I woke up at 10:15 this morning. I was totally ready to roll over and go back to sleep too, until I saw the clock. heh. As I was coming down the stairs, I could smell the fresh coffee and the pancakes Craig was making. Life is soooooo good!!!
Craig's out cleaning the garage right now. We got a dumpster to get rid of old kitchen floor materials and garage mess. He's working hard at it, and I can't believe what a drastic difference he's already made out there. He's reclaimed a ton of floor space! That will make it so much nicer for him to work out there on all of his woodworking hobbies.
I've got some dishes and laundry going, just trying to catch up on chores. It's a perfect day for putting laundry on the line, and I'm hoping I'll have time to get the sheets washed and on the line before we get any rain clouds on the radar, but the clothes and towels that have piled up all week get first priority. I also need to clean up the bunny room in a bit here, after lunch, I'm thinking.
I had Jasmine back at the vet yesterday for a follow-up appointment. Her ulcerated cornea is healed as is her ear infection, but she's lost a little weight. They put her on "senior rabbit mash". They called it "critical care" feed, but that sounds a lot scarier than it is. Honestly, she always gets a little lighter in the spring when the weather turns, sometimes even stops eating much for a day or three. They put her on this feed twice a day though anyhow, just to be safe, and she seems to really enjoy it, so all is well. We're keeping her on the anti-inflammatories too, for arthritis, and the special food she's on makes administering her other meds so much easier. I used to have to hold her head and try to pry her lips open with the syringe full of meds, but now I just sneak it in front of her while she's chowing her senior mash, and she takes it right down. :) I'd say, "my poor old girl", but she's definitely still living the good life. The vets are amazed at her age and her condition. I'm lucky just to have her company still.
Thursday night we went to the hospital to visit some friends who've just had their first baby. Mom and Dad are recouping from the whole birthing trauma, and the baby seems just happy to be here. :) He's the sweetest little dude. I got to hold him for a while, and I'm totally smitten. He didn't fuss at all, but just lay there studying me and occasionally drifting off. Soooo damn cute!!!
As we were leaving the hospital, I had the "Are you sure you don't want one of those?" discussion with Craig again. I'm probably a bit of a pest with that one, but even though we've decided not to have kids, I want to make as sure as possible that we don't get to be 80 and I find out he resents missing out on that experience. I think we'd be great parents, but it's just not something I want to do. I mean, if I was told to sit down and write 1000 things I want out of life, I don't think it would ever even once occur to me to possibly write down "a family". With it being that far off my radar, it's just not something I want to pursue just so we don't miss out on something. Aunt Meanie and Uncle Geek are still comfortable with their decision to enjoy kids strictly on a time-share basis. :)
Ok. Time to check the laundry, have a little lunch, then clean the bunny room. I also need to call my brother and figure out some time to visit, then I want to turn some compost into my garden and get it planted. Any other free time I have today will be spent carving/sculpting/gluing/sewing and reading. Gods, I LOVE the weekends!!!!!!!!!!11!
I'm whipped. ...But I *REALLY* want to paint my cabinets now!!! Like, *right now*.
Last night we decided to call it quits before we were too worn out, and we had some time to just relax. When the sun went down, we took a bag of marshmallows outside to our patio and built a small fire in our fire pit, which we kept going for hours. It was a fabulous night, cool and just slightly breezy. It was perfect for a fire. And I'd forgotten how delicious toasted marshmallows could be! It really was a perfect night, and perfectly romantic. I'm hoping the rain that looks to be coming our way will hold out until at least midnight, so we can have another fire tonight.
Craig is taking a vacation day tomorrow, so we do get one day this holiday weekend just to play. We're going to go into town to do a little fun shopping and catch a matinee of the new Terminator movie.
Now that the floor is done, I have so very much I want to get to next. I want to work on building a solar oven, I need to get back to knitting, and I *REALLY* want to paint the mudroom so I'll have a brighter, cleaner workspace for my glass work. And, of course, I'm totally jonesing to paint the kitchen cabinets now! Craig wants to stain the front porch, so that might be our next project, but the other stuff that I want to do I can work on by myself as I have time.
