I walked back from the car place in not-too-much rain, and found a ride over there in the afternoon. $379 later, everything is once again in working order.
Today will be mostly play-day. Every vacation needs one of those. Maybe I'll get around to hanging some pictures up on the walls, and doing a little vacuuming... but then again, that's starting to sound like work. One thing I definitely want to do today is walk around the neighborhood a little bit. I need to figure out the quickest route to the pool (ah, the glamourous life..) and scope out any good outdoor sitting and reading places. I'm liking the suburban life, I tell ya.
Have an excellent day. Ciao, Bellas.
6/29/05 8:03 AM
Aaaah. Up early, having a little chai tea (trying the every-other-morning coffee thing. So far it's not my favorite, but my tummy is better). Time to do a quick update, then I am dropping Hello-Kitty-Car off at Saturn for her oil change and big maintenance appointment. Then it's home to COOK! I'm making dinner for da moolie boy.. I promised that as soon as I got my kitchen done, I'd make some real italian food for him. I figured this would be a good day to do that, too, because I'm home-bound between 9:00 - 3:00. I'm just hoping that it's not raining at 3:00 when I have to walk back over and pick up the car...
We watched X-Men last night. It really WASN'T a boy movie, like I though it would be. I enjoyed it, and actually didn't even doze off once (a rarity for me. I can almost never get through a whole movie without drifting a little..).
The only thing I have left to do in the new place is hang pictures up on the walls... my favorite part. I have about eleventy-bazillion pictures, and not all of them are ever up at the same time. I've gotta decide which go up in this place, and maybe I'll need to print up some of the newer California pictures and get those framed as well.
Speaking of California - the PaperBoy is in town! YAY! He called as he was driving up north to see his fam.. and will be back here for the weekend. I'm excited to see you! (and I know that now you've booked this page, right? right.)
That's it, amici. Go look through the news yourselves, and tell me if anything exciting is going on in the world. I will talk to youse later. Ciao!
6/28/05 7:37 AM
I'm waking up early on vacation days, and I don't even mind. Somehow it makes me feel like I'm getting even MORE time off.
Knitting was fun, as usual. (we miss you, Brandacious. Where are you?) I started the Big Bad Baby Blanket for Smellen's little one, and we got to meet Christie in real life! (is that a geeky thing? I love meeting my internet friends in real life....). On the next trip back to St. Paul, I'm going to have to buy one more skein of yarn and have the last two rolled up for me. That'll probably be later this week. I have to go back to drop off my cable modem at Comcast.. and maybe I can convince da Moolie to take me out for a little lunch.
Trying to get back to at least looking through the news everyday:
Man... why does ANYONE fly those experimental planes? Have they learned nothing from John Denver? They go down every time.
My new DVR (replacing TiVo) is all hooked up, so I can catch all my Family Guy episodes. So far, I like this DVR. I can record two shows at once, and it gives me picture in picture. More gadgets! I'm all about that...
Much as it pains me to say this, I actually agree with Paula Abdul on this one. I had acrylic nails for years, and while they looked good, I always felt just a tad squeamish about the cleanliness of the whole thing. Then I got nicked a couple of times by a girl who just wasn't paying attention and took 'em off. It took literally MONTHS to grow back my own real nails again. Mine were paper-thin and icky for so long. Now every once in a while I get the urge to put them back on again... but I usually just go buy shoes instead. :-)
Time to get motivated now! Or at least to have some toast and watch the birdies. I love vacation.. did I mention that? Have an excellent day, kids. Ciao.
6/27/05 7:44 AM
It's the first day of vacation, and it's raining. Normally I would look at this as a bad thing.. but I have hope that the rain will make it cooler and less humid out there than it was yesterday. Man - that was hell-hot. Makes me always want to be a good girl so I don't have to experience that for all eternity! (if I believed in hell, that is...)
I am SO much more unpacked now. It made a big difference to get the bookshelves set up - all my books and STUFF out, so it's even more my place. The cable man is coming this morning between 9-12 to set up the DVR (good bye, Tivo box that doesn't work!), and while I wait for him I'm going to tackle the scary dining room table and the desk. I think I need to get more drawers to put stuff in. We'll see. Once I start unpacking, I've learned, I tend to get rid of even more stuff. I realize that I've lived without it for almost a month, so maybe I really don't need it.
