Success!

It's been a fairly productive day so far for a Saturday. I got up and ran to Walmart at around 7:00 am. My new chair was being delivered between 10:00 am and noon, so I wanted to get a couple of errands run first.

One of the things I bought at Walmart this morning was a 'tree' floor lamp, a lamp with three staggered fixtures on it. I had a lamp like that before but it disintegrated when I moved it to replace the flooring. Literally, the base crumbled into fragments when I picked it up to move it. So I bought another one this morning and when I got home I assembled it. Of course it requires three 60 W light bulbs and I only had 75 W bulbs that weren't in use. I went around the house switching out 75 W bulbs for 60 W bulbs in light fixtures, until I had three. Then when I put them in, the top of the three fixtures on the new lamp wouldn't light up! Of course I tried more than one bulb. I think everyone's made that mistake.

That left me with a dilemma. Take the lamp back to the store since it doesn't work right? As you probably know if you've been reading this very long, I hate making multiple store trips, and especially for a $20.00 lamp. So I figured, what the the hell. It's broken anyway, I'll take it apart. That's something that I enjoy ... disassembling things to see how they work. I took the fixture apart (yes, I unplugged the lamp first) and figured out how it worked. The on/off switch fell into pieces as I was taking it apart, but it was pretty obvious how it was supposed to operate. So I re-assembled it so that it should work correctly, and I'll be damned if the crazy thing doesn't work fine now. Go figure. While I was fooling with it though, I realized that I need to get one of those devices that lets you test whether there's current to a couple of leads because that's the one thing I couldn't check when I had the fixture apart ... whether current was reaching it. Still, if something's broken and not worth getting a professional to fix it, might as well try to fix it myself, is what I think. I'm going to discard it anyway, so nothing's lost if I can't fix it, and maybe I can. This time it worked.

My chair was delivered on time and I've already sat in it and watched a TV program with Zoe in my lap. This picture is of her breaking in the new chair herself, although you can almost not see the chair for all the protection I have over it while the cats get used to it. I think Zoe's figured out that she can't get under it, so they'll have to give up on that as a hiding place. Which is fine. I have worries about them and the recliner/rocker mechanisms if someone sits in it while they're under it. Now, I hope I can keep the cat-kids from destroying it too quickly. I'm glad I went with the red (Burgundy) chair instead of the blue, even though it isn't even close to the wall color. It's far enough from the wall not to clash, and it's the same shade of red/burgundy in the pattern on my couch. Works.

The old chair is in the garage. Yesterday evening I tried to drag it out the front door and got it stuck in the doorway. Luckily a young couple were walking by with their baby in a stroller (it's been in the mid-70s here this last week). The guy offered to help and I accepted. It only had to go five more feet into the garage, but we had to unwedge it from the door. People are just generally nice, I think. So this next week I should be able to drag it to the curb for the garbage folks.

After the chair was delivered I made a trip out to the place I found that takes chemicals, old paint, batteries, etc. I finally got that leaky battery out of my garage and gone. So see. Fairly productive day. It's raining now, so my productivity has come to a grinding halt. I was considering getting out and trimming shrubbery since the weather has been so warm. About an hour ago though it began a steady, mild rain. This being Texas, it could clear up within the next hour, but I think they're calling for rain the rest of the day, clearing out tonight. Oh, darn. Guess I'll have to find something inside to amuse myself. It feels weird not to have to move anything or rearrange anything or clean anything. Weird, but nice. I suppose I'll be forced to just enjoy the rest of the weekend.

Two posts

I did get two posts in this weekend. Surprise, surprise. Of course it's a three-day weekend, so that helps.

I've been fairly productive actually. My house and garage are both organized and neat. And I actually sealed all the grout on my new tile yesterday. That was something of a chore, but I've been waiting to do it. The grout sealer stuff says to do it in a well ventilated area, with the house opened up or whatever. It hasn't really been warm enough since I had the tile installed to have the house wide open until yesterday. It reached about 66 yesterday afternoon, which is a lot warmer than it's been. So I opened all the doors and windows and sealed grout. The cats where immensely helpful, meaning that they were in my way and determined not to stay out of the stuff that says to keep pets away for about 2 hours. They just tracked through it like it was no big deal and had no clue why I was so excitable. To me the smell was strong ... not really unpleasant like some chemicals, just strong. They didn't seem to mind the smell at all and made no effort to avoid the stuff. Weird. Plus Addy has a strong drive to get into whatever I don't want her in. She probably would have ignored the stuff if I hadn't been trying to keep her out of it.

Here's a picture of the two of them sitting looking out the open door. They're still somewhat wary about going outside. The black demon terror shows up just often enough to keep us all on our toes. And yes, that huge, fuzzy, calico-colored creature is a cat. A massively overweight, Zoe cat. I've been struggling with that because Addy has been dropping weight lately. You can't really see in this picture but her shoulder blades and hips are beginning to be a little too noticeable. She's 14 years old, so it's probably just her age, but in keeping her well-fed, I'm over-feeding Zoe. It's a balance I'm not doing well with.

