Wednesday 17 June 2009

Where There Is Smoke There Is Fire....or is there?

Hey y'all!

Today has been a long one for me. I got up at 5:30, got to work at 6:40, worked until 3:30, and got back home at 4:43. Of course all of that started in the a.m. and concluded in p.m., CST. The one real upside to the day was that I fit a box as long as my car into my car, and without having to stick either end out of a window OR the hatch! Essentially my car was acting the roll of a T.A.R.D.I.S. today, and I liked it, hee hee hee! Damn, now I really want to watch some Doctor Who, but all my stuff is still in the garage, double damn! Not for much longer though, as tomorrow the new carpeting for this basement gets installed!!! I just hope it can all be completed in one day. Crap, I haven't talked with Stephanie about making sure Marley stays upstairs tomorrow...remind me to do that after I finish this posting (oh, right...it doesn't work that way).

Let's see, it's been 11 days since my last post, right? Right. A bunch o' crap has gone down in that time. I'm not sure where to start really. Here goes: the house has been painted on both floors (which of course involved all kinds of patching and sanding and cursing), the window trims have been stained, all the outlet/light switch covers stained or painted and replaced, floors scarped and painted, bathroom fixtures replaced, lots of shopping for supplies, the pool has been cleaned and shocked, and then cleaned again, about a half ton of garbage has been removed, tempers lost and then regained (partly thanks to Marley and his purr factor when held), light fixtures removed and replaced (involving time spent in the attic, squeezing into tight spots, and involving one split lip and some insulation slivers....fun fun), more patch work, and about a cumulative of 600 miles of gas burned for everything it took to get the house to the state it's in now. Then there was always the time spent not working on the house, and just relaxing and laughing, and having some good eats. I even busted out my grill this last weekend!!! I made Kabobs, with a side of potato salad (the potato salad was not grilled), and it was enjoyed by all but Brent, who it turns out doesn't like green pepper, onion, celery or pickles...go figure. But hey, at least he ate the meat from the kabobs, and liked it!

Some time after I got home today, I felt inspired to start a mini bonfire. However, the weather gods seem to have gotten together, and conspired against me, yet again. So the slightly dampened wood would not succumb to the power of tiny fire. I did get a whole lot lot of smoke, but no actual fire. Oh, and just so you know, I am not a proponent of using accelerates to start a recreational fire. So oh well, I'll have to wait for another day. Unfortunately, the forecast this week calls for storms all week. Speaking of storms, it's JUNE! What the hell is going on here??? Oh right, global warming. Wait wait wait, it makes sense. The melting of the northern ice fields will cause massive cold air masses, causing big storms, and lots of cooler weather patterns. But before anybody thinks I buy into this global warming conspiracy, let me just say that this planet has been going through drastic weather changes for many many millenia, long before any of us puny humans were even barely walking around on this rock. So ha!

Okay, there is a rumor of some food going on upstairs, and as I'm tired and hungry...scratch that, exhausted and famished, I am going to go investigate!

Peace out y'all! Until next time, make sure to laugh once in a while, and maybe smile from time to time as well!

Saturday 6 June 2009

One Week

Hey y'all

I was hoping to start this off with a "Cub's WIN!", but they didn't....damn. On the other hand, I just put in a new Dave Matthews Band album, Big Whiskey and the GrooGrux King, and so far it's pretty damn good. Today I was able to sleep in, and that was nice. But once I took the covers off, and put my feet on the cold floor, the celebration of no alarm clock abruptly ended. I felt a quick shiver course through me, and reality struck again. That's right, still no carpeting. I've been living here for a full week now, and I still feel like nothing more than an extended stay guest. I'd really like to know when the carpet guys are going to show up! I have no place of my own at the moment. My bedroom has nothing more than a bed in it, and for several years now I have not spent any time in my bedroom for anything but sleeping. I am not feeling content. I need my own space to dwell. But until the carpeting is installed downstairs, I've got no such place. It's damn near impossible to make one's self comfortable in the main living room for that matter. I have patience to spread around, but at the moment it seems to be running quite thin.

I have the house to myself at this moment. The other two are out attending a Beatles concert. Okay, a cover band, not the ghosts of the real band. I found out about this event last night. I told Brent that I was planning to get all the fixings for a revival of my grill, and he told me that they wouldn't be home because of said concert. Go figure. So my poor grill has yet to be fired up.