Ok. It's time to go lord over my new floor again for a few minutes.
But first, I have to say that my thoughts are with a couple friends who are, at this very minute, at the hospital experiencing the birth of their first child. Very exciting!!! I tear up just thinking about it. My thoughts are also with another friend who acquired a dreamy piece of property this weekend! These people are definitely out-shining me and my glorious new floor! ;) ...which I'm going to go stare at now.
Friday was a loooong day. Craig took the day off so we could get a jump-start on our weekend project: replacing the kitchen floor.
We started into the floor a little before lunch time, and so far so good! We're still in the tear-out phase, but our plans to take out the cupboards and put new floor underneath them changed when Craig took a look and saw a mess of plumbing there. Huh? Plumbing *over the floor*? *L* Ok. Whatever. The kitchen pipes never freeze. :) But even better, that means the cupboards/sink/countertop stay where they are and we put flooring in only up to that point. I'm not sure if this is considered "ok" or "half-assing it" (I'm pretty sure it's half-assing it), but it does mean *A WHOLE LOT LESS* work for us.
When it was going on 5pm, we called it quits and went into town to buy our new floor. Normally I'm *EXTREMELY* picky about house projects and would never have thought about starting tear-out until I'd found *the perfect* new floor, but the kitchen floor was so hideous and we've spent so long debating what we wanted to replace it with over the years (while we procrastinated the actual work) that I was content to just plan on buying the best option we could quickly find. We totally lucked out on that!
We borrowed the pick-up truck from work, and headed out to Anderson's to stock up on supplies for the project. The first thing we did was look to see what flooring options they had in stock. Craig's been thinking laminate and I've been thinking darkly colored, so it was a no-brainer when we almost immediately spotted a dark walnut laminate for less than $2 a square foot! It's *GORGEOUS* flooring, and I think it's going to look so perfect in this old house. Oooo!!! I can't wait until it's installed!
But anyhow, enough about flooring, (for now). We hauled our goods back home, unloaded, and drove back into town to drop the truck back off at the office. I think it's so cool that our employers opted to trade in the fleet car for a company truck and allow employees to sign it out for brief hauling needs! Seriously. This is an IT company, so it's not like a pick-up would be a standard fleet vehicle for them, but damn that comes in handy!!!
After dropping off the truck, it was time to feed. I was having mad cravings for our favorite Chinese restaurant, so even though we were a little dusty, we went out to eat. We totally lucked out there because they had a buffet set up. :D Mmmmm. It was delicious.
We got back home around 8pm, cleaned ourselves up a little, and headed out to see a friend's band play. They play every other Friday at the Old Pines Golf Course Clubhouse, way out on CoRd 13 between M and N. We got there and the clubhouse is like a double-wide all-season porch. :) The band was already playing loudly, and it looked like everyone in the 10 mile radius (of wide-open farmland - heh) had crammed into this tiny building. We found a couple of chairs in a corner, Craig bought a Corona and a can of Mountain Dew for $2.50, and we listened and tapped our toes until the band took a break and we could go talk to the base player (someone Craig knows from his ham radio club).
We went out on the patio to talk to A., and we spent the rest of the evening out there, under the stars. It was a glorious night, clear and cool. We talked to a couple other hams who'd come out to hear A's classic rock/country band. We tapped our toes and sang along and even danced a little when the band played "Neon Moon", a song we used to like to dance to when we were dating. There was a crack made about the "Tomb of the Unknown Camper" regarding some flags that had been set up in some shrubs to decorate for the holiday weekend, and we joked about taking a golf cart out joy-riding. It was a good time and I definitely want to go back out there again.
This was our second opportunity to hear live music this week. Monday night we'd also gone out, just down a few blocks to a local church where people gather to play bluegrass and gospel every Monday. We got there late, and there were only ten or so musicians still playing, but there were chairs set up for at least thirty, and we were told that around 7pm, when they start, it's usually standing room only. The musicians were skilled and the music was fantastic. I guess it's just people who like getting together and jamming, and they do it every Monday. I definitely want to go back there on occasion too.
