fun activity, the results are soothing, so it’s a win.

All in all, life’s not too shabby at the moment.

Categories: Home Improvement, My Viewing Pleasure, Random Thoughts.

Pullin’ Weeds, Pickin’ Stones

2

July 5, 2010

My mother continues to work on my flower beds and, for the most part, they are weeded.  I say “for the most part” because while on the surface it looks like it’s weeded, there’s a lot more lurking under the surface.  Though she went after those weeds with a pitchfork like the devil goes after souls, we know that the grass has thoroughly established itself throughout the front beds.  She has pulled almost everything out from there and will probably spray with Round Up before putting everything back.  Then we’ll plant more either this year or next, and mulch towards the end of the summer instead.  Thankfully the flower bed on the side of the house was in much better shape.  It’s been weeded and edged, and will soon be mulched.  There will be more to add and more to prune, but overall it’s in pretty good shape.

There’s not much else going on at the moment, so I guess that’s all I’ll bore you with for now.  I’ll leave you with a view from a short walk Randy and I took yesterday…

Categories: Creativity Expressed, Home Improvement, Random Thoughts.

A Couple of Things

6

June 26, 2010

~ I finally watched “The Stand” over the past couple of days.  The effects were pretty crappy by our standards but most likely state of the art in ’94, so I’ll grant it leeway there.  It had an excellent cast, and is one of the better translations of King’s books to movies.  My only big problem was that I couldn’t find Randall Flagg at all scary.  It’s hard to take a demon from Hell seriously when he’s sporting a big bushy mullet.  The fact that he wore one, however, can stand as a testament to his evil nature.

~ I’ve continued to help my mother by driving Randy’s truck to run errands like picking up furniture or loads of mulch or topsoil.  She, in her turn, has been a gardening fiend in my flower beds.  It’s going to look amazing when she’s done!  It already looks 5 katrillion (I just made that up… take that Shakespeare!) times better than before.  There will be pictures at some point.

~ I don’t have ascites; the fluid is in my stomach, not my abdomen.  What a relief!  The gastric emptying study I underwent a couple of weeks ago indicates a problem there, so I have been put on a new medication, Reglan, which will make me sleepy.  It has some potentially nasty side effects that I have to watch out for, such as tremors and spasms, but as long as I don’t experience these I should be alright, and it should alleviate some of my symptoms.  I want to get something else checked out, but don’t want to discuss it yet.  Later, once it’s done.

~ I am so colossally lazy today that, though I’d like a bowl of cereal, I won’t have one because there aren’t any clean bowls and I can’t be bothered to wash one.  In my defense, I spent the morning ferrying topsoil to my mother’s and an old sofa of hers to the dump.  I feel I’ve expended as much energy as I’m going to today.  No, I didn’t hurt my back with either of these things.  I am the driver, nothing else.  My mother and brother did the heavy work.  I can’t emphasize enough how much it goes against the grain to watch my mother, who has her own back and cardiac issues, doing the heavy work.  She insists she’s fine, but it’s just wrong.  At least my brother was home today to do most of the work.  *sigh*

Well now, that’s 4 things, which is twice as many as a “couple.”  Having put the lie to the title of this post, I will end right here.

The End

********************

Categories: Home Improvement, My Viewing Pleasure, Random Thoughts.

Labor of Love

8

June 6, 2010

There’s a severe storm warning and a tornado watch for half of my state, including my corner.  A thunderstorm is making itself known outside and I probably shouldn’t be on my computer.  I rarely do what I’m supposed to, however, and so you find me here.  Until I have to drive to Hartford tonight to pick my brother up at the bus station.  We’ll just chalk it up to having an adventure and leave it at that, shall we?

I’ve managed to weed half of my front flower garden over the past few days.  This is an extremely painful process physically, but I’ve invested too much time, energy, and money in my gardens to let them slide any further into the Weed Hell that they reside in; it hurts – mentally – to see it.  The results are gratifying even if I am reduced to limping afterward.  Some things in life are worth it.

