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January 27, 2006
Counter-Law
There is a law that states if you need a small slotted screw driver, the first five you find are all phillips.
You will trip over the bag of allen wrenches continually until you need retrieve one from the bag.
Out of the set of 6 nut drivers you will find 5 and the one you need is the one that is missing.
I am sooooo annoyed...there ought to be a counter-law.
Posted by frani at 08:51 AM | Comments (0)
January 26, 2006
What's your price?......
Ok, I can spend money with the best of them. I have no problem buying good clothes but I also have my cheap stuff for yard work, cleaning and general mucking around. Yeah yeah...I obviously don't wear them much but I have them. I buy the food I want these days, Lord knows we don't skimp on coffee and when it comes to the high price of gas for the cars, I didn't curtail my driving very much..I did what I had to (wanted to) do. I'd say we are technologically current and spend what we want on what we want.....
...BUT (you knew it was coming, there are just some things I don't consider worth the money they charge for, ya know? For instance, I like my car, a lot...but I'd never buy it brand new for $45K and it's not just because GM now owns Saab and the new Saabs are glorified Subarus..ahem close. ...and those expensive washing machines? hello, I don't even own 16 pairs of jeans, much less need the ability to wash them all at once. I don't want to spend mega bucks for those kinds of appliances. Furniture? Please....I have good taste, all the couches I like are in the $3-4000 range and I'd just not feel right slurping up my spaghetti while sitting on it. See that green loveseat in the entry below..I bought $68 worth of material and recovered it, the couch and a chair 3-4 years ago...those things owe us nothing! I just think some things are over priced for my needs and I just resent having to spend the money on them. (sort of like some underwear and it's not all that fancy!)
So this is leading somewher, Fran..right? Right. The latest thing I needed to replace drove me crazy. Have you priced lamp shades recently? I guess maybe they have always been pricey in my book which is why I never replaced any before BUT I did want to get my mother's old floor lamps out of the cellar and use them. I went to the lamp repair shop and found the old glass funnel shaped things that hold the shades for a mere $16..not bad for 1950s type stuff. The shades in the size I needed? $68 for plain non-descript..now, a lamp shade shouldn't cost a lot...it's a lmap shade for Pete's sake! Even going around to the big "discount" places, lamp shades aren't cheap and they don't have the sizes I need either.
So what's a resourceful woman to do? Riiiight...she takes the old shades and spends money on materials to fix them up. Yep, they have their flaws, they won't pass intense scrutiny...I won't be quitting my day job ( um, this IS my day job, so I guess I won't be going into business, then?) but for the price (ok, a little more) of one plain shade, I have 3 unique shades and I had fun making them. Hey, the entertainment factor alone was worth it!
So here they are:
Ok, it was really all about the entertainment but I also did other non-entertainment type things, like remove 30 year old paint oopps off the woodwork (Goof-off is great) Oh yeah, I also solved that pesky can't keep plants alive because I don't water them problem, I bought water plants and put them in glass containers. I may still have to add water to them from time to time, but they have a better shot of living than the air dirt I've had before.
So, at the moment, I think I'm done fussing with the living room. I still have to direct my attention toward year end and tax stuff...roast some coffee beans...clear out the upstairs bedrooms of the stuff I cleared out of the living room and landing and haven't put back yet. uuummm....
Maybe there is more entertainment in my future......
Posted by frani at 08:59 AM | Comments (1)
January 24, 2006
New Room...nearly done
Ok, Fans...here's the long awaited room, done...well nearly. We're masters at the 99% thing, ya know. I think Leo said he was coming back today. He's got about 3-4 small rows of shingling to do on the outside, insulating to do under it and a whole crap load of stuff to haul on out of here. He's only been accumulating stuff here since July. In the meantime, I've been roaming around the house looking for things to put on the shelves ( yes, those are some coffee pots up there). Several of the things I had planned to put in there just don't go but I've "found" things I'd forgotten about...like that lovely clock that has spend the last 22 years up in a guest bedroom.