Oh my gosh... I was flipping through channels last night and found the Oxygen network.. and the Sex Grandma! It was funny, informative, and weirdly creepy. She was talking very frankly and graphically about, well, you know... stuff that I'm not going to write on here because I don't want pervs googling those words and then finding their way onto my site! Of course, I'll be setting the new DVR to record it!
Maybe I'll update here later in the day - or you can check out my livejournal, which is actually easier to update and I do that more often. For the up-to-the-minute stuff, you know. Which you're all dying to hear. Ha! Have a good day, Bellas. Ciao.
6/26/05 8:07 AM
I am a city girl. I've always lived in the city... I've barely lived in the suburbs (except for that one time in Burnsville that we don't like to talk about). So last night
this city girl decides to take a break from moving boxes around and goes out onto the balcony to cool off (side note to self: go to Home Depot and buy a fan for the bedroom this morning. I face totally south with all windows on the south and get virtually no cross ventilation. It was 10 degrees hotter inside than outside last night). So I go out onto the balcony and look out over the marsh and see...
Fireflies. MILLIONS of 'em. It was like a tiny sparkly dance! SO cool! I have never seen fireflies in my entire life. And in that instant - this place felt all-the-way "HOME". How much better is it to see those than to look out and see fights and garbage trucks and hear sirens and buses and gunfire?? (well, it wasn't really that bad at the old place... but anyone who's spoken with me on the phone can confirm the sirens and the truck noise..). I know that this is totally worth it. I'm so happy here. And I know that I won't have to live in a cardboard box when I retire. :-)
I haven't been following the news at all lately. I feel cutoff from the world! So let's do one quick trip through, shall we?
I would have guessed that Martha Stewart's signature phrase on her new TV show would be "You're not a good thing"... but she says that's not it. Hmm. Maybe "you are the weakest link"? No..that's already been used.
Wow.. so Prince William is cute AND brainy! I didn't realize that Princess Di left school at 16, and the rest of them weren't all that bright either. Good for him.
And good for this guy, too. He lost the equivalent of about 5 me's. And I complain that I want to drop about 10 pounds. Yikes.
So that's it! Now we're caught up again, and I can run a couple of errands and then put the living room together. I have to decide how many books I REALLY need to have out of the shelves, and how many can go into storage for a while. And it's VACATION this week - whoop! Lots of stuff to get done, but lots of time to play, too. La Vita e Bella, eh? Talk to you later. Ciao.
6/25/05 6:23 PM
Because I know you care and are desperately looking for an update from me.. (or not. but you came to this page, so now you have to read what's on it):
Kitchen - done. The fridge was scary dirty inside - ewwww. The only thing in the whole place that really was, though, so I think I got off pretty easily. Technically there are still two boxes left, but my Moolie boy has to help me with 'em because they go up over the fridge and I don't want to be throwing my china up there by myself.
I've got all the clothes put away, too. Well, except for the four pile of laundry on the bed, which have to get put away before I can sleep tonight. Next, I'm gonna tackle the bookshelves. That will take care of most of the rest of the boxes in the living room.
I went out and bought a wireless router thingee (again, with the technical names. I'm a geek, or not so much). Now I can be wired OR wireless and both computers seem to be working just fine, thank you very much. Maybe my airport was bad. Maybe it's not compatible with the modem. Who knows? What I do know now is that it's working, and that's all I care about.
To all those who celebrate it - and even those who don't - Happy Pride Weekend! I drove by the park today and saw all the booths getting set up. I don't think I'll make it over there, or to the parade to see all the faboo people. Dame! - say hi to everyone for me.
I actually went to the store today and back to my old place to clear all the food out - so I have actual FOOD in the kitchen. I got to eat a little dinner tonight, in my very own house. It's been a while since I've been able to do that. Every day, this place feels more and more like HOME. My very own. I own it. Did I mention that? HehHeh.
Okay - enough with the break time. I'm gonna go set up a couple of bookshelves. Buona Sera, Bellas. TiAmo.
6/24/05 5:09 AM
Well, this is certainly weird. I'm laying in bed last night, the place is quiet... and I hear what faintly sounds like a radio playing. And yes, it IS a radio playing: it's playing through my Creature Speakers! Oh. My. God. I got up and listened. Yep. Playing right through them. Did I mention how there's a HUGE radio tower just on the other side of the marsh? I thought it was weird the first day when I couldn't see any other wireless networks in the whole neighborhood. I'm guessing it's because I can't get a wireless network to work because of all the interference I'm gonna get off that tower. I wouldn't have NOT bought the place because of that... but it would have been nice to know. Or maybe that's not it at all... but who knows?
