Lars' Birthday is today

Mood:
Weather:

Happy Birthday to Lars!!!

Today he 28 and I have known him for 5 and a half years. At lunch today I need to run to target to get presents. I tried to shop on Monday and I wanted to get either the XFM radio or a Flat panel monitor. One might wonder how one tries (and fails) to shop. Well, I went to Best Buy and since I was in high heels and just came from a long meeting that required alot of walking (plant tour) I went to the closest display first. XFM radio has alot of options, and the sales man who resembled an annoying gnome started talking non stop about the different systems. Problem with his style is that he didn't seem to know more that what I could read on the package and totally didn't understand my technical questions. He followed me around and I tried to politely loose him but he insisted in a low slope of the bell curve way that he could help me with anything. I even said 'well let me just read these here for a few minutes he leaned against the display and would not leave. He annoyed me sooooo much that I had no option but to leave to get rid of him. I sprinted through the torrents of rain (in a silk shirt that was getting water spots and heels) and got to the car and was fending off a headache when I drove away. I got all the way to the highway and remembered I didn't even get to the flat panel monitors! I was not going back, even though I know the stupid gnome could not see over the displays and leach onto me I was not going to risk it again.

Lars bought himself a bunch of computer accessories yesterday and I told him I was wrapping them up so anything I get at Target is extra since he already has what he wants.

The inlaws arrive today at apx 7:30. I have dance class so I won't be home yet but the house is reasonably clean and if I make the bed before I go to class tonight we should look pretty put together. I'm picking up the cake after work and I have no clue what to do for dinner, we had pizza last night because I cleaned the kitchen and I didn't want to mess it up.

Updates later - and possibly hair pictures, I need to get out the camera anyway.

Weekend and Rant

Mood: good
Weather: thunder storm this morning, hail, now sun... You never know whats next

Weekend update; It got hot and sticky enough that we have turned on the air to 80 and it is very nice in the house. I started cleaning all the parts of the house that won't get too messy again by Wednesday. Lars did an awesome job on the fridge and we did all the shopping. We set up the deck furniture and the umbrella is broken so we need to exchange it at IKEA before people arrive Wednesday. Friday night we went to a new store village, it is a bunch of stores that are basically in a fancy strip mall but they have very cool European feeling store fronts that make it feel like you are in a town. There was one store that attracted our attention, it was called; A Feast for Him. What do you think is in a store like that? We thought fancy mens wear or food that would appeal mostly to men (hotsause and beef jerky?) - it ended up being closed and there wasn't any store front so we went in the store next door and shopped a little and asked them.... It turns out that it is a cult. So now cults have offices in cool looking strip malls, whats next.

Rant; Today Lars sent me this link; http://dsc.discovery.com/convergence/greatestamerican/greatestamerican.html . If you click on it I'm sure you will be as mad as Lars and I are about who is on the list and who is missing. The ones that really do belong are cheepend by the others, like Dr. Phil. As far as I can tell this was completely non scientific and whoever wrote it took alot of drugs. Then there are those that are great people but how did they make America great? We are definitely missing the medical field and most of the woman's rights movement, and they don't even have Alan Greenspan? Lars has way more rant and I told him he could post to my blog so the 12 people who read can see it.

Today I have a supplier meeting offsite at 1 and I won't be back so tomorrow I'll be busy cathing up on anything I missed plus cleaning. Lars' birthday is Wednesday so I need to wander a store and get inspired plus order his cake. He wants a coldstone creamery mint icecream cake http://www.coldstonecreamery.com/secondary/cake.asp?id=7

My cats think

that the house looks better from the outside in. They stand by doors waiting to get out then stand outside looking in. They don't want to come in, they just like to watch us.

I am cleaning - can't you tell?

I have new hair

Mood: good
Weather: rained but now it's sunny


Ok, it is still my original hair but I got it cut and highlighted last night. I really like it, it is short and bouncy and flip out at the bottom. The highlights are very natural looking caramel color and it really looks like I have been out in the sun. My hairdresser is a woman I used to work with at the boring old job and we gossiped about where everyone got new jobs and who was doing what. It was a 3 hour appointment but very worth it. Lars likes it too and he didn't know if he would, short hair is still new for us but it makes me look more professional yet still young.

Yesterday the artic zone of MN hit 98 degrees. The natives here are melting but I'm very happy that it is finally warm every day. We turned on the central air yesterday for the first time and set it at 85 - it had turned off by 11pm because the temp fell to in the low 70's outside and inside cooled off. I miss the open windows and the breezes, we have done well with that for the last few warm weeks but we have central air and we might as well test it.

This weekend will be deticated to cleaning and maybe getting the flower boxes done. I'm very slow with projects... I have a work open house on Sat and a christining on sat morning and hopefully the rest of the weekend will be productive.