Of course, gardening is not for the faint of heart.  Becky could never in a million years assist me in weeding, for example: a surprising variety of spiders have made themselves at home there.  Slugs have turned up as well, and there is always an abundance of earthworms and creepy crawlers.  My MIL insists that she once saw a snake in it years ago but, if so, I’ve never seen one.  I once found a dead mouse and I’ll admit that I didn’t find that pleasant at all.  But overall there’s little to fear.  What I hate, though, is knowing that I probably have bugs crawling in my hair.  I could feel the bun I was wearing my hair in brushing against the underside of one of the bay windows as I toiled, and there are spider webs and other things lurking there.   I’ve never scrubbed my head in the shower the way I did after I called it quits for the day.

As I cleaned up I had an idea.  I should place an ad in the paper offering to let some gardener, bereft of the ability to have a garden of their own, come to my house and care for mine.  I wouldn’t pay them anything, and all materials they needed they would have to provide themselves.  They couldn’t remove any of the flowers, only the weeds.  I might let them add flowers, but they would have to clear their choices with me first.  Other than that, they could come over and weed and putter to their heart’s content.

Now isn’t that a good deal?

The sad thing is that someone probably would take me up on that offer.  I’m just not sure I want anyone that crazy hanging outside my house, however.

Yes, I want everything, and I want it my way.

Speaking of wanting, I want some of the white irises my mother has in her garden…

Categories: Creativity Expressed, Home Improvement, Random Thoughts.

Well…

3

December 23, 2009

…hello there!

Another semester successfully completed and not a minute too soon!

The classes were interesting for the most part; any class will have its dry sections.  Philosophy of Race was a bit of a pill by the end.  You can only be beaten down for being white for so long before you get defensive.  It was fascinating, eye-opening, and I learned a lot, but I think the way forward must be based on mutual respect and understanding.  Revolution and acts of terrorism (as recommended by Fanon, and a classmate) seem counter-productive to me.  The rest of my classes were great, and the Curse of Statistics was broken: I got an A.  In fact my lowest grade was an A-.  All’s well that ends well.  I’m not completely in love with the school yet; it’s an adjustment.  But I know I will settle in.  My first semester at NCCC was the same way. *shrug*  I’ve chosen a concentration in forensic psychology and am taking Victimology next semester.  Also on tap are Research Methods, Critical Writing (both of these required for grad), Human Sexuality, and Islam.

So that’s school.

My back is still a big problem.  It’s been something like 7 months since I’ve been able to work, maybe 8.  I’m broke, and it’s Christmas.  I’m making a lot of presents this year, but that’s okay.  I like the way it’s all turning out.  I did all of my stressing around Thanksgiving.  I can’t be bothered getting stressed now.  Over the summer I: went to Dr. several times, went for physical therapy, went to an orthopedist, went to a neurologist.  I’ve had x-rays, and MRI, a something-or-other at the neurologist which involved being poked with needles and having electric current run through me, an ultrasound (which turned up gall stones, something totally unrelated and for which I may need surgery), and blood tests.  A couple of weeks ago I went to the chiropractor.  Out of everyone I’m seeing the most results with him, though the peripheral neuropathy and back pain persists.  We’ve just begun a more aggressive treatment program and I’m hopeful it will help.

Whatever.

The bathroom was finished a couple of months ago.  I may have mentioned that.  I put some pics of it up on FB and will add them here when I get the chance.  Just waiting for the motivation to strike.  I’ve been extremely lazy and often uncommunicative lately.

I don’t know what on earth possessed me to throw out that creative writing challenge, but I haven’t forgotten it despite all appearances.  I will do it, I promise!  Rather anticlimactic by then probably.  Sorry!  I’ll do my best.

I’ll leave you with a couple of photos I took recently…

bhawk

This hawk has been hanging out in our backyard lately, watching the house.  Methinks I’m being stalked.

braindrop

A raindrop on our rose bush

Categories: College Life, Creativity Expressed, Home Improvement, Random Thoughts.

Spousal Wisdom, or Lack Thereof

6

August 15, 2009

The contractor looked around the bathroom and said “Wow.  You know, this place really turned out nice!”  There was an insulting degree of surprise in his tone of voice.