I thought I was being really smart and ran to the old place last night and got the coffee maker. Unfortunately, in order to make coffee you NEED THE FREAKIN' COFFEE FILTERS AS WELL. So morning #2 of no coffee first thing. I have a headache already.
I really have no one else to blame but me for the third in this ever-growing list of grievances (wow... am I the crabbiest girl in the world or what??). I'm still living in boxville: population 3 (the kitties and me). Instead of staying home and unpacking last night, I went over to my moolie-boy's house and watched Pirates of the Caribbean. That was far and away more enjoyable than unpacking. Tonight, and all next week, the boxes go away.
So now I have to figure out if I really can make my wireless work somehow, or if I have to go out and get a couple really long cat-5 cables. and wire myself back up again.. at least in here. My goal for tonight is to get the kitchen usable, and to get my clothes into some semblance of order. I just want to be settled - is that too much to ask?!? Have a good day. Ciao, Bellas. TiAmo.
6/23/05 5:15 AM
I remember now why I don't really like moving. It was all madness, all the time. In fact, it's STILL all madness. My wireless network is sketchy at best (and I look out in my backyard at that big freakin' radio tower and wonder if that might be the cause..), so for now my laptop is cat-5 connected and my desktop is a large paperweight in my bedroom. The TiVo doesn't work... it keeps telling me that there's no dialtone on the line, when I know in fact that there IS dialtone. I can't get to the kitchen sink, because there are boxes piled on top of it. The coffee maker is the ONE thing that didn't make it over from St. Paul (and Mare, I gotta tell ya, Diet Coke is a poor caffeine-substitute, so I'm heading over to Caribou the moment it opens...). There are boxes piled up from one end of the place to the other.
But on the plus side - there are birds galore outside my window! I heard a mourning dove this morning... I haven't heard one of those in literally years. I found the shower curtain (yes, it's the little things that make me happy...), so I can get a little cleaned up and presentable. I know where my underwear and socks are, and I think if I look in that one box in the corner, there are jeans and a shirt in there. It's not casual day at work, but I'm not going to be picky, and I'm gonna tell them not to be, either. At least I'll be there. The boss has tomorrow off. Maybe I will sneak out a little early, too. And then I'm off all next week, so I'll get everything put away.
I'm most anxious to get the kitchen put back together. Eating out, especially with my moolie-boy, is fun but I'm going to get so fat. We went to Famous Dave's last night. Mmmm... pork samiches. I think he's getting tired of it too, though. "When are you ever gonna be able to cook for me?" Soon, hon.
So the goal for today is to get to the office to do some actual workplace work, swing by St. Paul and get the coffee pot and take some stuff down to the garbage, and then come home and get my clothes and my bathroom stuff put away. I can do all those things, right? Um, right. If anyone wants to come help me, I'll pay you. Handsomely. The very minute I find my wallet.... heh.
Ciao, kids. La Vite e Bella!
6/22/05 1:03 AM
I just got home a little while ago from dinner and a movie with my favorite moolie... and there's just no possible way I'm going to sleep well tonight. The movers will be here at 8:00, and I'm as ready for them as I'll ever be. Gotta remember that I don't have to be TOTALLY out of here by tomorrow... but the goal is that I want to be about 99% out. If I have to make a trip or two back here tomorrow, that's okay, and the weekend will be all about cleaning (first run thru, anyway) over here.
The internet is up and running at the other side, so I'll be able to update during the move (or more likely AFTER the movers have gone. Now I'm going to try to sleep, so I can get up in less than 4 hours and run to pick up some breakfast for the guys.
DID I MENTION THAT IT'S MOVING DAY?!?!? oh yes, I did. Ciao!
6/21/05 5:10 AM
It's my most favorite day of the year. Bring on that light!!
Almost all the rest of my clothes are packed up. I have something for today, something for tomorrow. I have one more morning of waking up at this place. I will miss my moving-box towers (the cats will miss them more!). Before I go to bed tonight, I will disconnect the TV. Good Ol CuzBoy had a great idea: take a picture of the back of the TV, so that I know how to reconnect everything. This is why I think he's the smartest man in the world. Oh, I'm also pretty naive and easily fooled. :) But I do think that's a good idea. I'm not as worried about the computer, since really all I have to do is plug in the wireless at the new place and everything should just work. In theory. Otherwise, I'll be calling on all geeks everywhere for assistance!
