Musings from the Den

12:05pm: More clean sweeping
The weather was glorius this weekend so what did I do; spent most of it inside cleaning. Got the spring clothes in the upstairs closet all sorted out, some went to trash, some to the thrift store, and some into a storage bag. Much lighter load on the closet rod now :). Also started clearing out the guest room for our new boarder. Good thing we already gleaned through these books in February but there are still a lot to pack up.

Tried to do a little garage saleing on saturday AM, one of the local neighborhoods was having their traditional spring sale. This is usually a good one but not this year, apparently they did not get the notice out to folks in time. So, no finds. Did finally get to see Iron Man on sunday, great flick! Hopefully won't have to wait as long to see Crystal Skull.

More sweatshop cleaning this week............

12:17pm: If it was 1939..............
I'd be a failure as a wife.

1939 Husband and wife meme ganked from rougewench, link can be found here

You earned a total of 33 demerits and 30 merits, resulting in an overall score of -3.
This classifies you as a very poor wife - FAILURE! (At least by 1930s standards.)

Remember, this test reflects the attitudes of another era, and the personal bias of Dr. Crane regarding what was important for marital harmony. Please don't email me to complain about your score - complain to your parents for not raising you to be a perfect wife from the 1930s

Some of the questions were a real hoot!

8:07am: Morning Chuckle
So I'm driving to work this morning and start to be passed by one of those little Smart cars. I thought that was cool, had only seen a very few around town, none on the highway. It's the start of the morning rush hour so speeds weren't high and it had no trouble keeping pace. As it slowly passed me I saw the 'Smart' label on the back hatch, and then the personalized license plate underneath: Maxwell. I LOL!

Someone's sure having fun with one of these :).

12:05pm: The Clean Sweep Continues!
So we got a TON of stuff cleaned and sorted out for the redec in the living room. Had a good garage sale, sent a carload to the thrift store. I had thought I was ready to continue through the house but got sidetracked about tackling the basement, ie; my sweatshop. Boy did the rummage sale last saturday get me reenergized for that!

Started really going through some boxes last week and took a lot of fabric to the sale. Unfortunately a lot came home too :). That's OK, it will go out to Lilies in June. Good thing I was on a roll though and thinking of how I needed to refit the workroom because GP had to get in there last night to catproof the ceiling (it was waaaay to easy for a curious little cat to get up in the ceiling and then wander through the subfloor of the hosue. Not anymore!). More stash is going into tubs or those nice big ziplock bags, shelves will be rearrange, workspace reorganized, and more stash will be downsized!

Parting with fabric will always be tough but I'm not using it and it is highly unlikely I will in the near future. For one thing, my hands just can't hold up to the crunch of big costuming projects anymore. I'll still be sewing but I don't need as big a stash (did those words actually come off of my finger tips...). Also, what I'm sewing has changed, both costume-wise and for everyday clothes. I don't need all the cottons, I'm now a linen slut :). So if someone else can use this stuff, and I have a few more $$ to buy linen or silks (for embroidery), all the better :).

And the upstairs will be getting more cleaning out too. Looks like we will be having a roommate for awhile and since she is insisting on paying us rent then by gosh, I want to give her a real space :).

10:50am: Catching up on a few quizes...
The Shakespeare one, interesting result :

( Read more... )

Goddess, not terribly surprising :): ( Read more... )

11:26pm: Saturday Update
So the KCPL trucks were working on our line when I got home. Cut for length ( Read more... )

1:51pm: Electrical update
So Galactusprime went home at lunch to check; still no power and the freezer was starting to melt. He is taking an emergency cooler full over to some friends who have offered freezer space, and their generator if we need it. Fortunately it should not be freezing tonight like the last lengthy outage we had.

Went to the KCPL website to see if there was anyway to find a live person to talk to. Found where they now have a map you can track power restoration by city. Our area is listed as 5% "outage intensity", looking at the info box there are 3 customers (out of an original 87) in our city who are still without power. Hmmmm, we've called this in 3 different times as we had more information on what lines were out/down...... I'm going to keep an eye on it and if it doesn't change soon may call in another report and see if the number goes up :)!