I love live music of all sorts, and I think it's absolutely fantastic that I have both of these options to get out and hear some tunes and even dance a bit, both close to home (out here in the sticks!) and both free to the public. It's pretty damn sweet! :) Last night I'd told Craig, "If we're going to come out here now and then, I suppose we should get to know some of these people," and he replied, "Let's not get all crazy now!" *L*
That's all I want: health insurance. I don't want an HMO/corporate managed care. I don't want to be evaluated and nagged by some company who's trying to determine if I can make them money or if I'll be a bust. I want to put some money towards just-in-case medical emergencies, to gamble with a health insurance company just like I do with my auto insurance and home owners' insurance and hopefully lose (never need the money I've put in), and I want them to stay the hell out of my business! I'll go to a doctor when I feel I need a doctor, and I'll ask for help when I want it. I'm a big girl and I'm hella smart and self-aware.
I keep getting "offers" from my insurer nagging me to join their "voluntary" health care program. They've flagged me as someone who has asthma, so they're "offering" me this no-charge program wherein I'm expected to report my every little cough to them so they can tell me how to best manage my health ...and cost them less, maybe even alert them in time to drop me if it looks like I'm getting to be too expensive ...that's what I'm suspicious of anyhow.
Ever since I was diagnosed with asthma, I've been researching the hell out of it. I know nutritional concerns and drug interactions/side affects. I know my triggers. I know a ton of the science of asthma and inflammation. I DO NOT want some desk jockey reading updates on my condition, marking my file with financial risk concerns and sending me "helpful newsletters" showing me how to use my inhaler! Seriously. I just got a huge, glossy, full color brochure in the mail with such helpful tips as how to use my inhaler (DUH!) and notifying me of generic possible triggers ...oh, and letting me know asthma shouldn't stop me from exercising. If you're trying to convince me of the value in your program, how about something I didn't know? Even asthmatic newbs know this shit!
O.M.F.G! STAY OUT OF MY BUSINESS!!! Seriously. You're not helping *AT ALL* and I have good reasons for being suspicious of your motives. I do not want to report my every breath to you for evaluation!
I swear to the gods, the absolute best benefit of achieving financial independence would be the ability to pay for my own medical needs out of pocket (or at least to choose my own insurer rather than going with the company plan) and to tell all these fucking companies to stick it!
I'm having trouble getting my brain on task this morning, so I'm going to sip some coffee and blog about my fabulous weekend and hopefully get those mental gears turning by the time I'm done.
I don't remember much of Friday. I think we basically chilled, which is good, one of my favorite "activities" actually. :) OH! I remember! I had recorded those shows on Burning Man so Craig could see what got me all hyped up, so we watched those Friday night. After watching videos of some of the flightiest people ever to be featured on tv having a blast at Burning Man, Craig's comment was, "If those people can survive a week in the desert, we're going to be fine." *snort* :D
Saturday was date night. Craig had bought us tickets to the symphony to celebrate our twelfth anniversary. After a relaxing, slow morning of doing nothing, I took a long bath and primped for a couple of hours until it was time to head out for dinner. We dined at Byblos, one of my favorite restaurants. We had a quiet table in a corner, and we talked about a bit of everything while noshing Mediterranean delights and sipping wine, wrapping up the meal with baklava and the best cup of coffee in town.