I hope she can rest in peace now. I want to believe that her husband did know best what she would have wanted. Living wills, everyone. Go do one right now.
I read her autobiography, and maybe I'll read this book about her, too. I had to laugh at the line "We don't comment on works of fiction..." So - how do you REALLY feel about the book? hee hee.
This DVD is going on my wish list. My birthday is coming up (not-so) soon, you know.
Okay... Time to get going. I will talk to you later. Ciao!
6/20/05 5:02 AM
Good morning (?) to you. I spent a big chunk of the day outside yesterday. It was unbelievably, incredibly gorgeous. Perfect day to be walking around. That's all it takes, now I'm all tan.
Well, of course he did. He's a big old moolie! You've gotta be expecting that.
Like I said, it was a fun, run-around weekend. We went to IKEA yesterday and did look-around shopping (i.e. no cash required, except for the swedish meatballs). The party on Saturday was fun. I didn't make big money from the garage sale, but more importantly I sold almost everything I brought over there - just a few items went into the dumpster at the end (because even Goodwill wouldn't have wanted them!). I got to hang out with almost all of my favorite people (and I got to talk to some of those that I didn't see in person). So for having kind of a blech start to the day, and a couple of crabby moments, it ended pretty well. I know I'm just stressing over the actual move itself now, and I really couldn't be more ready. But all this stress just takes its toll. It will be good to be on vacation next week. So let's start the week, shall we? Good luck to us all. Ciao.
6/18/05 6:11 AM
Sometimes it's GOOD to be a dork! Why? (and what the hell is a dork, you ask?) A dork is someone like me, who DOUBLE PAYS her utility bill, cell phone bill and her phone bill last month. I couldn't quite figure out why money's been so tight, so I just attributed it to the house buying thing. Then I started getting next month's bills...yep, I have credit balances on just about everything! HA! So I'm living on easy street this month. Or something like that.
Now, do you want to see what I REALLY want (and REALLY need.. well, maybe not so much the need part)?
Oh, Yeah. A Daisy Rock Stardust Series Retro-H Electric Guitar. In Metallic Pink, of course. I would be the coolest rocker girl EVER. We wound up over at Guitar Center last night, and played with the drum kits and dream-shopped for guitars. You have to admit it's cool looking. I'd even just hang it on my wall like art!
Up early for much garage sale-ing, and then off to dinner and a party tonight. I think tomorrow there definitely has to be some painting. I'm in the mood to do it again. So have a good day, amici mio. Talk to you later. Ciao.
6/17/05 4:53 AM
The week just flew by, but yet Monday seems like a long time ago. How does that happen? And now the count down is starting - I only have 5 more times to wake up at this place, that's been my home for so long. How cool is that, though? I'll get to be in my OWN house. One that belongs to me, (well, and Wells Fargo, too). It's a good thing.
Wow - the ground is moving a lot in California these days. (Just click around on that site. It's interesting. Of course, I'm kind of a geek that way.)
Oh, c'mon Katie. RUN! Run away fast! (is it just me, or does she look like Valerie Bertinelli in that picture?)
Yes, this is me, all day. I'd rather watch a movie at home than at a theater. I have the attention span of a gnat sometimes, so I need to be able to pause it and take breaks. Or I need to be able to knit or cook or something while I'm watching it - I can't just sit and stare at a screen. Yeah.. relaxation is a foreign concept to chele.
So here I go. It's the big garage sale this weekend! I plan on making one MEEEELLION dollars in profit - or at least eating a lot of pastries and goodies. It's supposed to be a beautiful day, so we'll just lounge on the lawn, anyway. And maybe, just maybe, I will paint the laundry room on Sunday. For now, I'm off. Ciao, Bellas.
6/16/05 4:53 AM
Blah blah blah, packing packing packing. I stopped at the new place for just a couple of minutes to pick up mail and make sure that everything is okay. Enough waiting, already. I just want to LIVE there now! 6... more... days...
