43 posts tagged “life”

I'm still in a bit of a shock that's it's already Thanksgiving.  When did that happen?  Wasn't my birthday a couple weeks ago???  I plan to spend a couple days with my family and then a couple days at home.  The perfect Thanksgiving in my mind.

Work: No change from September.  Which means it's still chaotic and unorganized and no one knows what the hell going on.  Add in the fact that there has been discussions of those of us at the capital to the other building (which is a good 30 mins away from the capital) and I'm frustrated and incredibly disappointed with certain people.

Home: No progress at all beyond cleaning out the craft room closet.  And all of that stuff is still sitting in my hallway *eyeroll*

Crafts: I finished the holiday gifts last month.  So I made this cute scarf for myself.  I just need to finish up the green socks I started a while ago so I can start on some newer larger projects.

Flute!: I finally got around to contacting a flute instructor and had my first lesson last week.  I've decided one hour biweekly lessons is the way to go.  And it's coming back to me despite it being 2 years since my last lesson.

And Car:  And I will keep it clean.  Some idiot (who lives several doors down from me) decided he could not wait for me to turn left into my driveway and decided to go around me.  On the left.  Which means my car is now sporting a large dent above the driver's back wheel.  Needless to say I was beyond pissed.  That he got charged for following too closely is the only bright spot.  I'm waiting to hear from the insurance to get the fixing details worked out.

I hope everyone has a marvelous Thanksgiving! 

Seeing how I can't curl up in a ball and take a nap . . .

Work

• Between the state fiscal issues, the new CIO, the reorganization due to the new CIO and general division nonsense, things are all over the place.  I'm kind of wishing I had applied for a local job I saw though it would have involved a pay cut (via more expensive benefits).  We'll see.
  

Home

• I had a small cookout for my birthday and so everyone could see the house.  It was a lot of fun.  I ended up having a dessert table and got chocolate from a number of family, friends and co-workers.  They know me so well :o)  The weather was suppose to be perfect but it rained after everything was cleaned up.  Annoying but the timing could have been a whole lot worst.
• Other than cleaning and normal maintenance for the party, nothing has changed since the shutters.

Crafts

• Started a few things and haven't finished anything lately.  Given I have 17 books checked out of the library the past couple weeks and another 2 are waiting to picked up this weekend (as I just *had* to research 2 topics at the same time), I think things may be on-hold for a little bit . . .

Other

• Babies, babies and more babies.  One friend just had her twins.  Another friend is having twins at the end of the year.  Another three friends plus an acquaintance announced pregnancies in the past month.  To complete the set, all I need are a call from my best friend and emails from two other friends . . .

So I've been on vacation since July 2.  Needless to say I am not looking forward to next Tuesday which will be my first day back.

So far I've:

• Cleaned the house
• Went to Home Depot once and Lowe's 5 or 6 times in 3 days.
  
• Trying to take the damn shutters down so I can paint them.  All of the metal screws have gone to pot after 48 years of element exposure.  $30+ later and the damn things are still up.  So they are next on the "Dad, I need help!" list.
• Repainted the cabinet in the bathroom so it doesn't look as grungy
• Cooked garlic chicken & pepper kabobs and corn on the cob on the grill
  
• Knitted
• Saw Up, which I enjoyed
  
• Saw the butterfly exhibit at the botanical garden.  It was nice but in no way did it compare to the awesomeness that is the Butterfly Center at Callaway Gardens.
• Spent 3.5+ hours in a new-to-me used bookstore and brought a bunch of books
• Checked out the new JoAnn and had a smoothie
• Read
  
• Took my car for an oil change, alignment and getting one new tire.  It so should not have taken 3 freakin' hours to do. 
  
• A couple days later I took the car to get the annual inspection and the tech did my car first since I was waiting so that only took an hour instead of the 2-3 hours I was expecting.  So I guess it evens out in the end.
• Mowed the front yard
  

Other stuff:
Work -- we're finally finished with the build.  Halle-freakin'-lujah.  Our agency merged with a larger agency; so far this has been pretty much a non-event.  Things are still up in the air, though, about what we will be doing long-term.  So much for state gov't stability.