The symphony was delightful. It was the Toledo Symphony Orchestra's season finale, and they played a fine mix of works, from the lively to the bittersweet. They even had a soprano to entertain us with Canteloube's Songs of the Auvergne. The last piece was my favorite though, Elgar's Enigma Variations. Each variation was inspired by one of his friends, and it was pretty easy to envision a few of the personalities represented by the music. I have to admit that I was distracted by a percussionist though. The guy on the cymbals had me mesmerized. :) He'd stand there so patiently, once in a great while bringing the cymbals gently together and almost immediately stifling their ringing. but once in an even greater while he take a stance of readiness and you'd know something big was coming. He'd bounce a little and slam those cymbals together with some might, then hold one over his head in what seemed to be a gesture of victory and let the sound ring out from it. It had me giggling and fighting the urge to shout out as if it was a sporting event and my team just scored. :) Silly, but good times. :)
Sunday we went out for brunch then hit up a bookstore looking for a good book to guide us through our looming kitchen remodel. We are by no means construction experts, but I do think we've done enough work on this house now that we've outgrown the basic how-to books kept stocked on the store shelves, because there wasn't anything there that we didn't already know and have experience doing. I did find one great book all on what to do with old houses, everything from deciding if it's even worth fixing to shoring up the foundation to fixing the leaky roof to pulling old wiring ... it basically covered it all. The pictures were amusing me because it looked like someone had photographed all the trouble areas in our 100+ year old house. :) It was a bit of a pricey book, but the information looked totally worthwhile given the age of our home and the projects we have yet to tackle, so it came home with us. I also picked up the latest "Art Doll Quarterly" (my favorite magazine ever) and a handy book on short bike rides in Ohio.
Then it was off to the theater to meet up with Dave and Kelly to catch a matinee of "Angels & Demons". Dave and Kelly are very anxiously (especially Kelly!) awaiting the arrival of their first child, who is due tomorrow! Kelly has been wanting that baby born for weeks now, and I thought for sure if we went to see a movie this late in the game, Murphy's Law would kick in and she'd go into labor ten minutes into the movie. It didn't work though. For the sake of her sanity, I hope the baby comes early this week. :)
The movie was good. It was true to the book, which I loved, and the art and scenery made for a very pleasant viewing e
experience. I couldn't find anything to take issue with, but then again, I'm ***EXTREMELY*** easy to entertain. :D
Sunday evening Craig was trying to plan out some things for our kitchen floor replacement coming up next weekend. Awesome Memorial Day weekend plans! heh. At one point he says, "I want to check something - be right back," and heads down into the damp dark of the basement. What he found puzzled him, so he recruited me to stomp around on the kitchen floor while he investigated further. See, our kitchen floor sags in a scary manner. There are solid, north-to-south lengths, with very squishy, sagging spaces between. We've been working on the assumption that the joists are those N-S solid spots. Turns out, looking at it from the crawl space, the joists run E-W! WTH? We puzzled over that one for a little bit, then I said, "What the hell, let's just cut a hole in the floor now and see what we're dealing with!" So we pulled back one of our utility rugs and started cutting through the fugly linoleum and the very weird underlayment. We found N-S running floor boards, so I guess the squishiness is just soft floor boards? Or more accurately, the high points seem to be floor boards that are warping and pulling up from the joists. Craig says the floor looks great from the crawl-space perspective though, which is a relief and will make the work this weekend far easier than our worst-case fears we were planning for. So yeah, we've got a "fun" weekend in store (very heavy on the sarcasm there), but it's not going to be as bad as it could, and I'm finally going to be rid of the world's ugliest kitchen floor!
And... yeah. That was my weekend. Now I have a week of hard work ahead of me, followed by a weekend of hard work. Fortunately, Craig has Friday, Monday and Tuesday off. I think we can get teh floor done in two days at the most, so there should still be plenty of time for play and relaxing in there too.
OH! And I got word the my brother is coming home to visit soon! For real this time!!! I'm so damn excited and I can't wait to see him again!!!
Sunday I cut some lilacs to bring them in, just in case we got the frost they were predicting and it meant the end of lilac season. I've learned that I'm am *REALLY* allergic to lilacs. After feeling really horrid yesterday, I finally noticed the pattern that the closer I was to the lilacs, the worse I felt. I didn't have the heart to just toss them in the compost pile, they're so very pretty and Craig enjoys having them in the house, so I just moved them to a part of the house that I don't spend much time in, and I'm feeling loads better!
