Monday, August 27, 2007

Sanctuary

Warning: droll post. Probably only my girlfriends are going to care about this. Boys, go away now trust me; you don't care.

So the bathroom is done. The funny part is, it's so simple now and that's what the work was all about. It seems funny to me to spend so much time undoing things that were doing and having that be the change. Maybe it's just me. Anyhow, it used to be full of crap, which I didn't realize made it dark and dirty looking. Once I got everything out so I could think about what I wanted to do, I realized "nothing" was kind of the answer. I hung up the plant that had been in there, one of the birthday plants I bought and a third plant I bought at the conservatory was put down on the toilet back for a moment until I realized I liked how it looked so now it lives there. this happens a lot with me, and I also think I have an issue with the number 3, as I tend to group things in 3s. Something to think on.

I've also moved the Durer up there so that it can get the light it needs to be really appreciated. I like to think the hare nibbles on the fern at night, like the toys in Toy Story.

So anyhow, this is where I've been hanging out when the rest of the house freaks me out (less so now that PMS has passed)
Three shalt be the number thou shalt count, and the number of the counting shalt be three. Four shalt thou not count, nor either count thou two, excepting that thou then proceed to three. Five is right out.
Sigh. so clean and light. aaaahhh...

Some might casually observe I have 2 rolls of TP. this is true. the one on the roller is Kitty's healthy outlet for rage. We all need one, and when I lock him out of my room at night he takes it out on the roller. If there is nothing there for him to shred he will find something else. We've decided it's the best thing for our relationship to give him this outlet. Also, Terrence Howard would love me.



and this is one of the plants I bought myself on my birthday. I have some serious interspecies love for this plant. I don't know why, I'm just so taken with it. I even mist it, it's very high maintenance.

Little fern of love.

Saturday, August 25, 2007

this is going to be awesome. i know it!

subtitle: "what could possibly go wrong here? famous last words"

so:

my toilet is leaking (not the awesome part. actually the very gross part, and i'm pissed because i just mopped the damn floor, but whatever.)

the awesome part is that i googled it and found the issue is a probably disintegrated wax ring. i'm on my way to the depot right now, i'm totally going to do a home repair! and plumbing at that, which i don't know anything about. i will learn!

PSYCHE!.

pictures to follow. i love him a little.

there might also be a minor electrical issue addressed. for this i will be calling in tres sexy, aka, HN. he does that stuff.

Tuesday, August 21, 2007

What *is* the proper way to mark so momentus an occasion ??

Today it is all about me. I mean, really it always is anyway in my sphere, but today is that one day a year when the rest of the universe catches up with me and we all celebrate my presence together, and with cake. Yes all, it is my birthday and a biggie at that. Today I am dirty thirty, GAME ON.
Recognize bitches. I didn't do it, I swear it was like this when I found it!


It's been pouring for days, which some might take offence to, but in light of the fact that it was 90s and disgusting for weeks prior, I view this as my own personal birthday gift from the universe. I can now stop with the ritual sacrifice of spiders because the rain has come. Amen.

I love this weather, what better excuse to curl up with a dog and a book, light some candles and kick back in bed with some coffee and do nothing. I'm not actually doing that right now, but I totally could if I wanted and that's the point. When the weather is nice I always feel like I should be out enjoying it and I have guilt pangs about being inside so it's nice to have a day practically designed for staying in now and then. A girl gets tired of constantly being on the go you know.

and considering the home improvement spectacle I am making of myself these days I *really* need a stay in couple of days. That story is a million miles long, a twisty tale of yard sale treasure finds, ADD, my long stifled but once again wandering imagination, and the hunt for the perfect armchair (or 5, yes 5. I need them.). I'll spare the details, opting instead to post pictures of the rooms as they are finished (which none are yet, hence no pictures) but today I'm going to get the finishing touches for the bathroom so I will have at least something to show for myself. And also one place to go when I need to get away from the overwhelming clutter that the rest of the house has become in my quest to get things "more comfortable, with options" which is the ultimate goal here. Wait and see, I have some gnarly ideas for painting, I hope it looks as good on the walls as it does in my head.

In the meantime I will be here stepping over things, putting additional holes in the wall and grunting as I shove furniture back and forth across the house. And then, because I'm worth it, I'm taking me shopping for some new climbing shoes and possibly a plant or 2 (though I've acquired so many in the past week that are currently without homes that perhaps I will limit myself to some nice planters and hangers in the adventures of today).

