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January 28, 2007
A good giggle to start your week with
Posted by Beth at 7:44 PM | Comments (3) | TrackBack
More on New Year's Resolution
In my quest toward being more organized and less of a procrastinator, I figured I should finish those projects that I started ages ago. And I mean ages ago.
Back when John and I got married, in 1998, the main bathroom had very ugly carpeting. I don't care for carpeting in bathrooms to begin with. I am very allergic to molds, and bathroom carpeting is a haven for all those little mold spores. So John and I pulled up the carpet and the extremely ugly linoleum underneath it. Back then, we didn't have as generous a budget as we do now, so we bought vinyl tiles to cover the floor with - but they were very nice Armstrong Solarian tiles - which are not at all flexible, like normal vinyl tiles.
I can't remember if it was John or myself who started the tiling. I think I may have started it, and then one day, John got really ambitious and laid the majority of the tiles. However, he cleverly failed to put down tile where it took a difficult cut.
I tried to cut the tile, and found that it was very close to ceramic in that it was quite brittle. I gave up.
9 years later, the floor still has gaps where it was too hard to cut a tile.
Yeah, I know. 9 years!
But, yesterday, I put down about 8 of the really difficult tiles, and today, I'll lay the rest of them.
Once that is done, I'll put in the base floor molding to cover up the icky cement from the nasty black vinyl cove molding that was there before.
Eventually, I will need to pull down the plastic tile on the walls and replace it with something. But, having a finished floor is a huge, huge step for me!!
LOL!
Posted by Beth at 12:43 PM | Comments (3) | TrackBack
Happy Birthday, Keewee!!!
Today is Keewee's 60th Birthday!
I have had the pleasure of meeting Keewee last fall, at the Gunbloggers shoot in Reno. I could listen to her talk all day long, as she has the most beautiful voice!
Anyway, Happy Birthday, Keewee - and here is to another 60 years!
Posted by Beth at 12:35 PM | Comments (2) | TrackBack
Meeting the Venomous One
I am so happy to say that I finally met Venomous Kate for drinks last night. She is just a great, great person - smart and cute and funny, and it is so, so nice to have a friend who is also a neighbor - well about a mile away or so, anyway. Anyway, I hope this is the start of a wonderful friendship.
Kate introduced me to my very first martini ever, and I liked it! What's great about a martini is you pretty much have to sip it, so it takes a lot longer to drink than my margaritas. Now I have to get a recipe from her so I can make one at home.
One of my resolutions for the year has been accomplished! I met Kate!
Posted by Beth at 7:24 AM | Comments (3) | TrackBack
January 25, 2007
Still keeping my New Year's Resolutions!
I feel strangely compelled to keep everyone up to date with my New Year's resolutions.
I'm slowly, but surely, getting more organized. I have done my morning routine and evening routine every day since December 31st. I'm adding little bits and pieces to those routines, and suddenly, today, I realized that those little chores that really take no time at all, but which I put off for weeks and weeks and even years, are not so bad. I have started making our bed every morning - or at least my side of the bed, and John makes his side of the bed.
My sink shines beautifully. Our main bathroom is clean (but the one off our bedroom needs some serious work - I'll get to it!
Having things just a little more organized, a little neater and cleaner really lifts my spirits.
I really love Flylady.net I am following what I can of Flylady's program, and I'm not worrying about the stuff I'm not ready for yet.
And I just had an opportunity at work to transition into some different technology with a different group of people - right away! I was getting pretty burnt out on my role in the group I was in. Nearly everytime I went into the office, I would end up in tears - which is a major reason I have been working at home.
My past 3 bosses never 'got' me. They didn't get my sense of humour, they didn't get that I am smart, they didn't get that they were being terribly unfair - they most definitely treated the guys differently than they treated me. I would get all kinds of kudos from clients, but the guys were the ones to be given awards.
So now, I'm very happy with my new boss, my new team. It will be challenging to learn the new, very new, technology and to implement it and support it and hopefully, in time, develop it.
So, the year is starting out very well for me. I'm happier than I have been for awhile. Work was really bringing me down.
And then, I may actually get to complete another of my New Year's resolutions - the Venomous one and I are going to have drinks together on Saturday at the local bar and grill. I even spoke to Kate on the phone, and she sounds very, very nice. And, even though I'm a lot older than her, I think we have a whole lot of things in common - we have been married to our retired military spouses for 9 years. We are both adopted. She was a lawyer, and I put my ex-husband through law school! She is crafty and artsy, so am I.
It should be the start of a great new friendship!
Posted by Beth at 6:51 PM | Comments (4)
January 21, 2007
Is it just me?