They released the results of Terri Schiavo's autopsy, and yes, she was blind and profoundly brain damaged. And yet her parents refuse to believe it. Consider, though, that they also probably believe that every word written in the bible is to be taken literally, that there's no such thing as evolution and that the tooth fairy is real, too. For the love of God - let this poor woman rest in peace.
Please, no. Not a civil case. This will never, ever go away, will it?
I used to love the Real World. I watched Boston, Miami, Seattle, Hawaii, New Orleans (in some order - I can't remember which), and then lost interest. But who knows? Maybe it's time to give it one more try.
I'm going to miss my early morning city view, and the traffic noise. I can tell, though, that I'm already far-into the letting go process that's going to allow me to leave this neighborhood and move into the new place. Little things that I used to think of as charming, or at worst minor annoyances, are now starting to bug the hell out of me. Having to drive two levels to find a place to park; waiting for an elevator (and then the fabulous pee-smell once you get into one); awaking at 4:30 AM to the sound of garbage trucks; friends that have to pay to park when they come see me....
Yeah, it's going to be good to move. Turk said that I'll never move back into the city once I get used to suburbia-land living. I think he may be right.
It's an absolutely gorgeous morning, and it's going to be 80+ and sunny for at least the next five days. Welcome to SUMMER! La vita e bella! Have a good day, kids. Ciao.
6/15/05 4:55 AM
Now it's back to the final round of packing at the old place. I have to stop to pick up more paper plates, bowls and cups, because ALL the kitchen stuff is gone now. all the stuff from on top of the desk - with the exception of the computer and mouse - is gone as well. And then I let myself just sit for a while, because I haven't done that for about 2 weeks. MaddyCat is loving all the boxes. It's her personal climbing structure. She leaps from one stack to the next, crosses over the back of the couch to the top of the desk, curls up on the tallest one. I wonder if she thinks that this is the way it's ALWAYS gonna be in here from now on?
You know how much I love California... and that I'm a true Cali-Girl at heart. But man, this earthquake thing is why I couldn't live there all the time. Yeah, we have the tornados here, but at least the ground stays in one place.
Read this article.. then just see if you can't get the weird Pac-Man noise out of your head.
That's it. I got nuthin' else. Happiest of Wednesdays to you, and make it an adequate day. Ciao!
6/14/05 4:51 AM
Yaaaagh. I forgot to set the coffee up last night for this morning. Waiting that extra five minutes - after first having to open my eyes and actually THINK about how to measure, etc. - was very nearly too much for me. I'm okay now, though. Just waiting for it to start kicking in.
Blah, Blah, Blah, Blah, Blah. It's over, he was found not guilty, now I don't want to hear about it anymore.
But on the bright side, we won't have to contend with her anymore.. or so she says. Show of hands - how many think that this is true? Uh Huh... that's what I thought.
What the hell?? Note to self: Never be hospitalized in North Carolina.
Note to self #2: don't go to this guy's house for dinner, unless you like the turtle soup...
I had a night off from painting and/or cleaning and/or house stuff last night. I went to knitting and didn't knit (no project right now), and then met a friend for dinner at Joseph's. Tonight I have to do some cleaning up at the OLD place. I think I might haul some old furniture down to the dumpster. What am I going to do when I don't have to spend every second of my life thinking about moving?
I will talk to youse guys later. Ciao.
6/13/05 4:53 AM
Well, I certainly couldn't be any more sore than I am right now. Pretty much every muscle and/or joint aches.. but I have a glorious, freshly painted house so it was all worth it. Yes, I will take pictures. And if I never see that hotel-swimming-pool-blue again, that would be just fine with me.
The paining took up pretty much my entire weekend. On Friday I did get out for a little mexican food. I'd never been to Cintia's before - YUMMY food, and way cool decor. Other than that, it was the new place, or Home Depot or Target. And yes, almost all the paint DID come off, except for the occasional fleck here and there.. and my poor pedicure. I might have to treat myself to one.
The case of the missing teen is taking way too long. Someone is covering something up, I think. That poor mother.
So very sad, and I know exactly where this is. Question - how, as a parent, do you just jump out and leave your kids inside? And behind barred windows?
I say hooray for this! It's kept me from getting the "high speed driving awards" that I've been known to win in the past. :::knocks on wood:::
Just looked at the forecast - showers, thunderstorms, downpours, severe storms. Eh, after the gorgeous day yesterday, I'll take a little rain today. I've gotta get ready to face the work week. Have an good day! Ciao.
