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.

New Year's Eve again

Wow. Another year gone. It seems fitting to be doing a post on New Year's Eve because last year at this time was my first real post. It's funny to re-read it now. I was so unsure about this whole blogging thing a year ago. Now it seems so second nature to just type whatever I'm thinking or about whatever I'm doing. It's interesting that starting next month I'm going to be doing a blog for the professional organization I'm a part of. Go figure. Not so surprising I guess. I've always liked to hear myself talk, and to me blogging is just another form of talking to myself. It's a safe way to have opinions. Of course my personal blogs are anonymous, except to friends and family who may be reading them. My blog for the professional group won't be anonymous. It'll be interesting to see if I find that very different, besides the whole content thing. Hai, hai. The professional one can't be quite so egocentric as this one is.

Anyway I'm going to try to always do a post on New Year's Eve, so here goes.

It's been a good year. Busy, but good. And I enjoy the things I do that have made this such a busy year. This year again I have a huge number of things to be thankful for. I still have a job I love doing. I have good friends. I have my health. I'm financially sound, my retirement and investments back to what they were before the bad losses in late 2008-early 2009. That last is certainly through no effort on my part. I know less than nothing about investments. That's why I have a financial adviser. He's done well for me this year.

So let's see, how introspective should I get? I have a meeting with my boss in early January to discuss my goals and objectives for the next year. Goals, huh? Hmmmmmm. I plan to stay very active in my professional associations. I should write a paper if I can, now that the book chapters are done. I wrote 5 book chapters last year, and managed to get them all in mostly on time. I just received a copy of the first book last week that has two of the chapters in it. Two more chapters I returned the proofed galleys for two weeks ago. And the last chapter went in in October. I wonder if I should make learning to say 'no' one of my goals. Nah. I managed to get them all in. A couple of my goals for next year probably won't make my boss too happy with because they're going to involve fighting City Hall, so to speak. I want some equipment and some personnel that Administration doesn't seem to think I need. So when they show up on my goals, it will be interesting to see what my boss says. Hmmmmm. I guess I need to have a good development plan to present to her to justify what I want, and a good way of explaining why they're part of my goals. Another goal I have for next year is to train someone else to do some of the things I do. We're lacking a little depth at work since I'm the only one currently that does some things, but we've been short staffed at the county hospital too, so it's been hard to catch up on things like training since I'm covering more than usual over there.

Other goals for this next year? Personally, I should probably try to get a little exercise into my routine since I've gotten particularly bad about that. I currently have pretty good health, but some exercise would only improve it. I would say improve my diet, but that's not very realistic. I eat predominately stuff I can nuke or stuff that's fast and easy. I'm not a big fan of sweets, and that includes fruit. The only fruit I usually have in the house are grapefruit. And although I like most vegetables, I don't keep fresh vegetables nor fix them for meals. Most of my vegetables come from my mid-day meal at the hospital. So basically, a pretty bad diet. I suspect that's not going to change much because it's just too much trouble and effort to do real cooking for just myself and then have the cleanup too. I have better/other things to do.

When I consider it, for all my imperfections and flaws, I'm still an incredibly lucky person. Sometimes it's hard to know where to start being grateful. If you believe in karma, then I must have been a saint in my last life, or murdered horribly, to have stored up so much good energy for this life. It's totally believable that I have guardian deities watching over me, or watching out for me. Yeah, so if you guys are listening, you have my gratitude, and take the night off. I'm home. What trouble can I get into?

*laughing* That should be a serious jinx, except they never leave me completely alone. And anyone who doesn't know me is now backing slowly away from this blog. It's okay. You can chalk it up to the alcohol if you like. Of course I'm having a glass of wine on New Year's Eve. Really, it's okay. It's not necessary for you to believe in my guardians, as long as I do. They'll still take care of me whether other people believe in them or not.

Hmmmmmm. Let's get deeply philosophical here for a few minutes. I believe that part of what seems to be my "luck" is that I believe things will go my way and then they do. Do they really happen in my favor because I believe they will? Am I bending reality to suit me or favor me? *laughing* Yeah. Right. Put that way it sounds ridiculous. So why DO things happen in my favor? I don't really know, but I'm gonna keep believing they will. And keep being grateful to whatever agency is responsible.