Knowing I wouldn't be cooking today, I set off to do some other things. I took a large garbage bag containing the carpeting from the basement stairs to the dumpster at my work. Then I headed to Goodwill, to donate some clothes, and buy a couple of things. Among which is a Star Trek pinball game. I haven't played it yet, and I'm not sure I'm going to tonight. I have had a dull headache roaming around my head all day, okay more like all week. Again I ask, when are the carpet people showing up???! After departing Goodwill I headed to a contractor store, to try and find something to protect a couple of structures in the basement, but I was unable to find anything suitable. So the search goes on. Having no luck at that store, I crossed the expanse of the parking lot to a book store. It was there that I got the tunes I'm listening to now. I wanted to get the latest Dresden File's book, but they wanted $26 for it, and although I had the money, I decided to wait for it to come out in paper back. After leaving that store I headed back here. As predicted, the house was empty of other life (except for Marley that is). So I cleared off a small portion of the couch and caught the rest of the Cubs game on the boob tube. I think I'm gonna go face the cold now, take a shower and read a few pages, and then get some sleep. I tried finding a space heater today as well, but it seems that they have all been pulled from the shelves in favor of fans and air conditioners. Oh well. Maybe tomorrow I'll find one. For now I bid you all adieu. I hope everyone is having a good weekend, and that the good music flows and laughter ensues!

Peace out y'all!

Tuesday 2 June 2009

It's Only Tuesday???

Hey Y'all!

I know it's been a while since I last posted. However, this time I will not be apologizing for the delay, as I'm way too tired. The reason for the delay was....you guessed it, I moved! As excited as I was about the process (in the last day before the event that is), it turned out to be not so peachy. All of my stuff is currently in the "garage", except for my bed, and some clothes (and this computer). I knew that there was going to be some rehab work in the basement, I just wasn't quite ready for everything that has been involved in bringing it back to a habitable place to reside.

Whoever designed this house was clearly not thinking about future residents. For example: my bedroom. There are three outlets in it. All of which are placed 4 feet above the floor, and on one wall, located about one and a half feet apart from each other! What's the hell is up with that?! Okay, my only thought is that that room was initially used as a wood shop, with a work bench. I guess it could have been a computer room, but this house kind of out dates the age of PC's as we know them today. The room also gets rather chilly as well. That is all fine and dandy while I'm sleeping, but the initial removal of my blanket in the morning is quite the shiver inducing event. It wakes up my body, but makes my eyes and feet want nothing more than to crawl back under the covers. Oh, did I mention that the floor is currently made of granite tile? I don't think I did. Not to worry too much though, it will be carpeted soon enough. I do like the look of the flooring, but for a subterranean room they just don't work well. Ya know?

The move itself went fairly well however. Except for that whole thing of not being able to bring any of my stuff inside yet! Okay, okay, it's only for a little while longer (deep breath). I guess it's really better that way though, seeing as there was an incident with a mouse this weekend. After removing a lot more of the crap that the last underground residents, and some older previous housemates left behind, a mouse got in. Marley used to be much better at catching such rodents, but I fear that in his later years, he just doesn't care much anymore. However, mouse traps were purchased, and one of them worked. On the other hand, I think that the mold in the carpeting I removed, and the pillows I helped to dispose of (don't ask), and the bed that has removed as well, has more to do with the one off feeling I've had the last few days than that mouse did. On the bright side, the work in the basement is very near complete, and now it's just a matter of waiting for the carpet installers to show up, hopefully sooner than later! As for the temp in my bedroom, there is a space heater floating around here somewhere, I just don't like the looks of it so I have not made any use of it. Instead I try to think back to my old bedroom in Boxwood, during the winter. It doesn't help much, but just enough to get me out of bed, so I can't knock it.

Today it took me over an hour to get to work. That was due to my choice of roads, so oh well. The amazing part is that one of my drivers called me to inform me that he got stuck by a freight train, and a few minutes later my other driver sent me a text to let me know he had just been pulled over, and would be there asap! I was only 10 minutes late, and I beat both drivers there by a good 10 minutes as well! But hey, considering I'm almost always 15 minutes early, I rarely take any vacation time, and I almost never take any sick days, I deserve to be late once or twice a year........right? RIGHT! Okay, I could go on quite a bit more about all the happenings this weekend and beyond, but I am in need of some shut eye!

I will try to keep you all posted more regularly, but until I am fully situated I can't make any promises. I hope you are all doing well, or at least fairly well!

Until next time, peace out y'all!