First off, I'd like to say how disappointed I was to find that this lady is no longer keeping this blog smoke and ochre. Rats. There are so many nice, nice pictures and all on it. But, you know...a kabillion, bazillion, and 93 blogs on the intarwebs and so little time.
Now that the energy devil is not sucking my aura away every day, I'm finding I have enough get up and go to get a few things done. After we decommissioned the old building on Friday, I skated. R had the day off (LBJ's birthday, doncha know), so he took me to work, went home, slept in, then came and picked me up. We didn't do much..picked up Taco Bell and came home. I crashed at some point and foo...what did we do Friday evening. I don't even remember....OH! Crap, of course! Sylvan's party! Oy, such a knucklehead I am. Her first novel is coming out, officially on Tuesday! I've read the first...second?...draft, but changes were made after it went to the publisher...anyhoo, her BFF, the self-same Laura of Pushing Furniture fame, threw a surprise party. R, W, and I went. It was fun, and we totally surprised Ms. Author. :D
Then we came home and I was kind of sick at 4 AM. Nauseous...and for awhile didn't know which, erm...end....would be a problem (hoping that it wouldn't be one of those, ah...double-ended things. I HATE that). But as soon as I "went," the nausea went away and I was able to go back to sleep. Got up about 9:40 yesterday and spent a good bit of the day washing dishes and general clean-up, then went to Lowe's and Tar-Jay. Spent way more money than I should have. Dammit. But I had most of the $50 GC Laura's BF gave me for my birthday left. I bought a composter thingy. Now to get it set up. I had made a really cool FREE composter out of hardware cloth and a hula-hoop, but the dog can knock it over too easily to eat the scraps and eggshells. I'll use that for grass and weeds before adding to the bin.Dorky dog. I got some plastic potted plant pans, a nifty cobalt blue glass mister (on clearance for $1.62!), and some hose parts to repair hoses. At Target, I got some groceries, another pair of black leggings, and a few items of make-up. Yeah, make-up. Gotta problem with that? ;)
I also picked up a metric-ass-ton of paint chips at Lowe's and then sat on my bed and played with kitchen design until two AM!
One of the reasons I never get anywhere is...well, it's a many-layered thing...like an ogre. It is my decorating ogre. I can't make up my mind...then I have no money...and I change my mind...things go out of style...I have no money....I get more craptastic hand-me-down furniture that needs "fixing" (refinishing, etc.) and just looks like early Salvation Army meanwhile....then I change my mind...and I can't decide on a color scheme...ad nauseum.
I've gone from warm, earthy tones in the great room to working off the grey and charcoal palette in a print I have, back to the warmer tones. I want a mind of Mexican feel to the kitchen and since the two rooms are, um...rather linked, to suddenly go to greys and blues would be weird. Also? I have this olive fabric, like 22 yards of it, for a slipcover for the sofa, and it wasn't fitting in with the greys in my mind. Well, it would, but there are tones of blue, charcoal and a deep, deep red-brown in the painting. I dunno, it might still work. Otherwise, I'm not sure what to do with that piece. Feh.
So anyway, here's the latest grouping, sort of, of colors. It seems a bit washed out on my monitor. paint link
There'll be more of this, but I started this post three days ago, so I'm posting now.
Tuesday, August 31, 2010
Thursday, August 26, 2010
On again, off again..
I was doing quite well last week, with the blogging. And then it all went pear-shaped, as they say.
I did actually make some progress with "things" over the weekend, but you know...two steps forward, 19 back...and here I am again. Still with mounds of clean clothes to be folded and put away; I'd done all the dishes and spiffed up the counters, and there it is all to do again. Damned dishes...what is it with having to be washed every day? I mean, really? And then I tried to do myself in this morning.
This cat, Valentino, who is very prone to urinary issues, has decided that even the soft wheat cat litter is not to his liking, so he's been peeing on the garage floor next to the box, instead of in the box. *headdesk* So, this morning, he'd done it again, so I grabbed what I thought was the hydrogen-peroxide kitty destinkum gallon jug. The stuff foamed up like it was supposed to and it usually has an odor, so I wasn't too horribly concerned over the odd smell and the burning, tingling eye-thing.