House -- I finished the front flower beds and think they look oh so much better than the boxwoods and azaleas.  I'm planning to redo them this fall/next spring as I want to make a flower bed near the driveway (so I have less to mow :o) and plant some dwarf azaleas, some dwarf crape myrtles and some hyacinths and maybe crocuses.

Crafts -- I finished both pairs of teal socks.  Holiday gifts are up next.

Other -- No ALA annual conference for me this year, which is sad as I enjoyed Chicago last time and will miss seeing everyone.  But next year is in DC, so I'm planning to crash that one (seeing how I let my membership lapse).

Work
*sigh* I'm still working on the same damn stuff that was originally suppose to be done mid-April.  Now it's looking mid-June.  Add to that the number of unknowns related to my agency merging with another agency and things are becoming incredibly frustrating. 

At least my coworkers are a bright spot.  Nothing like seeing one take a cane Office Space-style to a piñata. :o)

House  
The only progress inside is a ceiling fan in my bedroom and rehanging things in the living room.  

Progress outside is at a crawl.  Dad helped me get rid of the boxwoods and a privet bush.  I chopped down the azaleas the other day and got rid of the branches in my car (which of course made a mess I had to clean up).  I finished moving the damn landscape rocks out of one flower bed and am slowly clearing them out of the other one.  Once that's done, I need to till the beds and buy some plants to plant.  Hopefully it'll be done in the next few weeks.

Crafts
I haven't made much of any progress on the navy & teal socks and actually made negative progress on the other teal socks when I had to rip out part of the heel to redo the sizing.  

Other
My trip to NYC was a lot of fun.  The highlights: Thai food, Indian food, marvelous gelato, yummy cupcakes, the Staten Island Ferry, Central Park and the musical Coraline, which was absolutely amazing.  

Snow redux
We will give thanks to entrepreneurial people who shovel driveways for a small fee.  That saved me so much hassle.

Work
Argh!!!!!  'Nuff said.

House 

• Not much progress is being made inside.  I did get a few more things on the walls and I made the shower curtain.
• Dad is coming up this weekend and hopefully we'll make some progress on getting the ceiling fans up (which requires 2'x4's in the attic to mount against in the 3 bedrooms plus running ground wire to all of the ceiling light fixtures *sigh*).
• The forsythia is about 1/4 the size it was though I really only chopped off half of the branches to the ground.  I didn't realize so many of the branches were top heavy.  Good thing we didn't get an ice storm over the winter.
• The first mowing of the year happened last weekend.  I also dug up the two rose bushes, a sickly azalea and what I found out later to be a lilac.  There was also some unexpected tree trimming which went from removing a couple suckers to "that entire limb needs to go".  My little garden hand saw was a great purchase.
• For four Saturdays in February and March, I took a really interesting landscape design class at the botanical garden.  So now I have a plan (which I may or may not stick with) for the yard.  The main thrust of the entire thing was get rid of almost everything and start over.
• I was going to wait to work on the yard but on Monday I decided the huge boxwoods in the front had to go.  Now.  So Wednesday after work I took the saw to them.  The root system of three of the boxwoods are huge so it's going to take some work to get them out. 
  
• I also chopped up the Ligustrum by the driveway as it was also huge and looking a bit sickly. 
  
• After the azaleas finish blooming, I'll probably dig them up too. 
  
• I figure I'll plant annuals in the two beds in mid-May and then in the fall and next spring, plant new bushes and azaleas.
• My other goals this spring are to dig up the grass around crape myrtle in the front yard and put down mulch.  That will eliminate the need to mow around it (though that's less of a problem now that that limb is gone :o). 
  
• I'm still planning to follow my landscape design and do a plant bed with hostas and perennials around the redbud and maple by the driveway.  
  