I don't suppose I have to tell you all the time I have spent the last week, hauling stuff around...my bruises have bruises..my muscles which had figured they'd lapsed into a well deserved retirement are complaining a tad BUT it's all been worth it. I have flames and a very comfortable room in which to sip my afternoon tea. ( we must get the wireless set up in there soon....maybe move the bed out into the living room. That wouldn't be so bad, would it?
..and I've done other stuff too such as real work, quarterly reports, year end stuff, albeit I'm not done with year end yet. I have new files and folders and cleared out areas back here so we can walk around in here again. Having to totally empty a huge portion of your living area does have a tendency to fill up other areas, ya know.
So there it is...I could say it's not a done deal, I could move the furniture around some more and the windows need more washing which I'll really only notice when the sun comes out again...but I also know me well enough to know some of those things just won't get moved again for 22 years.
Have a fine day all....
Posted by frani at 07:05 AM | Comments (4)
January 17, 2006
New Carpet
I could not believe how quickly they had 94 sq yds of carpet out and new installed....less than 4 hours I think. A couple of guys were cutting up and dragging out the old carpet while others were still bringing in supplies!
It's comfy!
Posted by frani at 07:37 PM | Comments (6)
I've got an Empty Feeling...
Wow..a nearly clean slate. I use that term "clean" quite loosely since these are the before shots with all the construction dust...not to mention the old carpet with leftover animal dander/scat of all kinds. The carpet people come today! Yeah yeah, Leo isn't quite done in the new room but close enough to allow the carpet to be installed...today! Did I mention the new carpet gets installed today? We've never had brandy new carpet before. ;-D
Poor Knoel doesn't know what to do with all this space...who took my perch? ( Standing near the new room )
New Room! (I think the lens of my camera has a blurp)
New Fireplace! Like my slate border?? Hmmm I suppose I could have taken the track lighting box off the top of the fireplace.
Looking down from the landing .....We've never had anyone fall off the landing...just a jumper one time.
All ready for the new carpet...did I mention they are coming today to install it? Have a good one all...I'll be spending the day trying to stay out of the way of the carpet people.
PS...Um...I lied...we had new carpeting put in the den and one bedroom before...but this is MAJOR!
Posted by frani at 07:21 AM | Comments (2)
January 09, 2006
New Adventrures in Traveling...
It's ovbious I haven't been been by air too much lately! New renovations at the airport are pretty nice making people watching more comfortable. Of course people are still strange...which is why I like to watch them. I learned way more than I wanted about raw soy bean snacks from the young couple near us chatting with people they obviously knew. They were feeding their little boy some ... blech Greg and I were trying to decide how we could best slip the poor kid a Ring Ding.
New things I learned from the nice folks at TSA: a cardigan sweater apparently has hit the list of removable clothing. No pockets, no metal buttons...no sense to me..makes me afraid of wearing any other LOOSE clothing.
Old things I needed to relearn from the nice folks at TSA: Grumbling or talking out loud does nothing useful except get you further screening from the nice folks at TSA. I'm sure all those in the Security area are thrilled to know my breasts are safely enclosed in their scanner screeching underwired secure locations.
Our flight attendant was nearing 80 but at least she was from the old school where a smile goes a long way...maybe it's permanent.
Hertz failed to have us listed on their magic board..they tried to give us a Grand Marquis. No thanks, no need to suck up but please next time can you give us one without cigarette smoke? Hey smokers, don't smoke in a rental car..or my nonsmoking hotel room for that matter! Geesh..and this coming from a former 3 pack a day smoker!
Even though we are in a familiar area with an "old" client, it's a new location. Technology Circle does not really change from one state to the next, I've found.
Well I'm off to rediscover the area today. I do recall there is a Blinds to Go store somewhere close by here...it would be good to actually check out the blinds I need for the new room before ordering them online.
Have a fine day all.......
Posted by frani at 09:24 AM | Comments (4)
January 07, 2006
We're leaving...