Do you know what the major ingredient in urine is? That's right, Baby Bop, it's ammonia!
Do you know what was in the white gallon jug? That's RIGHT, chlorine bleach!
Now...who knows what happens when you mix chlorine and ammonia?
Are we going to read the label first from now on? You betcha, Red Rider!
I did actually make some progress with "things" over the weekend, but you know...two steps forward, 19 back...and here I am again. Still with mounds of clean clothes to be folded and put away; I'd done all the dishes and spiffed up the counters, and there it is all to do again. Damned dishes...what is it with having to be washed every day? I mean, really? And then I tried to do myself in this morning.
I go now?
This cat, Valentino, who is very prone to urinary issues, has decided that even the soft wheat cat litter is not to his liking, so he's been peeing on the garage floor next to the box, instead of in the box. *headdesk* So, this morning, he'd done it again, so I grabbed what I thought was the hydrogen-peroxide kitty destinkum gallon jug. The stuff foamed up like it was supposed to and it usually has an odor, so I wasn't too horribly concerned over the odd smell and the burning, tingling eye-thing.
Do you know what the major ingredient in urine is? That's right, Baby Bop, it's ammonia!
Do you know what was in the white gallon jug? That's RIGHT, chlorine bleach!
Now...who knows what happens when you mix chlorine and ammonia?
Are we going to read the label first from now on? You betcha, Red Rider!
Monday, August 16, 2010
I'm about to state the obvious, so please don't choke on the olive in your martini when you snort at me. There are a kabillion, bazillion, and 93 bloggers out there. The intarwebs is full of the varmints. Some are good, some are precious, some funny, some oh.my.god.I.really.don't.give.a.flying.foo.what.your.son.had.for.breakfast.woman (especially if it's the same damned thing he's had every day for a week). People who merely recount their boring lives (raises hand) are really just journaling online. Like me, I doubt they really expect much of a following.
I could certainly put my blog out there more; give it excerpts for people to google, paste it in comment forms more, add ads to it. But I really don't want to. I've given the URL to a select few and if I get a few readers, cool. I really do doubt I'll have more than a few friends and family reading. And that's fine.
Part of it is that my blog is not really a blog...it's more of a virtual tour of my disjointed mind. A lot of blogs have a theme, or a specific subject. There are totally insane people out there who have a design blog, a gardening blog, a wine blog, a dating blog, AND a personal one.... And they're all perfect, and the author is gorgeous and went to some blue chip school and has perfect kids--or perfect animals and has decided not to spawn. They decorate with a lot of white and use words like smoky texture to describe wine...and/or cheese. Just how does one evaluate smoky texture? Do you smell it with your fingers? Or rub your nose on it? Dunno about you, but that confuses me.
Know what also confuses me? How some people have time to read 90 blogs in a day. Good googly moogly, folks...do you ever do anything? Two of my best friends blog fairly regularly (thank goddess it's not everyday!) and I barely have time to keep up with them. (And I have to admit, I have not followed all of Sylvan's recent posts on 30 books in 30 days..., sorry sweetie). I check FB every couple of days and Live Journal almost every day, but some bloggers have a list as long as my arm of pages they're following. Do they actually read all those? Or did they read a post or two and decide to put them in their blogroll just in case they were stuck up a tree one day and had nothing to do (and happened to have an iPhone or netbook with them)?
Here's an example. This lady is gorgeous and has bought and renovated a dozen houses...and she's only 30. Talk about making an old lady feel like a loser! But you know...by some standards I might not be all that successful, but then I think what I do. I help shape tomorrow's leaders...officers who will be making big decisions one day. I have colonels taking my advice (and even a general or two over the years!). My pay sucks pond water, but what I do is important, and people respect me. I had my time of being a gorgeous 30-something, and while I wish to hell I hadn't let my body go, I'm still a beautiful person. Even when I'm chewing you out. And? I know the difference between a smell/taste and a touch sensation. Really, I do.