Okay end of 'philosophical-this-person-is-drunk-or-nuts' talk. I'll try going back to things that are a little more normal.

Yesterday I went with my friend to see Avatar in 3D. O.O Waaaaay cool. What it lacked in original plot it more than made up in visual effects and the creation of a unique world with an alien race. It was awesome. I actually had some trouble with motion sickness though. That surprised me because I have a private pilot's certificate, and I've also never had trouble on boats. Just a bad day maybe. Or maybe I should get my eyes checked. They do seem to be increasingly light sensitive. Whatever, the movie was still awesome.

Well this post has been really scattered, but at least I got one more post in in 2009. Happy New Year and may you have a wonderful 2010.

Dekita!

It's done!!!!! I have all new flooring in my house. And on top of that I have pretty much everything moved back in from the garage that's coming back in. As expected, some of that stuff will take up permanent residence in the garage. However, my garage is once more a place for parking my car and storing odds and ends. I'm really happy about that. I like parking my car inside, not having to clean the windshield on the rare mornings we get ice, not having to warm it up or use gloves because the steering wheel's so cold. The garage isn't heated really, but it stays warm enough for frost-averse plants in the winter. It does become an oven in the summer of course.

So, back to the carpet and tile. I love the new carpet. The carpet guys were incredibly efficient and professional. They were done much faster than I expected . . . about 6 hours total from arrival to departure. The carpet looks great. The color looks great. Overall I'm quite pleased with everything.

I do have some issues with the tilers, but I'll hold those for now.

I wanted to do a few 'before' and 'after' pictures. So all the pictures on the left in this blog are 'after' pictures of the new carpet and tile, and on the right are the 'before' pictures of the old carpet and tile. The first set of pictures above is the entryway, left is the new entry with it's new tile up against the new carpet. By contrast, on the right above is the old tile and carpet in the entry. The color changes aren't as noticeable in the pictures as they are in person, plus as I mentioned in an earlier post, except for the blue bathroom floors, I didn't make drastic color changes.

The second set of pictures are the back door area and since the extension of the tile to the fireplace is one of the reasons for the new tile, I was pleased with the way this came out. On the left you can see the tile extended to the fireplace there by the back door, and get a better feel for the color of the new carpet. On the right is the old carpet up to the back door and you can also see how ragged and stained it was there in front of the door. I really like stepping into the house from the outside onto tile rather than directly onto carpet. Plus the cats can't destroy the carpet there when they're trying to dig out the back door. Your basic win-win. These pictures also show how much darker the new carpet is than the old was. The new carpet isn't a dark color, but the old carpet was really pale.

With the last set of pictures I tried to capture the change in the bathroom tiles. Both bathrooms were this blue-grey swirled tile you can see on the right, up against the old pale carpet. Again on the left is the new bathroom tiles and the new carpet. The picture doesn't do justice to the tiles. They're white with a light brown and a pale blue-grey swirl through them. The brown is pulled out up against the carpet and eventually I'll re-paint the bathrooms, probably a pale blue. Currently this master bath is still a bright fluorescent yellow, which don't match anything, but then they never really have.

So that's the state of my house now. New flooring is in place and I've essentially moved the interior house contents twice in the last month. My plan now is to take a break for awhile and pay of some of this, then go for new furniture and some painting. Kitchen counters will probably be last, at some pint in the future. Slowly but surely I'll get to everything.

New Carpet!

It's finally started, the thing I said I was going to have done immediately when I moved in ... 8 1/2 years ago. My new carpet is being installed! Very cool.

I managed to get everything moved off the carpeted areas of my house except my sofa/sleeper, my TV and my bed. Literally the contents of my whole house are in my garage and kitchen. If you compare this pic with the one in the last post, you can see I've added a bunch more to stuff to the garage. A lot of that stuff I wasn't sure I could move until I tried. It certainly would have been easier with help, but I'm really bad about admitting I can't do something myself.


The two installers had those last three items moved about 5 minutes after they arrived, removed the old carpet and pad and swept the slab in about 20 - 30 minutes, and are now laying down the new pad. They also had me come out and verify that they had they right carpet with them before they started anything this morning. I'd be willing to bet they've run into that problem before where they don't have the right carpet, or people say it's not what they ordered once they start installing. They have my carpet though so all's proceeding.