I raised an eyebrow.

“When I was told that you wanted me to build a wall here even though it meant it would stick out past the window, I thought you were nuts.  But now that it’s done, it looks really great! The shower works perfectly there, and the shelves were an excellent idea.”

Smiling sagely I said, “See?  That’s why you shouldn’t question a lady’s vision.”

I recounted the story to Randy later.

“And that,” I concluded “is why he’s divorced, and you’re not.”

Randy chuckled his agreement.

But, on the other hand…

Randy came home last night with a special edition Time magazine that he thought would interest me because of its focus on how the mind works.  He handed it to me and said “I thought you could use this.”

Your Brain: A User’s Guide.

I took one look at the title and burst out laughing.

“Um, thanks.” I managed to say.

The poor man hadn’t paid attention the the actual title of the magazine, so he didn’t realize until then the significance of what he’d said to me.  Flustered, he quickly apologized.  “I didn’t mean it like that!”

Of course I knew that; it only added to my enjoyment of the situation.  It still makes me smile when I see the magazine sitting there.

Unused.

*G*

Categories: Home Improvement, Random Thoughts.

I’m Your Little Ray of Sunshine

7

August 3, 2009

Alright, enough of the depressing stuff.  There’s nothing more I can do until I get some test results and see the neurologist.  There are plenty of other things to worry about, and I’ll get to them.  I just don’t feel like it right now.

Not that I’m going to be all sunshine and light.  Hello… this is me we’re talking about.

My bathroom is nearly complete.  The molding is going up, the baseboard heater cover has been replaced (thank the Home Improvement Powers That Be- this change alone makes a huge difference!) and, only slightly less important: the plumbing works.

Let’s all take a moment and do a Happy Dance.  After the work is finished, of course, because premature celebrating might lead to pipes bursting.  You know how jinxes go.

Hm.  That sounded vaguely- and unintentionally- naughty.  Enough of that.

I have decided to start posting photos from my trip.  Actually, I’ve already done so.  I know that many of you are too busy or disinterested to follow the links to Flickr; I’m saving you the trouble.  There are some shots I’m really proud of, and you will see them.  Those of you who did go look said that you loved them.  Well, if you love them you won’t mind seeing them again.  Besides, I withheld some photos to surprise you with.  This isn’t one of them, but he cracked me up.  Hell, if I hadn’t recently changed avatars already, I might have used this instead.

C’mon.  If you were stuck in a zoo with people staring at you all the time, wouldn’t you stick your tongue out at a few of them, too?

tongue_out

Detail:

tongue2

Categories: Creativity Expressed, Home Improvement, Random Thoughts.

A Delicate Matter

3

July 22, 2009

I am floating around a bit adrift at the moment.  There is a bathroom renovation saga unfolding (you knew there would be, right?) and I’m spending my days at my mother’s house.  She has a bathroom door, so I don’t have to kick a contractor out of my home in order to use the toilet.

I mean, there’s only so many times you can look at someone and say “Could you please go outside?  I have to pee now.”

Categories: Home Improvement, Random Thoughts.

Gone Daddy Gone

9

July 11, 2009

Randy deserves a vacation, so we’re off to Tennessee.  As always we’ll be starting the week in the Smoky Mountains, and then head to Nashville for the second part.

Our bathroom is being renovated while we’re gone, and Randy’s mother will be looking after our home and pets, so don’t get any ideas all you would-be thieves. ;)

Photos and stories when we come back.

Categories: Home Improvement, Random Thoughts.