Or is Jimmah Carter getting to look more and more like Gollum every day?
And no, I'm not very good at photo editing. LOL!!
Posted by Beth at 9:08 AM | Comments (10)
Snow, snow, snow!
We have the prettiest snow. Probably about 4 inches or so. John is outside plowing the sidewalk and the driveway on the lawn tractor. He really likes doing that.
The squirrels are digging through the snow looking for their acorns and the dogs are in the back yard having a good old time jumping and playing in the snow.
I'm the only one with a brain in the family - I'm sitting here in the kitchen with a nice hot cup of coffee!
Posted by Beth at 8:21 AM | Comments (2) | TrackBack
January 19, 2007
Every day I get a little more organized
I'm proud to say that I am continuing with my Shiny Sink routine. If anyone out there has problems getting things done (I am the queen of procrastination), I highly recommend that you go to flylady.net and start the FlyLady's baby steps. And most importantly, sign up for the email reminders.
I need someone to tell me - today, clean the doorknobs and light switches. I swear, they had not been cleaned for years until I got an email from Kelly yesterday with the Mission of the day - set timer for 15 minutes and clean off as many door knobs and switches as you can.
I need someone to remind me to do a load of wash a day, otherwise, I just blow it off.
I am working on making good habits. I've learned to have a morning routine, a bedtime routine and how to slowly but surely make inroads into the scary room in the house - I think many of us have those scary rooms - where you keep putting stuff you don't know what to do with, and then you just close the door?
Yeah, I have one of those - it's my office! It's such a cluttered mess that I work at the kitchen table!!!
Well, I'm going to go start my morning routine. I cheated a little bit by blogging first, but it's okay.
Posted by Beth at 6:34 AM | Comments (2)
Bill O'Reilly has some kind of weird problem
I listen to Bill O'Reilly's Radio Factor most afternoons while I'm working. Why? Because it is the only talk show on between 2:00 PM and 4:00 PM on my local station of choice, KMBZ.
When I started listening to him, he drove me nuts. He has some very annoying speech habits, like repeating the last few words of a sentence for emphasis. And he comes across as an incredibly pompous know-it-all on many subjects.
After awhile, you get used to his self-comments and on many subjects, he has some pretty good opinions. I have especially been impressed with his fight for Jessica's Law in every State. Sexual predators have been getting away with molestations and rapes for way too long of a time. I can't imagine what it does to the psyche of a child to be sexually abused - it has to affect them forever.
And because Bill O'Reilly has such an interest in protecting children from pedophiles, I was shocked to hear him talk about how suspicious he was of poor Shawn Hornbeck.
On Monday, O'Reilly opined that maybe Shawn didn't want to go home. He suggested that Shawn's family must not have been very close, otherwise, Shawn would have called his parents to come and get him.
I can see an ignorant person suggesting that, but O'Reilly is a smart guy. A smart guy. (That was an illustration of O'Reilly's annoying speech pattern, btw). O'Reilly taught school at one point in his life and seems to believe that makes him an expert on adolescent male behaviour.
Sigh. O'Reilly doesn't believe in the Stockholm Sydrome. Double sigh.
Since when is he an expert on kidnap victims? He says that since Shawn was left in the apartment during Devlin's working hours, Shawn could have easily just called home or told an adult who he was. Of all things, O'Reilly talked about the kid 'having fun' - didn't have to go to school, didn't have any rules.
After the Oprah interview with the Hornbeck family, O'Reilly talked on his radio show about how he didn't like the kid.
He says the kid must not have had much of a bond with his parents. And then he gets all bitchy about Shawn's pierced lip.
I'm sorry, but that family has gone through hell for 4 fucking years. I am offended as a parent that O'Reilly thinks he can make the call that the family was not close enough for the boy to want to go home and would prefer to be molested for four years.
I was starting to like him a little more, but this going on and on about a kidnap victim somehow being partly at fault is beyond the pale.
O'Reilly should do some studying of the Stockholm Syndrome - he's a famous guy, he could probably get some PhD types who are experts to explain to him what it is and that it does, indeed, exist.
And then, Bill O'Reilly should go to the Hornbeck home in person and knock on the door and beg forgiveness from Shawn Hornbeck, his mom and his step-dad.
Posted by Beth at 5:25 AM | Comments (5) | TrackBack
January 15, 2007
Wow, no wonder I'm so unorganized!
So, I'm following the FlyLady's directions, and I'm doing pretty well. So I figure I'll go look at the lady she links to for clothing assistance - what do I wear with this - um - kinda fat body.