...off to The D.C. area tomorrow. Gee, we haven't been there in quite a while. Of course, I checked on baby panda viewing times, only to find out it's a ticketed event and the January tickets are gone. Oh well, I had a nice show this morning on the Panda Cam though. Scroll down the page to get to the Panda cam..I just had another amazing view of the baby and Mama. ;-D snort, I swear I'd never seen that Mama that active all the times I've been to the National Zoo in the past!
Leo says he will be finished with the inside of the new room by the time we get back from DC. The Carpet people are supposed to come on Tuesday ... then we will need to put up the window treatments on the 5 windows ..Par---Tay! We couldn't use the fireplace Thursday night because the grout around the slate needed to dry calmly...wow...sure missed having those flames already! I'm really happy with the slate tiles we picked out to surround the fireplace...along with the black and gray, there are swatches of yellows reds and oranges. yes there will be photos but now you are just going to have to wait until it's all done..sort of. I'm not sure I've ever picked out "decor" that has actually come together as well as this has...I've impressed myself!
So I've cleaned out my computer bag...there is a huge difference traveling by car and or plane. I can't even remember the last time *I* was on a plane...is it really as long ago as May..Charleston? anyway, I've uploaded some new songs and backup documents onto my LifeDrive, cleared out debris I don't need to carry on my back while sprinting through airports..I'll be set. Ya know it's been a few years already for me since I've sprinted through airports on a routine basis...we'll see if this trend continues. Of course, I do know of a few upcoming trips...yeah, we'll be going to San Antonio in April I think...and oh yeah...Sydney in Sept/Oct.
Yes that would be Australia....my biggest problem is trying to decide on the side trips while we are there. I keep finding myself saying things like "While we are there we ought to pop over to..name any destination." It sometimes is analogous to "While you are in LA, you might want to pop on over to Bermuda" Ok Ok..so I've always had a little problem with perspective...it's only this <---> far on the map!
Back to packing organizing figuring out what I need to do before leaving. Geesh, I haven't even been anywhere since the end of November..I'm out of practice already.
Have a good weekend all....
Posted by frani at 01:18 PM | Comments (1)
January 02, 2006
Happy New Year..2006
My, how time flies. I think we did a very good job this holiday season..stress was minimal, food was plentiful and the company outstanding. Thank you all very much!
Leo made some progress with the new room..sheetrocking and taping. DA, the covered little yellow chair in the photo is where the fish pond used to be in the old sunroom if that gives you any perspective on the lay out. I've really really been enjoying sitting in there this year, flames flickering, reading or doing Sudoku. It's WARM in there as well...it sure makes a huge difference; that room was so cold in the winter, more impression because of it's openness but I do recall using a lot of throws in the past winters.
New Years Eve we had an impromptu dinner with the rowdy neighbors. Yeah, we all made it to 10:30-11:00pm. Shrimp, beef, broccoli, carrots, twice baked potato, cherry topped cheesecake...I just love it when we all gather up stuff we just happen to have around the old kitchen.
Of course the jokes started:
What are the 3 big lies in (enter disparaged town of your choice)
1. The trailer is paid for
2. I didn't know she was my sister
3. I was just helping that sheep over the fence.
Snort....
Greg and I stayed up to see the New Year in, sort of. I had to check out Dick Clark to see how he is doing post stroke (not bad), then kept one eye on the projection clock as it flicked 0:00. Happy New year, snore.
Last evening we had another round of visiting with friends..well they had to come see our flames. Presents were exchanged..who knew there were flamingo shaped watering cans and of course, we encouraged everyone with Sudoku books of their very own. The kids went off to enjoy cable TV since they don't live in the big city and get maybe one local station on their TV; we, however, engaged in meaningful conversation...at one point, their middle child wandered in to find us all intent on our own books of Sudoku. I don't think she bought the telepathy form of communication. What a rowdy bunch.
So, Happy New Year, all... may your year all be filled with Good Health, Prosperity, Happiness and Sudoku!
Posted by frani at 09:18 AM | Comments (0)