And those panic attack like episodes I was having are definitely related to caffeine. I was facing the choice of napping after already sleeping in until after 9am, or having some coffee, so I cautiously went with the coffee. I had a scant 6 ounces or thereabouts, and it really set me off. I was feeling good before I was half through my cup, energized, awake, ready to get some stuff done. Then about an hour after finishing it off, I got the jitters and the shakes, a bit of vertigo, tingling in my hands and face, and the strong impulse to just keep moving ...a lot! I know caffeine is cumulative in your system, so I'm obviously at my max tolerance. I'm not sure how long it'll take to "detox", but I'll tell you what, it's still really nice to not be asleep right now. I'm definitely going to have to be very conservative and careful with my intake from now on though.
Last week I figured out my reading problem, which was finding the time. I realized it's not too tough to read while riding our exercise bike, and it also makes that time pass far more swiftly. It's been far more enjoyable to spend that 30 minute minimum on that strange torture device that goes nowhere, when it also gives me the excuse to lose myself in some tasty fiction. So, I'm pleased to report that that has become a daily activity.
In an effort to get even more physical activity into our days, we're scheduling some fun things for the after-work but before-dinner hours. Yesterday we went to Oak Openings and hiked a quick three mile trail before dinner. I love the Ferns & Lakes trail, but it's very marshy, and unless you have DEET running through your veins, you do NOT want to hike it in the summer! Already yesterday we had a near constant mosquito cloud following us in the damper parts of the trail. We also were up to our ankles in mud a few times. Good times. heh. It's a gorgeous trail in the spring though, with a carpet of huge, lush ferns and clear running water and the smell of the pine canopy from the surrounding area. There were tons of wildflowers too. I had a bunch of pictures I wanted to upload but flickr is being a bitch today. Tonight we're taking a quick bike ride before dinner. Future activities will include more of the local parks, biking for sure, and making good use of the basketball and tennis courts just a few blocks away.
So I am ramping up my efforts to get in shape now, with Burning Man serving as my carrot on a string, but I have been slowly working away at it all year long, albeit in fits and starts. I've noticed that I have to hike up my favorite jeans all the time these days and I'm thinking it's time to belt them. Today I realized I could totally get in and out of them without un-buttoning/zipping them at all. That's a very happy thing, but also quite a bit annoying. In the past I was always reluctant to buy new clothes because I wanted to lose weight and the investment in clothes I'd hopefully soon be too small to wear seemed like a waste. Recently though, I realized that that had never happened, and I got to thinking that if spending some money would help me improve my body image and not feel so shlumpy, it might just give me that extra boost I needed to take better care of myself. Well, that apparently worked 100% for me, and that's really cool. Except now I'm a little peeved that I have all these great clothes that I spent months(!) hunting down and I absolutely adore, but which I'm not likely to fit into for very much longer. Clothes shopping is hard work when you're not an industry standard shape and size, and I HATE shopping! Don't get me wrong, I'm very happy to be slimming down, for both vanity and health reasons, but... all my new clothes!!! I'm going to try a hot water wash or four to see if I can shrink some of this stuff and get a little more wear out of it. Yay for getting fitter!!! Seriously! Really. But now I'm back to feeling shlumpy in my baggy clothes, and I really hate-HATE-***HATE*** shopping!
Friday was all about Burning Man 2010. I surfed into a program on the festival, and though I'd casually considered attending many times before, I am now compelled to the point of obsession. Craig and I spent a lot of Friday night (and the rest of the weekend) discussing the logistics. We talked about everything from tents and travel time, desert-appropriate diet, solar ovens and grey water evaporation pools, to even the likelihood that I'll shave most of my head before going to camp a week in the desert (for ease of cleaning as well as heat reasons). There's lots I'm nervous about, say whether or not I'll be able to adapt to the heat, a week of sharing porta-potties with ten thousand plus people (ew!), how I'll cope with the crowd in general, and how my asthma will be in the harsh conditions, ...just to name *a few* concerns, but the more I question whether or not this is a good idea, the more compelled I feel to test myself. Craig and I have also been talking about how we have a little over a year to harden up our soft bodies for this, because there's no way I'd haul my current well-padded self and my fat ass around the desert for week! So the trip serves as motivation to get in shape too. It just seems a perfect thing to do for one's fortieth birthday, rebuild yourself and make a pilgrimage to the desert with a whole bunch of crazy artists from all over the world. I'm stupidly obsessed with the idea.