Book meme

Ok - one more thing. I read someone elses meme to (their answers to a list of questions)earlier today and they said they only owned 27 books ever including textbooks. I actively try NOT to accumulate books by using the library and borrowing from friends but I think I currently own at least 200 books and have in my life owned and given away tons more. I hate to think how many books my parents or grandparents own or have owned. I think I have purchased over 20 books just for school for one year - this person leads either a very sad or a dedicated to minimalism life.

Incomplete thoughts

I intended today to write about the following topics of interest but since it is late I won't get to them. Here are my mini thoughts

1. Barbara Walters and her antibrest feeding comments and the resulting feed-in. I am conflicted on the issue, I personally would not want to eat under a blanket but I'm not sure I'm into too much flagrant displays of overly public feedings. Either way the discussion on the radio this morning about it just attracted the morons of society to call in and use their freedom of speech...

2. It's the solstice - don't even know how I actually remembered but I did and mentioned it to some coworkers. One got the general idea that it is a holiday that we miss by not being pagan and the other totally didn't get it. It's an odd thing to try and explain at work and not sound nutty. I blame my mother for my overly broad understanding of multiple religions ;)

3. My saw now runs - the child safety was stuck and is not fixed - but I can't seem to 'tune' it correctly. The directions are vague but it cuts crooked. I could do that by myself, this tool is supposed to help.

We had 4 sunny days in a row!

Mood: good
Weather: raining again but I got my 4 days

Yes, the weather man said it would be sunny - no rain - for 4 days last week. I didn't want to mention it and jinx it but it actually happened!!! We were supposed to go to an event in Kansas City but this type of forecast doesn't come around that often and the deck needed paint. Even Lars stayed (don't know if it was guilt or pity) because I was going to do this deck by myself if necessary. 2 friends ended up coming to help and it took about 5 hours but it is a very nice pale blue gray. We noticed that the last people who painted neglected the outside of the raining, Jen and I hung over the rails and painted upsidedown to make sure we were not guilty of the same painting crime. We ran out of paint just before we got the final details done but I can touch that up this week, I'm just happy the majority is now done.

I need to talk about my cats now... Skip this paragraph if you don't like cat babble. Jingles our 'smarter' cat (a very relative term in the world of cats) was good most of the painting day but we locked her in when we were doing the floor part. She wanted out soooo badly to see what we were doing that she dodged past all of us and ran onto the paint. She got blue feet and tail for her trouble and decided to stay inside for the rest of the night. Sunday she was a bad cat. She wanted all my attention and no matter how much I pet her she kept bumping her head into my hands or elbows, she bumped me right while I was pouring milk even. She is usually good about sitting on my lap at the computer and so I didn't mind when she jumped on my desk BUT she knocked over my fresh coffee all over my pile of just paid, sealed, and stamped bills. I hung them up to dry but the electric, equity payment, and credit card people will have to deal with coffee stained bills. Last piece of cat news - they killed another mouse. This one was outside and they placed it delicately on the path for me to find. I complimented them on their kill and when the weren't looking I tossed it over the back fence into the marsh.

This weekend we had vague plans to go to Thunder Bay for an event but Lars has a poker tournment that he won the $100 entry to by winning another game - if he wins this he wins a free seat at one of the huge prize tournments in Atlantic City. We were also invited to a christening and it is my works open house. I also need to start on house work to tidy before Lars' family arrives. I rearranged the living room and it is way better now - I'll I need is just a general cleaning and to do a load of towels.

Work seems to be back to a normalish level so maybe more posts this week

My week is booked!

Mood: good
Weather: looks like rain

I am currently procrastinating exercising. I know I should just get it done but I ate too many chocolate chips and now my stomach hurts on top of it all. I didn't get any time today at lunch to write my weekend update so here it is;

Friday I assembled the cake, it went through some very bad moments because the frosting didn't like it being hot out. I put a ton of chopped hazelnuts around the edges and that seemed to hold it together for a while. I decorated the top with chocolate dipped apricots and for about 5 min it looked ok. Car trip didn't help, then it sorta oozed toward the table at Kathy's. In the end it tasted really good and everyone liked it so that worked. We went to dinner at Applebees, I think I've memorized the menu, but they have good burgers. Sat I got a ton of cleaning done, all the laundry, and I went through all my clothes and got rid of about half - nothing I actually wear with any frequency but I have been hoarding clothing for years. I kept telling myself that I don't need suits, someone needs them more then me, I have not worn it in years and it might not fit. When I upgraded my work wardrobe I promised to give a bunch away and I'm finally doing it. Sunday I finished putting the saw together but in the end it didn't work. It took me hours to assemble because things made in 1985 must not have required complete directions. I looked at the picture, the pieces, the directions, the other book of diagrams/part guide and used logic and got it done eventually. I was very disappointed that pushing the start button does nothing. The guy I bought it from said he will either fix it or give me my money back.