Doings

7

July 1, 2009

Let’s see, where to begin…

  • My mother’s car died.  Dead.  Cannot be rescusitated.  She has no money right now to get another car.  Meanwhile, as she weighs her options, I’ve loaned her mine.  Hey, with my back problems it’s not like I’m using it anyway; it just sits in the driveway.
  • I’ve sent in the letter declining admission to Columbia.  I can’t begin to tell you how hard it was, even though I knew it was the right choice.  It’s done now, though, and I’m moving forward.
  • I’ve just finished reading Warrior by Marie Brennan (not to be confused with the Warrior series by Erin Hunt, which I have also recently finished reading).  This was a real page-turner.  If you enjoy fantasy at all, I think you’ll like this.  The premise is that when a witch is born, a doppelganger is as well.  In order for the witch to receive her powers without being overwhelmed and killed by them, the doppelganger must die.  It is believed to be a soulless creature and is usually killed immediately.  When Miryo comes of age to receive her powers, however,  it is discovered that her doppelganger still lives.  Miryo is charged with the task of seeking her other half, Mirage, and killing her.  But when Miryo finds Mirage she realizes that her twin does have a soul, and she can’t follow through.  Mirage is a Hunter who also has a mission: to discover who was behind the assassination of a high-ranking witch.  The answer to that leads back to a conspiracy, one which involves the unwitting twins.  The two must unite if they are to live…
  • Did I mention that while we are on vacation, our bathroom is going to be remodelled?  Well, it is.  Randy and I went to Home Depot yesterday.  I chose the new vanity, bathroom storage cabinet, and faucet.  The shower stall size and style was already determined, but I chose the glass pattern for it.  The shower is a corner unit, but the corner it should occupy in our bathroom isn’t big enough because of the placement of the window.  So we’re going to build a wall about 17″ from the window wall and turn the space in between into built-in shelving.  The shower will go into the newly formed corner created by the newly created wall.  In addition to this, the old flooring is going to be replaced with new; I picked that out yesterday as well.  I’m thinking about buying a new toilet as well, but am not sure yet.  We’ll see.  Fear not- I will take before and after shots to share.  Because I know you’re all dying to know what my bathroom looks like, right? Yeah, that’s what I thought.
  • As long as we were out anyway, we stopped to buy a couple of things for our cats.  We couldn’t resist getting them a kitty tower.  I hesitated because a) a lot of them look kind of tacky and b) they’re expensive.  I wasn’t convinced our cats would use it; they’ve ignored the smaller kitty condo we bought for them years ago.  But we decided to get it anyway.  I’m glad we did!  After some initial hesitancy, they’ve come to love it.  One of the store employees told us that for some reason most cats don’t like the top shelf of these things.  I doubted that would be an issue, at least for Wheezy.  The cat has psychotic breaks and races up and down door frames, so heights aren’t really a problem for her.  Sure enough, she loves being at the top of the tower.  She’s curled up there now.  All I can see is her tail hanging down through the hole that allows access to the top; it looks like a furry snake dangling down.   As for Patches, he likes the lowest level best, but will sometimes explore the second level.  He did try to reach the top, but Wheezy was there and made it perfectly clear that it was a No Patches Zone.  Period.  He doesn’t seem to mind, though.  Both cats also like to hide in the corner behind the tower itself.  Putting the tower where we did created a nifty little hidey-hole for them.  Here they are:

cattower

patchestower

wheezetower

Categories: College Life, Creativity Expressed, Home Improvement, Random Thoughts, Reading Room.

More Randomness

7

May 19, 2009

~ My grades are in, and the lowest was an A-.  It will surprise noone that the ” – ” bugs me, but I’ll live.

~ Columbia has contacted me to tell me it wants another essay.  I also have to take an entrance exam because it has been over 8 years since I took the SATs.  From what they’ve posted of the content, however, it’s nothing to worry about.

~ I bought a Wii fit and, in the 3 days that I’ve had it, I’ve used it once.  Isn’t that how exercise is supposed to go?  It’s going to yell at me when I start it up again.  I like the thing, and I find its comments amusing.  According to the cartoon Wii board, my Wii age is 73 (my Mii bent over and groaned), and I have no balance.  Well, at the end of a very long day on your feet, how adept are you at fine motor skills such as balancing your weight perfectly evenly between left and right, and maintaining it?  Or is it just me?  That’s alright, I can accept the fact that I can be uncoordinated.  It’s not like that’s news to me or anything.  So far skiing is my favorite game, but I’m looking forward to trying yoga next.  As for the hula hoops… they keep hitting me on the head.  I’m better at catching them from the right than from the left.  I think we’re back to that coordination thing again.