I could certainly put my blog out there more; give it excerpts for people to google, paste it in comment forms more, add ads to it. But I really don't want to. I've given the URL to a select few and if I get a few readers, cool. I really do doubt I'll have more than a few friends and family reading. And that's fine.
Part of it is that my blog is not really a blog...it's more of a virtual tour of my disjointed mind. A lot of blogs have a theme, or a specific subject. There are totally insane people out there who have a design blog, a gardening blog, a wine blog, a dating blog, AND a personal one.... And they're all perfect, and the author is gorgeous and went to some blue chip school and has perfect kids--or perfect animals and has decided not to spawn. They decorate with a lot of white and use words like smoky texture to describe wine...and/or cheese. Just how does one evaluate smoky texture? Do you smell it with your fingers? Or rub your nose on it? Dunno about you, but that confuses me.
Know what also confuses me? How some people have time to read 90 blogs in a day. Good googly moogly, folks...do you ever do anything? Two of my best friends blog fairly regularly (thank goddess it's not everyday!) and I barely have time to keep up with them. (And I have to admit, I have not followed all of Sylvan's recent posts on 30 books in 30 days..., sorry sweetie). I check FB every couple of days and Live Journal almost every day, but some bloggers have a list as long as my arm of pages they're following. Do they actually read all those? Or did they read a post or two and decide to put them in their blogroll just in case they were stuck up a tree one day and had nothing to do (and happened to have an iPhone or netbook with them)?
Here's an example. This lady is gorgeous and has bought and renovated a dozen houses...and she's only 30. Talk about making an old lady feel like a loser! But you know...by some standards I might not be all that successful, but then I think what I do. I help shape tomorrow's leaders...officers who will be making big decisions one day. I have colonels taking my advice (and even a general or two over the years!). My pay sucks pond water, but what I do is important, and people respect me. I had my time of being a gorgeous 30-something, and while I wish to hell I hadn't let my body go, I'm still a beautiful person. Even when I'm chewing you out. And? I know the difference between a smell/taste and a touch sensation. Really, I do.
Sunday, August 15, 2010
Pain, Crabs, and Assorted Crap (from my Live Journal)
lj-music: Shuuush of the dryer
My hands have been killing me lately…sometimes making me yelp in the middle of conversations…just deep aching, in the big thumb muscle, the joints and the bones between the joints. And the left hand is numb on top of it all. I have so much to do and no one else to do it. And before you ask, no it’s not carpal tunnel. It’s arthritis and the numbness is due to thoracic outlet syndrome. I’ve had arthroscopy on both shoulders and I don’t get the numbness in the right side nearly as bad as in the left. But the pain…in the hands and shoulders, and the grip weakness…oh.my.goddess. Anyway…not sure there’s much I can do about it. My take home pay is going down because UT’s not giving raises* but our insurance premiums are going up. At the same time the deductibles and out of pocket cap are going up…so I’m paying out the fucking wazoo for insurance I can’t use. Nice. Goddamned Republicans. GOP=Grand Obstructionist Party.
Several years ago, one of the NCOs at work had gotten her son a pair of hermit crabs.
He wouldn’t take care of them, so she gave them to me. The poor things were in the little clear plastic Kritter Keeper they came in, with an inch of *growls* aquarium gravel, and she was giving them TAP water. GAH! So I did a bunch of research and spent about a 100 bucks getting a crabitat set up. Little guys were most appreciative and showed me by almost immediately moulting. The bigger one moulted several times and then went down and didn’t come up. Spikey had “disrobed” over the tank heater and dried out. So he’s buried with Caldwell, the Betta Fish, under the Texas Mountain Laurel in the front yard. So…that left Tiny, who is now way bigger than the larger one was when we got them (he was itty bitty at first, hence the name).