In case anyone was wondering, the hottub is back to perfect, finally got enough pH negative in. I don't know how regular water can be so out of wack but now we are good again.

This week will be very busy. I'm taking a purchasing class tomorrow and Wednesday and Thursday I have 3 meetings scheduled plus I'll need to catch up from the two days out. I'm sure it won't be too big a problem just meant I'll be busy. Next week I need to get a haircut and I'm thinking of getting some highlights too. I also need to clean since Lars' family will be coming on the 29th (Lars' birthday). The house really isn't bad at all but I'm not pleased with the livingroom arrangement, something just isn't flowing right.

Ok, I'm done for now and off to work out

Mood: blah
Weather: raining

almost 9 am on a Friday and I already want to be done. I have work to do and I'll do it but it is just very gray a dull here today. It also rained again this morning so I need to reset the clock for drying the deck. I also heard it is supposed to rain allllll weekend so this really is getting to be an issue. Lars' parents are visiting in 2 weeks so I would like to have the deck furniture set up so they have a place to smoke...

Oh well, hopefully the day improves. My cake baking went ok, today I'll assemble and serve - if it turns out well I'll take a picture.

Mood: normal
Weather: hazy

Since Monday I have done pretty much nothing out of the ordinary... I am becoming less spastic at my dance class, maybe dancing at top speed in a 90 degree room makes me better. We have had a storm every day so my poor naked deck is getting daily baths - I need 3 sunny days to let it dry and paint it but the weather is not agreeing. Today (so far) it has not rained and it last rained yesterday morning so if I make it until tomorrow afternoon it should be dry.

I finished a decent book 'Still Lake' a murder mystery that I figured out in the first 20 pages but it was a fun story anyway. I'll probably pass it on, no need to keep predictable books around that I don't plan on re-reading. I bought 5 used books, all a dollar or less last weekend so I am set for at least another 2 weeks. I got Icebound by Dean Koontz, Kujo by Stephen King, a Mary Higgans Clark, and a random renaissance setting romance novel.

The hot tub is still giving me chemical balance issues, last time I took practically a whole day adding 8oz every hour (8 times) to get the Ph correct. This time I have been trying to do it after work and I end up forgetting after 2 doses but as of last night I had given it 8 doses and it was still too high - hopefully today it will have settled.

Tonight I am baking a fancy cake for a friends birthday, I hope it turns out well...

We stayed up til 2 am

Mood: sleepy
Weather: sunny for the moment

This weekend ended up pretty full. I did get the powerwasher and powerwashed the deck. It currently looks clean but worse then ever because I blasted so much loose paint. My hands were vibrating for an hour after doing it but the work went really quickly. I briefly thought that I could blast off all the paint and then we can stain/varnish but the spot I tried ended up looking very bad because the softer parts of the wood flew off with the paint and that would make a pretty ugly and bumpy deck. I got the deck done in 3 hours and moved on to the siding and other wood around the property. It rained on me when I was washing the front of the house but I was wet already and just figured I would finish. The rain gave the deck a nice final rinse... then it 'rinsed' again on Sunday - hopefully it can dry in the next few days so we can paint!

After powerwashing in the rain I took a shower (ironic since I was about as wet as I could get before the shower) and we went out to an art fair down town with our neighbors. The rain had stopped and actually cleared out the worst of the crowd but we only saw about a quarter of the booths by the time they were closing. There were a few really awesome photography displays and we will end up buying at least one print for a friends birthday but the majority of the fair was overpriced but fun to look at. Lars and I ended up with a bunch of free organic soap because as we were walking by the shop the wall fell down and the little man could not get one end up without the other end falling down. We helped him out but it was a comedy of errors as the wall kept falling down (note, duct tape does not work the best in the rain...) and he was a pretty hyper little gnome and kept shoving bars of soap at us after we got the wall up. Lars would like to point out that either this soap doesn't work too well or the guy didn't use enough because he did not smell like a flower.

We all went to dinner at Trigs, a trendy new place with great decorating and ok food. The neighbors knew a waiter there and it was a whole new dining experience to actually have someone on the inside. The place had an outdoor fire area and when we looked out there the Neighbors saw about 8 people they knew so we ended up hanging out until 2am. I had a good time and met new cool people but I would have preferred to leave at midnight, 1 at the latest, that last hour started to grate. The Neighbor mom is 4 months pregnant and they had their one year old with them so I'm sure they were ready to go earlier too but it was a fun day even if it was reallllly long. The waiter they know is a cute single guy interested in meeting a certain friend of mine. I'll IM you the details~

Sunday was just an odd day because sleep schedules being off. I got the hot tub clean and refilled but now it smells very chemically so I need to start the balancing act tonight to get it back in working order. There is nothing good about sitting in a hot tub of acid. I picked up a few used books so I'm back in the reading game, I'll give some feedback after I get into them.