9:06am: It's May!
May 1 was so glorious! Thanks to socialdrgnfly for the lovely May basket, we used to make those for the neighbors when I was a kid, fun time.

But what a way for May to start!!! Cut for possible length and pics ( Read more... )

10:38am: Rennie meme
Since I haven't done a meme in awhile. Ganked from rougewench

Ooops, meant to cut for length: ( Read more... )

11:16am: Jacket Update
Woke up for the storm last night, heard the hail but figured it was to late to try and get one of the cars into the garage, didn't see any damage this morning. Had a little trouble getting back to sleep though as a very solid 16pd cat kept wanting to burrow into the covers.

A new pic was posted on the blog for the Plimoth Jacket Project:

http://www.plimoth.org/embroidery-blog/

This is the back that I did most of my work on. The biggest motif that I did, and easiest to spot, is the gold flower just below the bird. Gee, same one in my icon :). Progress has been slow but steady, they have also started to make the bobbin lace to trim it. I am soooo hoping to go back for another stitching session.

On the home front the sorting and cleaning continues. I am rather happy to find that even after the yard sale is over, and that stuff is out of here, that I am still sorting and throwing while I'm cleaning. Already have another bag to go to the thrift store. Sweat shop will be tackled after the WW this weekend. It needs a *really* good clean/sort and since I have a couple of sewing projects I'm ready to start it will be good inspiration.

1:02pm: Busy weekend
Got LOTS done:
First the TV saga from last week: ( Read more... )

The weather finally cooperated and we had the garage sale on saturday. It was cold and damp in the am which may have kept the early birders home. I know it kept me huddled in my chair under two blankets. Did manage to get rid of some things, especially two of the larger items so only a couple of things went back in the house and a SUV load went to the thrift store on sunday. It was especially nice to get the mountain of 'stuff' out of the living room, reallly felt like we could start to enjoy the new decor.

Sunday was time for tidying up and starting to spring clean. Found the dining room table! Well, I had always known it was there but now it is under only 1-2 layers as opposed to 3-4 :). A teenaged friend came over to help with some of the lower level cleaning its hard for me to do and it feels like a really good start. More to finish up this week to be prepped for WW this weekend. I am sooooo ready for massages on our back deck!

Oh yeah, and I think a turkey vulture is nesting in a big hollow branch of the silver maple in the back yard :).

8:58am: It Snowed!
It Snowed on saturday! @#$%!!!!

Since I'd listed the garage sale on Craig's list I felt I needed to grab any sale that might present itself so Himself helped me move some of the larger pieces onto the screened in porch before he headed for Joplin. A friend came over later and we had a nice time catching up as the dozen or so customers came through over the day. Yes, there were some hardcore garage sale enthusiasts out even on a day like this was and they reported that we were not the only sale to brave the weather. Alas, sales were slow so I will be at it again this saturday too.

In the meantime, I have to start pulling the house together around the piles of boxes and chairs still staged for the GS. Somewhere I have a dining room table...... I really am ready to get this topsy-turvey house back in order. I have stitching projects I want to do!

Sunday was a little mellower; introduced my 80 year-old mother to Dim Sum :). She's hooked! Then took her shopping for new walking shoes (yes, *walking* shoes) and was able to surprise her with a pair she thought might have been to expensive as an early M-day present from all of us.

Oh yeah, and our tv died on sunday morning. Had a color shift, then lost the picture saturday night but turned it off/on and everything seemed back to normal. The above repeated itself on sunday however and I never got the picture back, sound, but the screen is blank. Sigh, it wasn't in the budget but tv-shopping just got added to the to-do list this week.

9:55am: Where did it all come from!?!?!

The living room is pretty much back together since the paint and carpet redo so now I am pulling out the 'stuff' sorted for the garage sale and getting it prepped. Where did we get all this stuff! And for all the boxes sitting around waiting for the GS, why is there not more free room elswhere!?!?!?!

The cleaning and sorting has been cathartic and, hopefully, is not going to stop just for this GS.