It's interesting because when I first looked at the carpet I thought that the color was too light. I'm so used to thinking that this new carpet is darker than the old, that I was sort of expecting a dark carpet. It's not dark. It's a nice light tan. It's just darker than my old carpet.

We had a little trauma this morning when the installers got here because the cats had no where in the house to hide. I had hoped they'd run for the garage or under their favorite chair which is in the kitchen, but Zoe freaked out BIG time and just kept scurrying back and forth looking for somewhere to go. Poor baby. I tried to get her to the garage, but she wasn't exactly behaving rationally. Trying to lift and carry 22 pounds of fighting, razor-clawed, freaked out cat is not something I'd recommend. I think I pulled all the muscles in my back and neck. She got away from me and I believe she's somewhere hidden amongst my household items in the garage. I didn't see where she went since I was trying to pick myself up, but she's not in the house, so the garage is probably a safe assumption. I'll look for her once we've both had time to recover our equilibriums. Damn, she's fast for a big cat. Hopefully she'll forget and forgive me for traumatizing her. I'm very glad that it's cool enough that I'm wearing jeans and a long-sleeved shirt though. No lacerations.

My floor is currently blue. The new carpet pad I'm having installed has a 'moisture-proof' side, so it's a nice bright blue. It doesn't quite match my red walls, as you can see from this pic, but it's a lot cleaner than my old carpet was. I have to say that this whole process of new tile and new carpet is interesting. I had no idea how they go about doing this stuff, so it's been interesting to watch it happen. They're currently pasting down the seams in the pad, or anyway that's what it looks like they're doing.

I looked for the cats but they're hiding, and given the vast number of hiding places there are in all my stuff in the garage, they won't be found until either they're ready to come out or I empty all the stuff out of the garage. Hopefully they'll be ready to come out long before I get around to moving all that stuff back into the house.

The carpet's going in now. These two guys are hard workers. They're just moving right along.

Tsukareta!!

Which translates as: I'm TIRED! I've spent almost the whole weekend moving my house into my garage.

To back up a bit: They finished my tile, and it did take them three days. Partly because of all of the mess-ups the first day and partly because they were not very consistent in who was working. The first day there were three of them. The second day there was only one guy for the first 3-ish hours and then two others came and worked on it. And partly the delay was my fault as I had to give that lecture on Wednesday morning. They didn't start working until about noon on Wednesday. I shouldn't complain though. The good news is that I have new tile and I'm happy with it.

The other good news is that my carpet has arrived at the flooring place (so in this case I can safely assume they'll bring it with them). They called me on the last day the tilers were here to tell me the carpet is in, and we scheduled the install for this coming Wednesday. Which means I've had this weekend to get all my stuff into my garage or my kitchen. Which is why I'm seriously tired right now. But everything's in the garage except things I can't move myself (couch, beds, TV) and my electronics which I'll disassemble and move on Tuesday evening. This pic is some of my stuff in my garage. I have FIVE of those 6' tall bookshelves, thank you. I'm betting I'll be finding some new bruises after this weekend, but I haven't broken anything yet (myself OR my stuff), and only have one fairly decent ding in a wall from a curio cabinet that tried to get away from me.

In the process of all this packing and moving I discovered that 'dust bunny' doesn't come close to describing the monster creatures living under some of my furniture after 8+ years. Yeow! Nasty! I've probably spent as much time cleaning as moving, especially since I'm still de-dusting everything from the tile install. This picture is my kitchen area with curio cabinets and other stuff finding a temporary home there (Yes, that is new tile on the floor). The cabinet on the right is the one that tried to escape me.

I'm sort of considering just leaving everything in the kitchen and garage after the carpet goes in. It's too much trouble to move it all back. At least I won't have any time constraints about getting things back where they belong. I don't need for the house to be in order for Christmas guests since I'm heading to my parents for Christmas. I can take my time and unpack slowly and finish cleaning as I go. Sounds perfect. Actually, anything that doesn't involve me getting up for awhile sound perfect right now.