6/11/05 6:07 PM
WHOOP! I totally have internet at my new house, and I'm blogging from my newly painted living room right now! It will be most excellent when I have furniture here, so I don't have to sit on the floor with my laptop on the stepstool... but it's all coming together quite nicely.
I had good help and moral support in painting today.. CuzGirl, Mare, and the FABULOUS Jenni (who I finally know now in real life - YAY!) were all here. The bedroom, living room and kitchen are completely done. I've got a good start on the bathroom, but I was getting scary hungry so I had to stop for a little floor picnic. I think that da Ragazzo is coming over in a while... good thing, because I have some high-up-off-the-floor stuff that needs to be done. (SO handy to have a tall boy around...)
I think I'll stay around here until about 8:00 or so, then I have to head back to feed my poor lonesome kitty cats and give them some attention. I keep telling them that I'm getting their new house all ready for them. But, of course, they are cats so they do not understand human spoken language. Heh. I also have to scrape more paint off of me. Honestly.. there's as much on me as there is on some of the walls. Can't I get lead poisoning or something from this??
Have a most excellent day, kids. Ciao!
6/10/05 9:18 PM
Sorry for the lack of bloggage today... It was all about the taping and priming. I am now covered with Kilz primer and I smell bad...so I'm going to get cleaned up so I can do this all over again tomorrow. Remind me again about the equity, etc., so I know this is all worthwhile!
Buona Sera, Bellas.
6/09/05 4:54 AM
I am the proud owner of about 6 gallons of paint (and some putty-stuff). We got to Home Depot and I totally changed my mind about two of the colors - but for the better, I think. A much lighter pink for the bathroom, and a lavender, rather than dark purple, for the bedroom. The lavender is light enough that I could put it on two or three walls. It'll be great!
I also learned a valuable lesson about NOT jumping to conclusions last night. Poor Dame! He got the brunt of that one. All is good, life is well, and I have good friends who have my back. What more could a girlie-girl ask for?
Okay... so I guess it was just Jacko news and nothing else today, so I'll give you just a random list of stuff:
1. We went to Cecil's and had fabulous deli food last night. Excellent.
2. I'm getting cable/internet hooked up at the new chez chele on Saturday.
3. Matt the banker STILL rocks.
4. I have to blue-tape and get ready to paint tonight.
5. I got nothin' else.
Have a good day, kids. Ciao.
6/08/05 4:47 AM
Why, yes.. yes, I have been up since 3:30. And I look just fresh as a daisy, don't I? ::grumble grumble grumble:: When any wind at all comes rolling through, all kinds of stuff blows around when you're up this high. I'm not going to miss that at all. Funny.. When I used to think about moving, the main thing that always stopped me was that I would miss this place - this space - so much. When I found the new chez chele, and knew that I would move in there, well, I suddenly discovered all the stuff I WOULDN'T miss about my current place. Or maybe you start discovering that kind of stuff because it helps you to let go and move on. Who knows? All I know is that I won't miss the wind whipping stuff around, and the pee-smell in the elevators is REALLY starting to get me down. It's been months now, Mr. Management Company Man. Don't you think you could have cleaned that up by now?
RIP Anne Bancroft (did I know she was married to Mel Brooks? I don't think so..)
Good Lord, how many times can you go through spin-dry? Let's ask Danny Partridge..
These people have sad little lives, don't they. Suddenly, I don't seem like such a geek anymore. Heh.
Remember when you could just be a kid and eat hamburgers and fries and not worry about fat grams and exercise?
I went to Home Depot yesterday at lunch. It's a whole different thing, going in there as an actual home owner. Suddenly I wanted to buy one of EVERYTHING! I wanted to learn plumbing. And don't I need a table saw or something? More paint! Look, vinyl tile! ...Yes, this will be dangerous. I bought Kilz paint (something that I did not know existed until quite recently), and all new brushes and rollers and paint trays and drop cloths and, well, everything EXCEPT the actual paint. I'm gonna have da Ragazzo come with me tonight and we're gonna buy it. I might even feed him first, because I'm such a nice girl. Then it's all painting, all the time - Thursday, Friday, Saturday (the 'you-don't-have-to-paint' party day... EVERYONE is invited!), and Sunday.
The actual move-date is now the 22nd. TWO WEEKS FROM TODAY! WHOOP! Talk to me on the 23rd, though, and see how I actually feel about moving.