~ I began the annual First Weeding.  I don’t think it has been this bad since I first reclaimed that flower bed years ago!  Most of the front is done, and I plan to finish that this afternoon.  Next I have to tackle the side flower bed, but that one isn’t so bad.  Having the iPod to listen to while I work makes the time pass better for me, although I’m not sure how my neighbors feel about my singing.  After considering it for a few minutes yesterday, I decided that I just don’t care.  If I’m going to be stuck with this chore, I’m going to sing and they can just suck it up.  After all, it’s not like I weed very often.  Which is, of course, part of the problem to begin with.

~ At work yesterday, someone ordered a series of books on making a go in real estate.  But then they ordered a book on boxing.  I guess if you don’t agree to buy the house they’re trying to sell you, they’ll beat you until you do.

Categories: College Life, Home Improvement, Random Thoughts, Tales from a Bookstore.

Dodging

1

January 19, 2009

I was feeling low yesterday, so Randy took me shopping to cheer me up.  Circuit City is liquidating; we began our trip there.  We bought a few video games and the most perfect camera bag for my needs.  If you follow the link, it shows the bag in black.  Mouseover over “khaki” to see what mine looks like.  It’s thoroughly me.  My old bag only held my camera and  CF cards; there was no room for additional lenses.  It also didn’t have a strap, and was completely wrong.  It had been a quick fix at the time, but desperately needed replacing.

Chalk that off the list.

We also bought a few books and some new workout clothes from Target; my old ones don’t really fit anymore.  We were looking for a CD/DVD tower that matches the one we recently bought there, but it seems they no longer carry it.  I searched all over their website.  Realizing I was going to have to find some other solution for our burgeoning collection of games and movies, I cast around for other options.  I hate having the cases visible… I want them all put neatly away out of sight.  If you saw the rest of my house you would understand the irony of that, but that’s the way it is.  I looked everywhere but everything they offered was either too large, or displayed the cases.  I liked the apothecary-style storage units but they only stored audio, not DVDs.  I needed to think outside the box.  Here’s what I came up with.  It’s 2 antique-looking suitcase storage units.  They weren’t made for holding audio/video, but are big enough to handle the overflow.  The short wood-and-bamboo fronted tower will be on one side of the mission-style TV stand, and I’ll stack these on the other.  It’ll have the nice, sort of eclectic look that I like.

On the school front:

Classes start tomorrow and I’m still missing the texts for 2 classes.  This has me more than a little nervous.  One of them is for Spanish.  I’m already starting a semester behind the rest of my classmates.  I studied Spanish before, however that was 7 or 8 years ago.  I’ve borrowed a copy of the text from a friend; she’ll be in the class with me.  Looking it over, though, I can see that the teaching methods are very different from what I’m used to, and that has me anxious.  It’s organized in such a way that vocab isn’t built upon in a more traditional manner.  It’s situational, conversational.  I feel the urge to dig out my old text to refresh my memory rather than using this one.  I might, but I still need to familiarize myself with this text, the one I’ll be using for the rest of the semester.  I also need to read the first chapter of my Intro. to Interviewing and Counseling text.  I know this professor- she’s my advisor- and I know that she prefers that we come to class prepared in this way.  I’ve got 25 pages to read tonight, or at least to make a start on.  We won’t cover the whole chapter tomorrow.  As for Human Geography, he has posted the syllabus and expectations online, but nothing more so far.  It promises to be interesting, but challenging.

Have I mentioned that I don’t feel ready for school yet?  After our shopping spree yesterday I pointed out to Randy that I now have enough distractions to ensure that I don’t do one bit of homework all semester!  He frowned at that, and I think he briefly considered returning it all.  But the sales at Circuit City were final, and it was those purchases which are most likely to cause the damage to my GPA.  Hah!  Foiled him.

Guess that’s it.  Those are the things I’ve been up to, and the things going through my ever-crazed brain.

I’ll go find something totally useless and unproductive to do now.  It’s better than doing what I ought to do, hands down.

Categories: College Life, Home Improvement, Random Thoughts.