So this lady suggests that you go through your closet, take everything out (which I had just done anyway because of my new closet hardware) and then anything that has not been worn in a year - give away. If you have two of something - give away the oldest one.
You would think that would decrease the amount of excess clothing I have, eh?
So, this nice lady says to arrange your clothes by type (pants, skirts, dresses, shirts, etc.) and then by color.
Holy cow. Fully 7/8ths of my wardrobe is black. In fact, I have 8 black skirts. 3 styles, 8 skirts. I have not even counted the black shirts I have. How depressing!!!
Yes, I'm kinda fat these days, and I'm slowly, ever so slowly, losing it (I did have a bit of a relapse over the holidays to my never-ending shame!). But you know, I'm not any less fat when I wear black. Heck, I'm not in mourning!
So, I need to continue to go through the clothes - give more and more away, whittle them down to a manageable mess. No wonder I never get all the laundry done! We have enough clothes for probably 10 people!
Someday, not in the near future, I need John to do the exact same thing. He has way too many shirts, and some are identical to each other. I do try to at least get rid of the ones that are falling apart when I do laundry, but I betcha that John has 30 or 40 polo shirts. No. Lie. I know because I wash them.
Oh, and I am working on the bedroom, thank you BostonMaggie, Anne and Harvey! I found some fossils under our bed.
Who knows, they might be worth something!!
Well, time to go back to my housekeeping.
Posted by Beth at 4:44 PM | Comments (7)
January 14, 2007
A little time off work
Somehow, I managed to have nearly two weeks of vacation left over from last year. This seems to be a rather slow time right now, so I figured I'd take Monday, Tuesday and Wednesday off as vacation days.
Hopefully, I can continue with some major decluttering in the house, and if I can get at least one room in decent shape today, I'll paint it. I can't really decide if I should focus on our bedroom, my office or the dining room and living room.
Suggestions, anyone?
Posted by Beth at 7:48 AM | Comments (5) | TrackBack
January 13, 2007
Still shining that darn sink
I am making progress. I have mostly just been rearranging closets, taking stuff up to the ebay place to sell and decluttering. Figured I'd better check in.
Okay, consider this a check in.
Oh, it's very cold out and it's sleeting.
Posted by Beth at 4:26 PM | Comments (2)
January 9, 2007
ho-hum
So far as my life today, it's been the same old stuff, only with a slightly more organized home, which is a wonderful thing. I figure it took me 9 years to make this mess, it is going to take more than one week to straighten it out
Ack! John just bit my finger! I must not have fed him enough dinner.
You all might think there are monsters in our moat, but that's not quite true . . .
Posted by Beth at 9:40 PM | Comments (5)
January 8, 2007
The shining of the sink continues
I'm still sticking to the plan - I'm getting rid of the too much stuff that we have, well, at least the non-military too much stuff!! I cleaned my silverware drawer today, and it only took about 3 minutes.
I'm not telling about my other drawers.
I'm still fiddling about with my closet. Once I get done with that, John's closet will be refitted.
What's nice about this is I am finding things that I completely forgot we had - it is almost like an archeology dig.
And no. I am not exagerrating!
Posted by Beth at 7:20 PM | Comments (0)
January 6, 2007
My sink still shines
Well, here it is, Day 6 of my keeping of resolutions to become more organized, move around more and all that stuff. Today, I put up the new closet configuration, and I swear, it took me 10 times longer than it should have. Once you get the top thingiebopper attached and leveled to the back of the closet, it goes pretty fast - but it took me hours to find studs, (yes, I know, I am married to one!), measure up 86 1/2 inches from the floor and drill starter holes for the screws in those studs and then to put in anchors for the couple of spots that did not have studs.
I have thrown out a ton of old, nasty shoes that were in the bottom of the closet - hidden from view by all the clothes that had fallen down on top of them. The dust on the shoulders of some of the clothes that had been hanging there for years was about 1/4 inch deep. That's a lot of dust!
I'll have to go back to Home Depot tomorrow morning to get a couple of extenders - I want to put shelving on one side of my closet all the way to the floor.
My objective is to be able to get rid of the beautiful, but way too big for our room triple dresser that I inherited from Mom and Dad. Our bedroom is just too small for giant sized furniture. We have a king size bed, and that takes up a ton of room, and then we have all this other stuff - it's really pretty silly!
John took the sliding doors off of the closet for me (how I have hated those things through the years). It is a reach-in, not a walk-in, closet, and there is no light in it and I am very happy for the doors to be gone. But I think maybe I'll hang curtains over it or something, so it's not quite so obviously a closet.
John keeps his clothes in the closet in my office. I'm thinking we need to do the same thing to that closet. We are both hopeless pack rats, and I am being absolutely brutal in my tossing of things we don't use.