That's what I know, kids. Ciao! TiAmo.
6/07/05 4:58 AM
Hey. What are YOU lookin' at?
Yesterday turned out to be a not-what-I-was-expecting kind of day.. You know, the kind where you think you know exactly what's going to happen, and you plan for it, and then about 2 minutes into it the whole plan goes right out the window and you're carried along by the chaos. I've always been pretty good about being able to just roll with it. You never know what you're gonna find.
Lots of short little news stuff today:
Amazing. Basically, their entire population is looking for this girl. Hope to God that they find her.
I DO know what I have to do today - call the bank, and buy some primer. I am a homeowner now. Talk to you later, Bellas. Ciao.
6/06/05 4:57 AM
I looked at paint chips yesterday until I couldn't possibly look at them anymore. And there are subtle differences between the 20 or so shades of yellow and gold and purple and pink and every single other color that I looked at. I spent an hour standing here, and then I just went back to the new place and started tape chips up randomly to the walls. Suddenly, it all just came together. Cool. I have to buy some primer-stuff (the technical word for it) to cover up the bluer than blue... and I'll slap that up one night this week.
A little bit of news this morning: What do you suppose happened here?
This just plain old scares me. A lot. I think I should move back to the old country.
We cleaned and cleaned and cleaned and cleaned and cleaned.... and it will NEVER be that clean again as long as I own the place, I'm sure. It's smells like bleach and orange and lemon. I just need to get a little pine-sol thrown in, and it will smell completely and totally like a hospital. It's good, though, to have a fresh start to everything.
Then I got to come home to my other house (how weird to say that, eh?) and cleaned the place up, although not quite as thoroughly. It was more about rearranging boxes so I can move freely about the place and wiping the dust off everything. I met a friend for dinner (mmmm... Thanhdo egg rolls), came back home and talked to my Ragazzo (who is dog-sitting for sister) and went to bed at a reasonable hour for a change.
It's Grand Old Day today... so we could meet some friends there to stroll around. Or I could just sit on my little tush and do nothing. We'll see. I hope your day is most excellent, or at least adequate. Talk to you later - Ciao!
6/04/05 9:24 AM
Good morning, sleepyheads!
Here's a little Saturday meme-age, courtesy of J&B. (isn't that some kind of drink? it's too early for that...)
1. Tell me something obvious about you. That I'm an Italian girlie-girl.
2. Tell me something about you that many don't know. That I really can sing.
3. What is your biggest fear? Losing people who are close to me.
4. Do you normally go the safe route or take the short cut? Depends upon the situation.
5. Name one thing you want that you can't buy with money. Absolute certainty.
6. What is your most treasured possession? My dad's ring.
7. What is the one thing you hate most about yourself that you do often? Second guessing.
8. Tell me something sexually about you that I don't know. Hey - this is a FAMILY blog!
9. Tell me something sexually about you that everyone knows. Again... FAMILY blog!
10. What is your favorite lie to tell? That I'm going to Belize! (ask Mare...)
11. Name something you've done once that you can't wait to do again. Go to NYC.
12. Are you the jealous type? Sometimes.. more than I want to admit.
13. What is the one person, place or thing you can't say no to? Milano Cookies!
14. What is the nicest thing someone has ever done for you? Lately.... Made me dinner when I was having a really bad day.
15. If you could do something crazy right now, what would it be? Jump in the car and drive to Santa Barbara.
16. When was the last time you cried? Yesterday in the car. I was listening to "Where You Are" by Josh Groban.
17. When was the last time you felt so good that nothing else mattered? The other night, having dinner at my new place.
18. Do you feel comfortable in public with no shirt on? Um, NO. Next question.
19. Name something embarrassing you did while being drunk. Threw up in someone's bathtub.
20. If you post this in your journal would you like me to answer it? Sure!
Ciao, Babe! Gotta go clean...
6/03/05 5:22 AM
I bought $70 worth of cleaning supplies last night. I am going to have the cleanest damn house in the whole entire universe. I dropped everything off at the new place - where I discovered that they ripped off my balcony and are replacing the floor! Nice, but a little surprising. It's a good thing they put a bar up across the door.. I would have walked right out and fallen into my neighbor's porch. It will be good to start the summer with a shiny new and non-rotting balcony.