I’ve been keeping Tiny in a Kritter Keeper, with the proper bedding, water, and a sheet of cling wrap to hold in the humidity, so he’s doing okay. But hermies are social critters. He needs friends. So I’m going to get one or two more crabs and set the terrarium back up. Scorpionis (Thank you!!) gave me another 10-gallon tank. I have this little wooden typing table—so very, very ubiquitous at UT. I think the furniture shop must’ve made a kabillion of them over the years. I took it and peeled the fake wood Formica off the top and painted it. It’s kind of a pale yellowish now, but I think some nice dark green or blue will be a better color for a crabitat. One tank on top and one underneath, then get some of this…
…which is 4” in diameter (it’ll take the crabbies a long time to get too big to get through it)
and connect them…like this
And see if hermies like crabitrails…hee hee hee
I started this post on Friday and now can’t remember what the “associated crap” was. *facepalm*
*We are getting a one-time 2% payment, not a raise. It’ll be in time for Yule and for me, after taxes, etc. will be about $450…better than a sharp stick in the eye, and just in time for presents, but geeze…really?
My hands have been killing me lately…sometimes making me yelp in the middle of conversations…just deep aching, in the big thumb muscle, the joints and the bones between the joints. And the left hand is numb on top of it all. I have so much to do and no one else to do it. And before you ask, no it’s not carpal tunnel. It’s arthritis and the numbness is due to thoracic outlet syndrome. I’ve had arthroscopy on both shoulders and I don’t get the numbness in the right side nearly as bad as in the left. But the pain…in the hands and shoulders, and the grip weakness…oh.my.goddess. Anyway…not sure there’s much I can do about it. My take home pay is going down because UT’s not giving raises* but our insurance premiums are going up. At the same time the deductibles and out of pocket cap are going up…so I’m paying out the fucking wazoo for insurance I can’t use. Nice. Goddamned Republicans. GOP=Grand Obstructionist Party.
Several years ago, one of the NCOs at work had gotten her son a pair of hermit crabs.
He wouldn’t take care of them, so she gave them to me. The poor things were in the little clear plastic Kritter Keeper they came in, with an inch of *growls* aquarium gravel, and she was giving them TAP water. GAH! So I did a bunch of research and spent about a 100 bucks getting a crabitat set up. Little guys were most appreciative and showed me by almost immediately moulting. The bigger one moulted several times and then went down and didn’t come up. Spikey had “disrobed” over the tank heater and dried out. So he’s buried with Caldwell, the Betta Fish, under the Texas Mountain Laurel in the front yard. So…that left Tiny, who is now way bigger than the larger one was when we got them (he was itty bitty at first, hence the name).
I’ve been keeping Tiny in a Kritter Keeper, with the proper bedding, water, and a sheet of cling wrap to hold in the humidity, so he’s doing okay. But hermies are social critters. He needs friends. So I’m going to get one or two more crabs and set the terrarium back up. Scorpionis (Thank you!!) gave me another 10-gallon tank. I have this little wooden typing table—so very, very ubiquitous at UT. I think the furniture shop must’ve made a kabillion of them over the years. I took it and peeled the fake wood Formica off the top and painted it. It’s kind of a pale yellowish now, but I think some nice dark green or blue will be a better color for a crabitat. One tank on top and one underneath, then get some of this…
…which is 4” in diameter (it’ll take the crabbies a long time to get too big to get through it)
and connect them…like this
And see if hermies like crabitrails…hee hee hee
I started this post on Friday and now can’t remember what the “associated crap” was. *facepalm*
*We are getting a one-time 2% payment, not a raise. It’ll be in time for Yule and for me, after taxes, etc. will be about $450…better than a sharp stick in the eye, and just in time for presents, but geeze…really?
Things needing done around the house
Each one of these is a project--and a story--unto itself, and will engender a list, or lists, of its own.
- Repair pavilion
- Sort, organize,purge bedroom and closet
- Build my bed
- Build outdoor cat run
- Build and install catwalks, hidey-holes
- Tear down roof over back deck
- Demolish existing deck
- Build new deck cover, screened in
- New deck..patio...?
- Landscape front yard
- Landscape back yard
- Repair drain in hall bath
- Replace tub, surround in hall bath
- Floor in hall bath
- Repair or replace dryer....or put up permanent clotheslines?
- Replace garage door
- Build kitty loo
- Finish sewing/craft/studio/office...room...space
- R's bedroom...paint, floors, etc.
- Kitchen...OMG.