We were supposed to go catch a band that was playing at a local club in Delta Friday night (Craig knows one of the ham radio guys who's in the band), but we started catching up on some of the episodes of Lost we had queued up on our DVR and time got away from us. The band plays every two weeks I guess, so we're going to plan to try again in a couple of weeks.
Craig's new ham radio hobby has proven to be really enjoyable. I've met some really awesome people in the area because of it. I love knowing more of the people around here and feeling a tighter sense of community! ...Also, we've read that ham radio is the best way to stay in touch at Burning Man, since cell phone coverage is non-existent and walkie-talkies are useless with thousands of people there all trying to use the same frequencies. So Craig is kind of excited to become a Burning Ham (yes, that's what they call themselves), and it looks like I have further motivation to get licensed myself. heh.
Friday night we decided we'd catch a matinee of "Star Trek" on Saturday, so I put word out with my Facebook status in case anyone wanted to join us. So Saturday started with breakfast out, and then meeting up with a few good friends for geeky fun at the theater. I ***LOVED*** Star Trek! Absolutely loved it. It was all the action and suspense I'd hoped, with far more delightful tributes to the history of Star Trek than I would've figured they'd be able to include. It's my new favorite movie!
After the movie, we all went out for a late lunch, and sat and talked and talked and talked! It was a great way to spend the day. We got home a little before dinner and spent the evening talking Star Trek and Burning Man. :)
Sunday Craig did a lot of yardwork and played in the garage. I did a little yardwork and basically just chilled.
So that was my weekend. I have a busy week ahead of me, but my sites are already set on next weekend. I hope it gets here fast!
I would KILL for a froo-froo coffee drink right now. I have the ability to make one, but it would require quite a bit of effort. I also have the ability to put my butt in my car and go get one. Once I decide which method of acquisition requires the least effort, I will get my coffee drink on! ...Ironically, the decision making part of the process is usually the most involved for me. Such is the life of an introvert.
My reading habit has taken a nose dive. I remember cutting back my reading time in November because I was already feeling the holiday time crunch, but rather than cut back, I just kind of quit. Now I'm looking at stacks of books that have sat so long they needed to be put on my dusting scedule, and I'm determined to get through a bunch of them as fast as possible.
I've always loved having a library ...until now. Now I have dailylit.com and my Kindle, both of which offer great reads with no shelf space or dusting requirements. I'm still on this minimalization kick, and my books have finally started to irritate me. I don't want to part with all of them, but definitely most of them. I've loved a lot of really good reads, but there are very few I would read again, especially when there's always something new out there to read. If I kept only the books that I know I'll read again, signed copies (treasures) and instructional books, they would *easily* all fit on our gorgeous built-in shelves, with room to spare. That's the goal.
So I'm starting what I've been calling "The Big Read". I am NOT a fast reader, but I'm going to push it as much as I can and rip through some books as quickly as possible, hopefully with the end result of passing them on and getting them out of my house.
That's what my mind is obsessing over these days, getting stuff out of the house. The more I get rid of, the more urgently I feel the need to get rid of more.
Anyhow, last night I was sitting in bed reading, and after reading the same small paragraph five times, I totally realized what happened to my reading habit! Craig's ham radio happened. He participates in a net (ham radio chat room) week nights at 10:30, my reading time. And my reading habit came to a screeching halt when he started doing that. Unfortunately(?), I've grown quite fond of a bunch of the people he talks to, so I can't help but at least half listen to the conversation. I need to either pull myself away from that distraction, or I need to find new reading time, and neither choice will be easy.
Speaking of choices, ...I'm back to that coffee conundrum. I think I'm going to make my own. I wish I could just snap my fingers or wiggle my nose and BAM! COFFEE DRINK! Manifestation. That would be the ultimate super-power! *sigh*
EDIT: The chocolate syrup I whipped up is excellent, but I used a little too much. Also, I didn't grind the beans quite enough. But I do have a delicious mocha without having to leave the house or fork over $5.