I'll keep you posted, I hope to have some pics to show later. In the meantime, here's a little cameo of my co-birthday star, who is 9 today (or somewhere in the area of today, noone really knows for sure but today seems as good a day as any). She's decided it's tacky to work on our birthday so she's taking it easy this morning, but staying nearby as any good co-pilot tends to do.

She loves the smell of bone on her birthday...

And this is that same photo from my point of view. Confession: I love the smell of dog feet.

"helping"

don't hate her because she's beautiful...

Monday, August 13, 2007

The artist's rendering of the incident Sunday

This weeks installment of "why would you do that kerry" comes to us courtesy of the garden hose. Something has been weird with my watering attachment and Sunday the water stopped coming out at all. I took off the attachment and still no water. So I did the logical thing, that being looking down the hose to see if I could see the problem. Turns out there was a kink in the hose, and that there was a lot of pressure built up behind it. I'll let you do the math:

Avalanche!!

Let's take a ride in the way back machine, shall we:
Sing it with me kids!

Ain't nothin' gonna to break my stride
Nobody's gonna slow me down, oh-no
I got to keep on movin'
Ain't nothin' gonna break my stride
I'm running and I won't touch ground
Oh-no, I got to keep on movin'

So for no particular reason, that's the song thrumming around in my head this morning. Star's already sick of it, because I only know that one verse, but I figure it's enough to get me through the day. Wait until I sing it at today's meeting at NSI! Then they'll see what I'm made of. uh yeah.

So...this weekend was relaxing, productive and comical all rolled into one and it was just what the Dr ordered (although I had asked him to order some Valium or something, so the whole "productive" thing does kind of pale, but I digress)

Saw the Bourne Ultimatum Friday night at the historic landmark Senator theater, which was a pretty cool little place. I would go back, but they only show one movie at a time so it won't be until they change flicks. Anyhoo, the movie was pretty good. I haven't seen the other ones, which some people claim make a difference, but seriously. Matt Damon, shooting people and throwing them around and beating them up. Worth my 9 bucks (off topic 9 FUCKING BUCKS FOR A MOVIE NOW), and I left the theater happy.

Saturday was a whirlwind of thrift stores, yard sales and woodsy jaunts with the dog. I actually struck WAY out at the thrift stores and yard sales, which was sad. I have been looking for some ways to spruce up the Baltimore office (my house) and I'm interested in some furniture for the place so I can move around what I have. I found the 2 coolest most comfy chairs for 25 bucks each but they were JUST being sold as I strolled up. boo!!! so close! Anyhow, not wanting to return home empty I jumped at the opportunity to check out the much touted H&H Surplus Campers Haven store and SCORE! I got a ton of crap, some of which I actually needed. Big blue bag full of stuff for 25 bucks. So that took the edge off some, and gave me stuff to play with for the rest of the afternoon. Topped off the day with run through some woods with the dog and a grilled cheese and tomato courtesy of Paper Moon Diner, curled up with a book and pretty much called it a day.

Sunday was pretty sweet, but much the same. Woke up early and cruised around solo to take advantage of the little bit of coolness and silence the morning had to offer. Met some cool people, got some info on a sweet indoor bike rack I saw while looking in someone's window, when unnoticed by me, the dude was sitting right there next to the window while I was looking in. We chatted for a bit about the problem's of hanging women's bikes up and he pointed me in the right direction to get what I need.

I hit another yard sale and totally scored! 3 of those Ikea hidden wall shelves for 5 bucks! I don't know where I'll put them but I knew I needed them. (what I didn't factor in was the 12 blocks back to my car I would have to carry them, but they were totally worth it!) Then I explored the previously uncharted territory of the Farmers Market under the expressway. Hot damn, I have found my new farmer's market! I usually go to the Waverly one, but this shits on Waverly. I mean, it's not walking distance so I'll still go to Waverly sometimes, but it just seems so Junior League now. Anyhow, I picked up some flowers for the garden at $1.00 a pot because the end of season is approaching. That's actually exciting, because the empty box has been bugging me and I've been holding out for a specific flower I was having trouble finding. So I found it, and for a buck! I also got a Foxtail Fern for the house, because in my redecorating frenzy I've been looking to round out the plant collection with some new stuff. The Foxtail -which is gorgeous but a little creepy when you transplant it because there's all these little sacs in the soil which kind of skeeve me out- fits the bill perfectly and is going to look smashing in my room. If I can ever find my camera again I will post pics.