Crafts
I finished the purple socks and the purple sweater.  Now I have a pair of teal & navy socks going at work and another pair of teal socks at home.  And all of the color choices were entirely unintentional :o)

Other

• My trip to NYC is coming up rapidly.  I'm so looking forward to seeing the play Coraline and hanging out with hollycrome.
• The cat fell off the couch last night.  I felt bad for her and she's fine but it was funny.  
  

Work:  As irritating as usual and it looks like the agency isn't taking over the application.  Grrrrr.

House:  Slowly making a bit of progress.  I took down the bathtub doors and painted the ceiling and walls.  It looks 100x better.  The shower curtain I brought was so not the color they said (damn Bed Bath & Beyond) so I need to sew a couple of curtain panels together.  The high point of the month was the all encompassing spreadsheet of what I want to do.  I'm also taking a 4 day landscape design class at the botanical garden.  I'm halfway done with it and it's interesting.  We'll see if it helps any when I actually get around to doing something with the outside.

Crafts:  I started a pair of purple socks that I had hoped to finish by the end of February but life got in the way. Also the purple sweater I'm crocheting has been neglected due to life. 

But I have a snow day today (6+" of snow! and it's still coming down!).  I probably should make an attempt to dig out once the snow stops but otherwise I haven't quite decided if I'm going to be productive or to blow everything off.  Decisions decisions.  In the meantime, pictures!

Work

• More of the same plus frustrating, irritating and annoyingly chaotic.
• But the agency that owns the application my group supports will be taking over the support.  This will free my group to do other things.  I've started working on some of those things but I will be so glad when the transition is complete and I no longer have to worry about election stuff.
• Speaking of elections, we watched the Inauguration in the conference room on the projector with sound coming from an old tv.  Less than ideal but it worked.
  

Holidays

• The ballet was interesting.  Oddly I think I preferred the Columbus Metro Ballet company version I saw a few years ago.  To me it just makes more sense that the Sugar Plum Fairy & Prince dance a lot instead of Clara & The Nutcracker.
• One of my best friends ended up coming up New Years Eve to hang out.  It was nice.  I made her go to many furniture stores with me on New Years Day.
• Between two days off (for Lee-Jackson Day and MLK Jr Day) and a sick day this month, I haven't worked a full five day week since mid-December.  Next week is going to be rough. :o)
  

House

• Since I had two days off , I made progress on the little painting stuff.  Still have some things to do (like the kitchen ceiling, the attic door and some trim in the utility room).
• I also got some things that had been lingering done like hanging the blinds in the utility room, removing the adhesive on my failed window film attempt, and putting up the middle bracket in the dining room (which required shorter screws).
  
• I've decided I need to do *something* with the bathroom.  So in the near future it's going to lose the tub enclosure (I hates it muchly), gain a shower curtain, and be painted the same color as the rest of the house.  I'm hoping all of that will also make it less white and icy.
• I need to spend some time figuring out what else I need and want to do.  Replacing all of the interior doors is high on the list; I'm just not sure I can do them without help.
  

Crafts

• I finished the sweater and very much love it despite the two rows I complete screwed up.
• As I needed something to counteract all that lace knitting, I'm now knitting a simple white shrug to wear with a brown & white sundress I got on clearance last fall.
• I also finally crocheted the hat my coworker wanted.  She's wore it every day since I gave it to her which makes me happy.
  

Work

• Thanks to the Governor giving us extra time off, I'm only working 2 days this week and 2 days next week.  It would have been immensely nicer to have the two weeks completely off but with two co-workers out, I'm making do with what I have.
• Otherwise same old stuff.
  

Holidays

• I'm heading down to my mom's for a few days on Christmas Eve.  I still need to make plans with one of my best friends.
• On the 27th, I'm going to the ballet with my aunt.  The Moscow Ballot is presenting the Nutcracker.  It'll be my second Nutcracker, which isn't so bad for someone who is pretty meh about ballet.
• No plans for New Years Eve but that's the way I like it.
  

House

• I finally organized my 3rd bedroom (aka craft/guest room) yesterday.  And because it was all clear, I went ahead and painted.  It was a relief to finish.  I still need to paint trim so I can move all my craft stuff back into the room.
  