Keep your fingers crossed for good weather this saturday. I need to have all the 'stuff' gone, one-way-or-another, by the last weekend of April and I know if I try to depend on good weather *next* saturday it will rain cats and dogs. May be chilly this weekend but that I can deal with.

If anybody needs some more 'stuff', feel free to drop by saturday :).

10:08am: We Have Hardwood Floors!
It has been a marathon week+ of redecorating but the old ratty carpet (15+ years) came up sunday and Ta Da! The floor underneath was in better shape than I had hoped for. Details behind cut:( Read more... )

Oh yeah, plus we had to have the plumber out on saturday. Fortunately it caught a small problem before it became a gusher. Ahhh, nothing like being a homeowner :)!

11:17am: Darn sinuses
I'm chalking it up to the paint fumes! I've been developing allergies the last couple of years but usually it is just a steady drainage down the back of my throat that is only a problem when I lay down to sleep. Winter temps can dry things out but a humidifier seems to help there. Wellll, the temps had risen so I wasn't running the humidifier, then we painted over the weekend. Did allright the first night but for some reason on the second, the sinuses decided to revolt. Or rather, to sing. Just a note or two at a time, EVERY time I breathed! I can sleep through Galactusprime's snoring but can I sleep through my own sinus' singing? Of course not! So after a rough night sunday and fighting the resulting sinus headache at work yesterday I gave up and went home before lunch. Ran the humidifier last night so it was a little better. I will still be SO happy when the temps settle down!

Fortunately not to many practical jokers around here for April Fool's Day and I have to admit to enjoying some of KXTR's selections for today, one of the first this morning was "What's Opera Doc" :).

11:03am: We have color!
So the goal of all this cleaning and sorting, so we can move stuff around, was to be able to get the living room clear enough to paint and take up carpet. The painting has been done! While Galactusprime was off doing JRF duties last weekend my favorite sister-in-law came over and we painted. (She likes to paint but that is only one of the reasons she is my favorite SiL :).) We have tall ceilings and old, textured plaster walls so it took awhile. Galactusprime had bluetaped last week and that helped but it still took all day saturday, with a couple of hours of touch-up on sunday due to the darn texture @#$%.

Myself and the cats spent saturday evening 'camping' with the furniture all pulled into the center of the floor while things finished drying :).

Besides the touch-ups on sunday I decided to take advantage of the open space and start spring cleaning the woodwork on the windows while they were easier to get at. Got out the furniture polish for some of the wood furniture too before rolling it back in place.

Did I mention that today I hurt in places I forgot I had muscles? I really like the new walls though (light creamy gold with accent wall a darker shade), really makes the room feel warm and cozy.

Next weekend favorite BiL comes over to help Galactusprime take up the old old ratty carpeting and we find out what shape the hardwood floor is in. Keep your fingers crossed!

1:21pm: Set the way back machine - fanzines
I was sorting through old fandom stuff last night, and then was using a comb binder today here at work to assemble some booklets for a seminar next week. This prompted some memories from when I was more active in SF fandom. Cut in case I get long ( Read more... )

10:31am: Springing forward
Why is it that getting out of bed for work the second morning after 'springing forward' is harder than the first......

Sorted through another large box of books last night, which got me to thinking....cut cause I'm considerate ( Read more... )

1:17pm: Topsy Turvey
That describes parts of our house right now. It's not as bad as I've seen on some of those Clean Sweep shows, but in a couple of spots, it's close.

We are in the middle of a spring cleaning/make over and got a lot done this weekend. The eventual plan is to paint the living room and take up the old carpet (hopefully finding the hardwood we know to be underneath in decent shape). In the process of prepping for this the office is getting put into shape, which meant finding room for more books, which meant sorting through the overflow. 2+ boxes and 3 bags later, we were on our way to half-price books. I also have a small box of books that will go on eBay. Always hard to part with books but we needed the room for other books. At least at HP Books it feels like they have the chance of a good home :).

For once, we also took inventory of the supplies we had on hand for patching/repair/panting and will not be buying duplicates of things we already have on hand :). Paint, some blue tape and another roller will probably do it for painting.