- New curtains in bedroom
- Rework wall'o'books in living room
- Finish purple desk
- Finish washstand
- Finish "buffet" chest for kitchen
- China cabinet project
- Dining room table and chairs
- What to do with family antique chairs?
- Table for deck/patio
- Coffee table madness
- Slipcover for couch and Loveseat
- Paint and attach plant platform to top of dog crate
- Crabitat project
- Tame the jungle in the kitchen
- Finish building R's chair (I've only had the wood--already cut into the proper pieces--for 11 years...ELEVEN)
- Put a coat of wax on Big Dot's bookcase
- New colors for bedroom?
- Scrape that GOD-AWFUL popcorn texture off the ceilings. Can you believe my Auntie J LIKES that shit? I'm thinking of sending it all to her in a box when I'm done. When they remodeled the house they're in now, she asked for that crap, on purpose, and had sparkles added.... >.< This is a woman with exquisite taste in everything...except, apparently, ceilings.
The Daily Bull 8/15/10
Was supposed to Had told bossman I would go in and finish the library this weekend. Just don't have the energy, thank you very much. My house, never in the best shape to begin with, has REALLY been suffering from my lack of energy and being in such pain when I get home (damned move). Now that things are settling down a bit a work, I might be able to muster up enough steam to get my kitchen back in order. It's amazing how quickly R & W can mess it up. You know...if they paid for that talent...
In other news, R has been commenting a lot on some website about smart phones or something. First he won a mouse, then a keyboard, then a $100 GC from Amazon, then another one... Then this past week, they emailed him and invited him to take part in some conference or other in Bellvue, WA. All expense-paid weekend AND he comes home with a prototype Win 7 phone. How fleeping cool is that? Finally, his writing starts to pay off! *gigglesnort* ETA: and then he won another $100 GC after all that!
Figured out how much money I had left. If I don't pay one bill (a certain credit card that's now really past due) I can get us by with cheap bread, bologna, beans, tomato soup and grilled cheese sandwiches...with the odd potato something thrown in. Going in to start a pot of beans in a minute and will make some kind of bread to supplement.
It's just so bloody hot out. The A/C struggles to keep up and if you go outside, your core heats up and it takes forever to cool off. I hate the heat; why am I in Texas? Why?
Half an hour..then I can go turn on the sprinkler in my front yard.
Classic scene this AM...letting Abby out...she dashes in her run, bounding six feet in the air, chasing the birds out of her territory. LMAO. They love the seeds in the overgrown wild sunflower jungle out there. I cut one down...with a tree saw! it was easily ten feet or more (I couldn't tell because it had fallen over) and the stalk was almost as big around as my chubby wrist. I think I will pull them up next year and plant more sedate hybrids in a controlled area. Geesh.
In other news, R has been commenting a lot on some website about smart phones or something. First he won a mouse, then a keyboard, then a $100 GC from Amazon, then another one... Then this past week, they emailed him and invited him to take part in some conference or other in Bellvue, WA. All expense-paid weekend AND he comes home with a prototype Win 7 phone. How fleeping cool is that? Finally, his writing starts to pay off! *gigglesnort* ETA: and then he won another $100 GC after all that!
Figured out how much money I had left. If I don't pay one bill (a certain credit card that's now really past due) I can get us by with cheap bread, bologna, beans, tomato soup and grilled cheese sandwiches...with the odd potato something thrown in. Going in to start a pot of beans in a minute and will make some kind of bread to supplement.
It's just so bloody hot out. The A/C struggles to keep up and if you go outside, your core heats up and it takes forever to cool off. I hate the heat; why am I in Texas? Why?
Half an hour..then I can go turn on the sprinkler in my front yard.
Classic scene this AM...letting Abby out...she dashes in her run, bounding six feet in the air, chasing the birds out of her territory. LMAO. They love the seeds in the overgrown wild sunflower jungle out there. I cut one down...with a tree saw! it was easily ten feet or more (I couldn't tell because it had fallen over) and the stalk was almost as big around as my chubby wrist. I think I will pull them up next year and plant more sedate hybrids in a controlled area. Geesh.
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