Then I spent the rest of the afternoon working in the yard: planted the Hibiscus I bought, potted some houseplants, finished up the last of my garden box with the previously mentioned cheap ass plants, and hacked my bush/tree thing out back to pieces. As expected, there was one small incident, see artist' s rendering below (later because I'm out of time!).

Capped off the evening by making dinner, Chicken with 40 Cloves of Garlic. Yeeeeeaaah buddy! It was delicious, but took much longer than I thought to make. Also, my recipe called for a lot of Olive oil- 2/3 cup and I think I would use less next time for sure. Other than that, delicious! I love roasted garlic. Smear it on some bread and dipped in gravy and I'm in heaven.
And I got individual dessert servings of Creme Brulee for me and some delicious Chocolate Boule thing for my companion.

Then, secure in the knowledge that I had Gotten Things Done and Been Healthy this weekend I turned in to get a decent night's rest to prepare for today. Meeting Pa Looza.... blech.

Monday, August 6, 2007

F*cking Mondays

1)early meetings all around
2)99 degrees and no A/C
3)got yelled at by one of my clients at NSI
4)crappy meetings all day, deployment pushed back 10 weeks!
5)my dog PEED ON THE FLOOR. RIGHT IN FRONT OF ME. (how rude)
6)the magic bullet broke! smoothies, coffee, GONE! nooooooooooooo..................R.I.P. good friend.

I did the only thing I could. Went out for chocolate oreo cheesecake and a Guinness at the air conditioned pub down the road. Hit the spot, no more case of the Mondays!

Friday, August 3, 2007

Where does the time go?

crazy week kids. emphasis on crazy.

Firstly let me say, I'm entering the last 6 weeks of the equipment deployment phase of my project at NSI. This last bit is pretty fast paced and I need to have all my ducks lined up, which they are not due largely to the fact that it is nice outside and HN lives right next door. I've been playing, and generally not doing the amount of work I should. So last week, I took some me time and made a point to get VERY caught up. I put my nose to the grindstone and went on a meeting/documentation/planning frenzy. I got shit done, and it was good. Amen.


Now during the industrial revolution, my boss had called and told me the NC office was going to be deserted-ish this week and he had some new processes he wanted me to work out and document, and how would I feel about moseying down that way for a bit. I love the new project we have going, and was psyched to get the call so I packed up DogZirra, hit the road, and I went down to NC for what I thought was going to be a relaxing half week in the south.

It's amazing how wrong I can be sometimes. Seriously.

There was a big deployment coming up and my work buddy has been traveling a lot and hadn't had time to get prepared so we hunkered down to configure 6 machines and the networks by the time of his big trip. We worked until 6 Monday, then packed his car full of machines and headed home to work until roughly 11pm getting those bad boys ready. Tuesday was much the same story, we worked like animals until the 5:30 FedEx shipment went out and then settled down to a big "aaah" and the last 2 beers in the office fridge, merrily toasting the past 2 days
of work and the successful result. Now, notice how I don't mention any of my work in this paragraph. Because I wasn't getting any of my work done. I was thinking about it, stressing about it, but not getting it done because I was helping with this deployment business. I was also freaking out a little about not getting any work done on that, but only a little because I didn't really have enough time to freak out alot.

So I got home Weds night, and after having had enough time during the drive to get caught up on my thinking about the project and getting anxious I did the only sensible thing: Ripped my house apart. It's amazing how thereapuetic shoving your shoulder into a piano can be. It kind of acts as a physical interpretation in the exercises in futility that have been my week thus far, and that helps. now however I have a piano in my living room, and no means of getting it anywhere else. The floor took a beating during the initial move and I can't in good conscience do that again. Plus it was heavy, and I'm not sure i have enough anger left to move it.

I'm thinking of getting rid of the piano, I'm having a dilemma. I wanted to fix it up, but I'm not sure I'm ever going to stand still long enough to do so. And it makes me feel encumbered, which I'm having some crisis about this week. But it's so pretty. and a Stieff. with an iron soundboard. A total find, but am I ever going to play it is the thing? sigh.

I hope it resolves soon, otherwise when they come to investigate the arson, they'll find the hotspot started in my living room, right about when the piano is.