I checked on-line and the City garbage service will pick up furniture from your curb if you warn them it will be there before the day of pickup. So I'll probably call them Tuesday and drag that chair out there for the Thursday regular pickup. I also discovered that there's a waste center for hazardous chemicals that takes batteries and is open on Saturday. Whatever did we do before the internet? Rhetoric question, because I know the answer. We used the yellow pages and called around and asked our friends, etc, etc. Word of mouth was probably one of the most important ways people found things. Now the internet is. I still tend to do things the old way first before I realize I can find the answer on the internet. That also dates me. Most of my friends go to the internet first without even consciously thinking about it.

My new chair is red. Burgundy, the store calls it, but it looks red to me. I hope it doesn't clash with my red wall. I actually bought a denim blue one ('paige blue' ... where do they find these names?) so there would be no possibility of a wall clash, but when I got home I realized that I really wanted the red chair. So I called the store and switched them out. Hopefully it really will be the red one that arrives next Saturday. It's a very comfortable rocker/recliner. I took my shoes off in the store and sat in it the way I usually sit at home, with my feet up under me. I wanted it to be comfortable the way I normally sit, and also even though it's not a big chair I wanted to make sure there was enough room for me to curl up with my feet up in it. And if it clashes somewhat with the wall I'll probably be the only one who notices. It won't be up against that wall anyway.

My Mom's 80th birthday is next month and my sisters and I are working on getting a sizable percentage of the family clan there. It should be a blast. I'm working on a birthday gift. It's surprisingly difficult because the styles are soooooo bad right now. My 80 year old Mom in peasant blouses or low-cut smock tops is not an attractive thought. At least I have about a month to work on it.

2010 !?

Amazing. Time continues to speed by and I continue to have trouble keeping up. We're half way through January, 2010. It feels almost surreal.

I bought a chair yesterday, which they'll deliver next weekend. Now I just have to figure out what to do with my dead recliner. The poor thing has been destroyed by the cats over the years, so it's probably safe to assume no one will want it. So how do I get rid of it? Store it in the garage with the battery back-up that I also don't know how to get rid of? Hmmmm. I think I haven't told that story. It happened when I was moving everything into the garage so that the carpet could be replaced. After disconnecting all my computer stuff from the battery back-up, I lifted it and thought: "What the hell is dripping?" as I watched holes being eaten in my carpet. The battery backup was dripping battery acid! I ran through the house with it to the garage, and then back-tracked my trail of drips, spreading baking soda on everything that looked wet. The only place that ended up damaged was the carpet in the computer room where it first started dripping and I stood there watching it eat through the carpet. LUCKILY, it was the old carpet I was replacing, not the new carpet I was having installed. I'd have been sick. So that battery back-up is inside three cardboard boxes in my garage. It doesn't seem to continue dripping as long as I keep it level, but what do I do with it now? It's a Belkin, so it's not like it was an off-brand or something. I'll have to see who will take and dispose of a battery which leaks acid.

Back to the chair. I've got to figure out how to dispose of the old chair. It's not going to fit in the back of my Subaru, even if I could lift it into there. So I'll have to see how I can get it hauled off. I still haven't found a couch I like, but at least I found a nice chair.

I went to my parents house for Christmas and it was snowing hard when I left to drive there. Pretty, but driving in snow is not my favorite. I live in Texas and often visit my sister in Colorado around Christmas time, so I can drive in it if I have to but it's not my favorite. And my sister will tell you, I'm a total rookie at snow driving. This has probably been one of the coldest years I remember since living in Texas. We've had snow three times in December this year, and snow on Christmas is especially rare. We've also had over a week of sub-freezing temps and several days in the teens. Very unusual for here. Anyway, I dragged most of my aloe vera into the garage once I moved my house stuff back into the house. Three of the plants however, I covered up and left on the back porch. This picture is what they looked like when I got back from Christmas at my folks. Needless to say, the cover got blown off by the snowstorm. Also needless to say, these guys will not survive. Not after snow and multiple days below freezing. Looks like I'll have pots to split some of the other aloe vera into this year.

I'm still working on the stuff left in the garage, throwing away stuff I don't really need and deciding how and where to store the stuff I'm keeping. The house is pretty well set now, ready for new furniture as I find it. And now the garage is shaping up. I intend to keep it clean and picked up, so it doesn't get so nasty again. Hopefully I can keep up with that good intention. I storing my Christmas stuff out there now rather than in my closet. Plus I'm storing my sewing machine and my anime posters in the garage, so my closets are much cleaner and more organized. Soon my garage will be too. I've got to find a good place to store the extra carpet they left with me too. So this is my weekend to be organized and try to get everything around the house organized.

Last weekend I went to see Avatar for the second time with my sister. The first time I saw it, I went with my friend who was home from med school on her winter break. I'm blaming her for the cold weather because now that she's gone back to school it's been warming up. We had some great times while she was in town though.

I really enjoyed Avatar. Both times. I saw it in 3D both times and am really glad I saw it in the theater. I often just wait for things to come out on DVD, but this movie was definitely worth seeing on the big screen.

One that I wish I had seen on the big screen is the most recent Star Trek movie. I bought the DVD out of curiosity because I've been a Star Trek fan since I was a kid watching the original series as it came out. (Oops, just seriously dated myself). This movie was great! They did an awesome job of making an interesting, action-filled movie, with a unique plot in an alternate universe, but including enough of the original traits and sayings of the original characters to keep a ST fan happy. I think I've watched the DVD 5 or so times. Fun!

Anyway, just thought I'd get my first blog of the new year in this weekend. I may shoot for another one if I get tired of organizing.