So work again - full week - and I better get to it.

Raining....

Mood: productive
Weather: Rain

I'm breaking my 'don't talk about the weather rule' because I just spent $50 on a daily rental of a power washer and it is now raining. I know I won't melt but it is still annoying. I also got gloves and a big scrub brush on a stick. Ok, I'm off to change into my all plastic outfit so I don't get deck cleaning chemicals on me. I have plastic pants, jacket, hood, safety glasses, and I plan on putting bags on my feet like the homeless people do - the gloves completed the outfit. If Lars comes home maybe he will take a picture, I don't think I could be wearing more protective gear if I was handling toxic waste...

Mood: good
Weather: finally summer - in the 70's

Well, Since I got a link from 8K I better well produce a post! My lack of posts over the last few days has not, for once, been because I've been busy. I am busy but I have spent/wasted plenty of time playing Squeshies or Pop-it. My recent block is because Lars commented that my Blog isn't funny and I replied that it really isn't supposed to be but it made me not want to post my mundane daily adventures. In thinking about it I have come to the conclusion that the 10 people who read are mostly family and friends that are more or less getting the basics so that when we actually talk we can skip the 'I powerwashed the deck' or 'I got a bunch of stuff at Kholes on sale' and go to more details or more interesting stuff. I also don't really have a rock star life, I don't have kids that do funny stuff, I think posting too much about my cats will bore everyone, I don't want to turn my blog into a gripe session about Lars or SCA or something because those comments would be out of context and generally I'm happy with Lars and don't give too much mind to SCA. I can't talk about work because a. details of my job are slightly privileged, and b. not very interesting, and c. what happens at work stays at work - these people disserve some privacy and although most of my coworkers are absolute characters I don't really want to write about them because it would be like talking about them behind their back to an unknown audence. I want to keep a PG level of writing because there is enough porn on the internet and my parents are the #1 readers - I'm sure they have 'ideas' but I don't need to draw a picture.

So, a big long paragraph of things I don't want to or can't write about. If I had tons of time I would write more humorous observations or my reactions to news stories - maybe I will someday. That brings me back around to my mundane list of events over the past few days and what I plan on doing this weekend ~

The window box project is still in a holding pattern. We have the stuff and I bought a radial arm saw from a coworker so now I can (hopefully) make straight cuts. This isn't rocket science but it sure is taking a long time! The radial arm saw is from about 1985 and I found out last night that they were deemed extremely dangerous so I'll be extra careful and keep my fingers away from it. I really want to finish the boxes this weekend but it might not happen.

Yesterday I got a speeding ticket in a speed trap less then a mile from my work where the speed limit goes from 55 to 30 but then it goes back to 55. The town is not pleased that my work bought a huge chunk of land, including a chunk of road (now gated so regular citizens can't cruse through) and increased the value of the town thus creating the need to move to a sewer system and increasing the taxes. That really is simplifying the issue but basically they didn't want us here and now make it pretty miserable by setting speed traps. The cop had me sitting waiting for him for 25 min while about 50 cars with people I work with drove by so I was a minor celebrity by the time I got to work. The cop was actually in the lobby today when I was collecting some suppliers for a meeting. He was there because there was some gate alarm and he had to come check it out but he looked at me with that 'I sorta recognize you' look and I didn't give him the time of day. I wish I could get back at him better but in my mind he now just saw me colleting 5 people in business suits who were all trying to impress me while he got ignored and had to stand all awkward on the side. Hey, he picked his job, there are more hated jobs like oral surgeons and IRS people but he has to live with his choice.

This weekend I'm going to rent a power/pressure washer to blast the gack off our deck so we can paint. I doubt it will be dry enough by Sunday to paint but hopefully Monday we can start (and Sunday I'll make window boxes?). If I have time and I'm not completely disgusting from powerwashing a deck I want to take the washer to our front porch area, there is a tiny hornets nest there I think I'll try drowning but the porch is just sorta grungy looking from the winter etc. if I get really ambitious I might paint the porch trim too (white) but that is lower on the list. The closest Home Despot that has a rental center is 20 min away but that isn't so bad - think about me at 8 am Sat blasting away...

Everything else is pretty normal. We BBQed with our neighbors yesterday, I successfully remembered to put a crock pot meal in on Wed morning so wed night after dance I didn't need to cook. We found a decent local butcher who became Lars' instant friend when they gave him a free spicy beef stick... they also have pretty cool stuffed chicken breasts, stuffed with cheese and veggies etc that you bake for 40min and they are done, we had that on Tuesday and was very successful. I'm back on a fairly normal exercise routine 4 times a week plus dance class. The only real spot I'm currently be un-outgoing on is SCA scribal work and that is mostly because we only get 1 week notice to do a scroll and I like a little more time.

Well that is it in a nutshell - if you want more details call me~