But did I clean when I got there? Nope. I sat and talked on the phone for a couple of hours, and just enjoyed being in the place. Much cleaning will go on tomorrow morning. First, though, tonight is POKER night! Whoop! It's a Texas Hold-em tournament, and I'm quite good at that game. I plan on winning enough to pay off the mortgage. Or at least buy some cool and funky beaded curtains. Heh.
And thus ends the story of the runaway bride. Show of hands: how many think that he'll really marry her after all this? Uh-Huh. That's what I thought...
And in other bridal-type news: can you say rebound wedding? Show of hands here - how many think this'll last more than a few months? Uh-Huh.
And with that said - I'm outta here. Have a mostly great day, kids. Ciao.
6/02/05 4:53 AM
I'm going to say the most incredibly sexist and mean thing in the world, and they will probably take away my NOW membership for saying it... but honest to God: when you get girl customer service reps for either telephone or internet, the orders literally NEVER get done correctly the first time. I spoke with possibly the two mostest stupidest (yes, I did that on purpose... I'm NOT a dumb ol' girl!) girls in the world yesterday trying to get my phone service set up, and it's still not right this morning. Moving in the right general direction, mind you.. but still not right. I'm guessing it will take three, maybe four more calls to get everything squared away. When I call to set up my cable and internet I'm just going to keep hanging up until a guy answers.
Oh, see how I am???
It occurs to me that I haven't read the news to you in a while. So..
Eeek! And so begins California's slow slide into the ocean. I love it out there. It's so pretty. But it freaks me out that the ground moves around so much.
I don't think I need to read about Rod Stewart's virility quite this early in the morning. ::trying to shake bad images out of my head::
Twenty THOUSAND bees?? And they're just NOW getting around to calling the Orkin Man? Wow. Just one or two would have done it for me....
Note to self - for when it's time to register that new domain name...
I totally love it when it's 5:30 in the morning and it's light outside. Summer is the best. After work I should go and clean at the new place, but I think I'd rather go pick up da boy and go have greasy hamburgers at the park. So I think that's what I'll do. You have a most excellent day, okay? Ciao, Bellas. TiAmo.
6/01/05 4:57 AM
Walking into the closing was one of the scariest (yet most exciting) moments of my life. Backing up for a minute first...
We did the walk-thru at 9:30. Turned on the stove, washer, dryer, oven, water, lights, etc. Everything worked. Then headed for the Closer's office. Like I said, walking in there was one of those big moments in life that you don't soon forget. There've been a few of those in the last ten years: walking out of my store for the last time, walking into bankruptcy court, walking into that doctor's office, now walking into the closing. And for all of those, I walked in by myself. I have great friends and extended family to back me up.. but ultimately I know that the BIG things in my life are totally up to me. No one is going to hold my hand to get me through those moments - I've gotta hold my own hand (what a weird visual, eh?). And that doesn't make me feel sad or sorry for myself anymore. In fact, it's rather empowering. I've faced down the biggest, the saddest, the scariest, the happiest moments of life head on. Nothing's brought me down yet, so just keep bringin' it on.
Sorry - was off on a tangent there for a moment! So anyway.. the closing was, in fact, rather anti-climactic just like everyone said it would be. It only took about 20 minutes of signing, signing, signing. The Closer did a wonderful job of explaining (quickly) what each page was about. I met the guy who'd lived there before me, and he was wonderful. I would have been his friend had I known him better. I got handed about 20 billion keys, a garage door opener, a check and a set of papers almost as tall as I am and BOOM - I am now a homeowner. I didn't really feel like a homeowner, though, until I went back there myself after we'd all had a little lunch. I used MY keys and opened MY front door, and walked into MY house. That was an incredible feeling.
So today I have to go to city hall at lunchtime and do the homestead thing, and this weekend I'm going to go over and clean. It's really not in bad shape at all.. no major scrubbing necessary! Just a once over to get the dust off. Still thinking about paint colors, too, and exactly what else I need furniture-wise. It's not going to be as much as I'd thought.
My car insurance is going down almost $500 a year. Living in the 'burbs rather than smack in the middle of the city will do that for you. Unbelievable.
So, yeah, that's what I did yesterday. Not much. Just put myself in a lot of debt, but bought myself a lot of equity. Equity - it's a good thing. And now you'll just have to listen to a lot of painting and home improvement blather.. and you will like it! After all, you come back here every day, right? ::smile::