Unless it is something worth enough money to make it worthwhile to take to the snappy auction place and let them put it on E-Bay.
I took a set of English Bone China there today, and I'll take a set of Naritake there on Monday. They only take stuff worth more than 50 dollars, so I think I'm going to try selling a lot of smaller things on E-bay that have some value myself.
John did a lot of work around the house today, too. We bought 3 keyless dead bolts locks for our 3 doors to the outside. They are pretty neat - they have an 8 number key to unlock them and they are battery operated - so if the power is out, it's no problem. And we have a key, in case the batteries run out.
And then, John fixed the storm door in the front and did the dishes, and has been an all around perfect hubbie.
He even fixed dinner. What a great and wonderful guy I'm married to!
Which reminds me - tomorrow is our 9th Anniversary.
Posted by Beth at 9:52 PM | Comments (7)
January 5, 2007
Oh, looky!
I have my own rainbow!
Posted by Beth at 9:23 PM | Comments (0)
It must be something about the beginning of the year
I have been going through my closet, tossing stuff into the trash for the past couple of days. Then, I look around the 'sphere and find that I'm not alone!
Teresa is closet blogging, and so is Boudicca.
Tonight, John and I went to Home Depot and bought this closet system. I did some research and it is rated higher than the Closet Maid Systems and it looks nicer, too. So, you can guess what I'll be doing tomorrow!
And since I will be so busy with that, I figured John should be busy, too. So, I forced him to take me to Outback for dinner, and then we went to Lowes and we bought a flexible rail track light with a pendant light and some regular tracklights for my breakfast area in the kitchen. I think I'll let John do that - he's pretty good at electrical stuff.
And when he is done with that, he can put together the new bookcase we got for his office (used to be Andy's room, but now that Andy's all grown up and in college, it's John's office). We have a zillion books all over the house, and I would love to get enough shelf space for the ones that we want to keep.
So here's to all the people cleaning thier closets as part of their New Year habits!
Posted by Beth at 9:05 PM | Comments (2)
January 4, 2007
Day 4
Still have a shiny sink. I am getting the morning routine down and I gotta tell ya, the FlyLady is right about wearing shoes - makes me feel like I'm really at work.
Anyway, I'm doing her babysteps - starting to get sticky notes around the house to remind me to shine my sink and get dressed in the morning and one I made for myself - no more than 5 minutes of Gmail per hour. I can get so caught up emailing my friends!
Posted by Beth at 4:02 PM | Comments (4)
January 3, 2007
Ghost?
Now there are reports of Saddam's ghost hanging around Baghdad. I didn't realize that Arabs are superstitious.
Wild Thing has the story.
Posted by Beth at 7:29 AM | Comments (0)
Day 3
Short update on my resolution for the year:
1. My sink is still very shiny.
2. I'm starting to put makeup on in the morning - make me feel better about myself every time I look in the mirror.
3. Spent 15 minutes in my computer room (absolutely the worst room in the house) throwing stuff away and 15 in our bedroom doing the same thing.
4. Progress is being made!
5. Nice side-benefit, John is putting dirty cups, etc in the dishwasher instead of the sink. I think he knows how much I love my shiny sink!
Posted by Beth at 7:12 AM | Comments (1)
January 2, 2007
Day 2 of 2007
Oddly, I didn't sleep well last night. I got up a bit later than normal - 5:45. The coffee maker ground my coffee, but it failed to swing the brew basket over to make coffee, so I just flipped it and took care of all those morning things.
I bought a digital timer at Walmart. It is easier to do things in 15 chunks of time. I am hoping that the timer will help me to get those parts of my job that I just hate done on a more regular basis - you can do anything for just 15 minutes, is the Flylady's idea.
When I went thru the kitchen clutter yesterday, I threw out tons of stuff. It looks so much nicer without all that junk everywhere. I kept the things I really like and use, and got rid of the rest.
Poor John. He is taking all the trash out for me this morning. There is an awful lot, but I'm sure he will manage.
Time to start working!
Posted by Beth at 7:43 AM | Comments (0)
January 1, 2007
Day One of 2007
Wow, I did a lot today! I now have an uncluttered kitchen - and it took me many hours, but I feel great about it. Not only that, but I actually have the coffee maker set to go off in the morning, I have my clothes laid out for tomorrow and this part of the house is looking good - yahoo!
Of course, tomorrow, we all have to go back to work, but perhaps the momentum from doing this much today will help me get thru maybe just the breakfast room tomorrow - it's progress. Progress is good.
Posted by Beth at 10:20 PM | Comments (0)