We are making progress!

2:38pm: Akkk, Snow!
Ok, this has better be the last snow fall, the robins have arrived!

But harkening back to one of the first this year I found this picture:

Some of the more enterprising students around here made a snowman from the first really good snow fall in December, and put it up in a tree. Then we had the ice storm. He stayed there for quite awhile.....



It was a little grey when I tried to get a picture, hope you all can see him.

9:30am: A Robin!
I saw a robin this morning, all puffed up in the cold but definitely a robin. I thought I had heard one yesterday morning but didn't see one, so it didn't count :).

To me this means the worst of winter is over, there will be a little more really cold weather, possibly one bad storm, but spring is definitely around the corner!

3:12pm: Weekend surprise
We managed to surprise my mother on her birthday :). Our Dim Sum plans had to be postponed because the recital for her students was rescheduled due to the weather. Soooo, I arranged that I would at least come up to visit after the recital and bring her something for dinner (she couldn't decided on anywhere to go) so that she wouldn't have to cook. Lulled into this plan she was completely surprised by the 8 yellow roses plus 3 mylar Happy B-day balloons I had arranged to be at the recital as a surprise, not to mention middle-sister also tagged along on the trip so she had both of us for a visit (youngest had been up the day before). Weather was gorgeous after the winter mess the sunday before so all in all, a good day for an 80th B-day.

And I am continuing to make progress on the various projects that have been put aside for way to long (not that you could neccessarily tell by the state of the dining room :) ). The big one should get done this week and I will try and post pics. I'm also starting to work on the various layers that just seen to have built-up around the house. We are no where nearly as bad off as some of those clean-sweep cable shows, but I would rather not get there either :) :) :). Rowangolightly; I apologize for never getting back to you about costuming for JRF but I just wasn't sure about having the time. I'm trying to learn to say No more, sigh.

9:45am: Ok, I'm ready for robins!
Dear Mother Nature,
Enough snow and ice already, please send the Robins. I'm ready for Spring!!!

What is it about this winter ?!?!? Is it just me or does there seem to have been more nasty weather than usual this year? Weather reports seem to agree. If it would just snow, I might not mind it as much but all this mix of ice, freezing rain, sleet, slicker-than-snot-sluch is getting very very old.

On a more positive note; I'm learning to trust my balance a little better :). At least on level surfaces, inclines are still nerve-wracking.

And thanks again to Galactusprime who graciously gives me the use of our single-car garage during this weather. It really helps.

More mellow weekends, past and present. Last weekend had a very good get-together with RGH to finally start on working out some pattern development on the embroidery pieces. Also a fun birthday party for an old friend. This weekend is more of the same, with my mother's 80th on sunday. We had planned to get together with her for Dim Sum but the recital for her flute and recorder students got postponed to this sunday because of the bad weather last sunday so I am working on a surprise :) : :).

1:44pm: Mellow weekend
yeah, it's friday and I'm finally posting about the weekend, tells you what work has been like.

I actually got a lot of things done last weekend. All my urgent deadlines are past (especially now that the two babies I am making presents for popped early) so a lot of the pressure was off and I could just putter around and get some things done that have been waiting since, oh, November. Himself and I also actually had some time to do a little shopping, wow! We want a new floor lamp for the living room, possibly ceiling fixture in the dining room. We found a great Arts & Craft type floor lamp at HD that would be perfect. It's a little over the budget so I'm giving them one more weekend for a sale and then will probably break down and get it :).

I'm still process the trip to Plimoth and the MFA and getting some of the research organzied. I've wanted to do a reproduction of one of the embroidered men's caps for a long time now and finally feel I have the information, and skills to tackle it. Doesn't mean it will be done anytime soon of course. Half the fun is going to be working out the pattern, testing the silks, etc. How does that phrase go, the trails the thing.....

11:35am: Last Weekend for Men in Underwear!
Friday and saturday are the last performances for OCTA's Gross Indeceny, the 3 trials of Oscar Wilde. They had an almost packed house last saturday so if you were thinking of going I would call in for a reservation. Info can be found here.