• After that I'll have little relatively things to paint (e.g., doorways, a wall in my utility room, ceiling in the kitchen). 
  

Crafts

• Having finished my last Christmas gift, I'm finally making progress on my sweater.  I'd like to finish it by Jan 5, so we'll see. 
  
• I also started a pair of socks to work on while at a friend's winter commencement.  They're purple :o)
  

Work

• It's been very quiet since the election.  That's not necessarily a bad thing.  
• I took Monday off.  Too bad I have errands and house stuff to do that day.  Sitting around and doing nothing sounds like heaven right now.

House

• 

  Christmas Tree 2008 - Unlighted
  My Christmas tree is up.  I had forgotten my colors were navy and silver as it's been a good number of years since I've put it up.  It goes very well with everything in the living room.
• I spent the good part of yesterday and today raking leaves.  Fourteen 33 gallon bags later and the fenced part of the backyard is done.  I still need to do the front yard and redo the side bit that's outside the fence.  It wouldn't have been so bad but I don't think they raked at all last year so it took some work to get the really old leaves up.  So trees are a mixed blessing in my book.
• My other big project this weekend is painting the second bedroom/office.  I did the first coat this morning and will do the second after dinner.
• During my raking spree, I think I've settled on having the fence replaced next year and having the bathroom redone in 2010.  Puppy thoughts trump bubble baths (not to mention the fence will most likely be less spendy than the bathroom).

Crafts

• It feels like I'm not making progress on anything.  I have a blanket I need to finish crocheting by Christmas and I need to crochet a fan bookmark by the second weekend in December for a friend.  Not to mention I'd really like to have my February Lady Sweater done by Jan 1 and I want another pair of socks.  So much I want to do and so little time.

Slacker?  Who me? :o)

Work
* So tomorrow's the election.  From a work perspective and a news perspective, I cannot wait until it's over.  The good news?  My manager is ordering Italian for lunch/dinner from this place that's suppose to be really really good.  And since my group isn't doing the election night reporting piece, I can go home at 8p (we will ignore the fact I will likely be at work for 12-13 hours at that point).

* My manager keeps saying there's life after November.  To that end, I have the opportunity to help with the data standards and management responsibilities the agency was tasked with upon creation.  So I should be reading documentation for the meeting tomorrow morning.  I'm looking forward to this even though I haven't much experience with any of it.

* Otherwise work is work and it will do for the time being.

House
* So there were 3 weeks of doing stuff at the house (e.g., painting the living room, hallway, master bedroom, utility room and some other ceilings; having Dad change out the electrical sockets and light switches everywhere; helping Dad put sheet rock over the beyond awful ceiling tiles in the dining room). 

* I started moving stuff over the weekend of October 18 and Diamond & I started sleeping over there.  I finished packing stuff October 25 and the moving company moved the remaining stuff October 30.  It's a relief to be done with the moving.

* This weekend's activities?  Gave the front yard a final haircut before the winter, arranged the furniture in the living room, painted the living room windows, and put up curtains in the living room.  The living room looks pretty spiffy if I don't mind saying so myself even though I need to make a decision about the curtain on the small window.
 
* Painting the windows and trim, hanging curtains, and arranging furniture in the master bedroom is next on the list.

* I love my house.  Which is good as I pretty much went with the best of the available options.

* The house is across from an elementary school.  Of course it's a polling place.  I just hope no one blocks my driveway as I'll likely be in a not-so-nice mood at the point I get home.

Other Stuff
* I voted absentee a few weekends ago (see aforementioned 12-13 hour day above) so that's one thing out the way.

* For some reason or another, I happened to go to Bitter:Sweet's website and saw they had a new album, which I of course had to have.  I think I like the first one better but it's still good. 

* Of course I now have 17 downloads to use up by November 22 on eMusic.com.  Decisions decisions.

* I haven't made any progress on craft stuff lately as the house has sucked up all my time.  I have one more Christmas gift to make so I'll have to start making time for it.