Sunday, November 30, 2003
Still recovering around here. We picked up our photo order yesterday. DD & the Puppy are so cute! Spent a good portion of last night working on Christmas cards and we dropped them in the mail today. Our Christmas tree is up now. DH started working on it while I was working at the Bloodmobile on Friday and we finished it this afternoon. The house that is across the street behind our house is decorated with two large, lighted wreaths. At night it looks like there are two giant, glowing eyes peeking over the hill at us.
We decided DD was coughing too much to go to the nursery during church so she sat with us this morning. She normally is not very affectionate. This morning, just as the sermon was starting, she decided she likes kisses. She would stick her hand up to my mouth and give me those big eyes until I kissed her hand. Then she laughed and the process was repeated. I was afraid to quit because I didn't want the cute giggles to change to an angry screech. I really have no idea what this morning's sermon was about. At least we were sitting clear at the back of the balcony so we shouldn't have bothered too many people.
I have reached that point where I'm trying to decide just what to do with my hair. I've colored and cut it at home for over ten years. I haven't had a perm in all that time. Thanks to various changes in body chemistry and external factors, my hair has gone from thin, limp, and greasy to fine, slightly wavy, and delicate. As for length, it is down to the middle of my back with bangs just below the eyebrows and often has that old Pia Zadora tousled look. Natural color is medium brown with strong red undertones and some gray starting around the temples and a blonde streak behind one ear. The artificial (permanent) color added is a light ash brown to tone down the red and cover the gray. I really like the color but don't really know how well my hair will handle a perm. The water at our new house is very hard and I still haven't figured out what shampoo and conditioner I need to counter the tangles & straw-like texture caused by the H2O. I would like to have some real curl to my hair and keep it off my scalp so I really won't need to wash it every day. On the other hand, I don't want to go with something that will require an hour of styling to be presentable enough for walking out to the mailbox. On top of all that, I have intentionally avoided salons for so long because I despise all the inane chatter and gossip. I guess I'm just going to have to suck it up and go let an "expert" play with my hair and pick my pocket. Hope I can wear earplugs...
We decided DD was coughing too much to go to the nursery during church so she sat with us this morning. She normally is not very affectionate. This morning, just as the sermon was starting, she decided she likes kisses. She would stick her hand up to my mouth and give me those big eyes until I kissed her hand. Then she laughed and the process was repeated. I was afraid to quit because I didn't want the cute giggles to change to an angry screech. I really have no idea what this morning's sermon was about. At least we were sitting clear at the back of the balcony so we shouldn't have bothered too many people.
I have reached that point where I'm trying to decide just what to do with my hair. I've colored and cut it at home for over ten years. I haven't had a perm in all that time. Thanks to various changes in body chemistry and external factors, my hair has gone from thin, limp, and greasy to fine, slightly wavy, and delicate. As for length, it is down to the middle of my back with bangs just below the eyebrows and often has that old Pia Zadora tousled look. Natural color is medium brown with strong red undertones and some gray starting around the temples and a blonde streak behind one ear. The artificial (permanent) color added is a light ash brown to tone down the red and cover the gray. I really like the color but don't really know how well my hair will handle a perm. The water at our new house is very hard and I still haven't figured out what shampoo and conditioner I need to counter the tangles & straw-like texture caused by the H2O. I would like to have some real curl to my hair and keep it off my scalp so I really won't need to wash it every day. On the other hand, I don't want to go with something that will require an hour of styling to be presentable enough for walking out to the mailbox. On top of all that, I have intentionally avoided salons for so long because I despise all the inane chatter and gossip. I guess I'm just going to have to suck it up and go let an "expert" play with my hair and pick my pocket. Hope I can wear earplugs...
Thursday, November 27, 2003
Happy Thanksgiving everyone!
I've started my turkey day off the right way with a breakfast of a peanut butter and M&M sandwich. Here's a funny for you to watch.
No big plans for today other than lots of rest. DH is recovering from pneumonia and I've got bronchitis (AGAIN!) so we really don't want to be around anyone else. The puppy keeps trying to figure out which one of us needs her more. She was curled up on the floor next to me this morning.
The medical expense analysis is done. Looks like taking out family dental insurance would be a huge waste of money. The dentist said he doesn't even want to see the baby for two years yet. Two checkups/cleanings per year cost about $220. The insurance premiums to pay for that would cost over $500. I don't think so! Instead of adding me to the insurance, we'll just put money in a medical spending account to cover those and a little extra for regular medical copays/deductibles. I also went through the office closet and found the Christmas cards, printer paper, and some other stuff. We haven't got our pictures from the photographer yet and we need more address labels, but we will start to work on cards this weekend.
The old house is sold so we are now back down to just one mortgage. I did a rough draft of our income tax returns and it looks like a hefty refund this year. Having two mortgages and a home equity line of credit (for down payment on new house) really bumps up the itemized deductions. We also donated a lot of stuff to charity when we cleaned out the closets--all properly supported by receipts, photographs, and a detailed spreadsheet. We paid almost two full years of property tax on the old place since tax collections are a year behind and we had to pay through the date of sale when we went through settlement. I got caught up on bill paying, shredding, and did a lot of filing yesterday. Ah, yet another duty--the puppy is informing me of her need to go outside. Hope you all are having a great day...
I've started my turkey day off the right way with a breakfast of a peanut butter and M&M sandwich. Here's a funny for you to watch.
No big plans for today other than lots of rest. DH is recovering from pneumonia and I've got bronchitis (AGAIN!) so we really don't want to be around anyone else. The puppy keeps trying to figure out which one of us needs her more. She was curled up on the floor next to me this morning.
The medical expense analysis is done. Looks like taking out family dental insurance would be a huge waste of money. The dentist said he doesn't even want to see the baby for two years yet. Two checkups/cleanings per year cost about $220. The insurance premiums to pay for that would cost over $500. I don't think so! Instead of adding me to the insurance, we'll just put money in a medical spending account to cover those and a little extra for regular medical copays/deductibles. I also went through the office closet and found the Christmas cards, printer paper, and some other stuff. We haven't got our pictures from the photographer yet and we need more address labels, but we will start to work on cards this weekend.
The old house is sold so we are now back down to just one mortgage. I did a rough draft of our income tax returns and it looks like a hefty refund this year. Having two mortgages and a home equity line of credit (for down payment on new house) really bumps up the itemized deductions. We also donated a lot of stuff to charity when we cleaned out the closets--all properly supported by receipts, photographs, and a detailed spreadsheet. We paid almost two full years of property tax on the old place since tax collections are a year behind and we had to pay through the date of sale when we went through settlement. I got caught up on bill paying, shredding, and did a lot of filing yesterday. Ah, yet another duty--the puppy is informing me of her need to go outside. Hope you all are having a great day...
Tuesday, November 18, 2003
Round one with the pulls went well. The master bath is done and three out of four are mahvelous. The fourth is slightly crooked but I can live with it. I also got some drawers lined and organized in between phone calls to take utilities out of our name at the old place and more address changes. Also had to find out why the garbage collection company wanted more money from us when I just paid them three weeks ago for a four month service period. Seems they didn't bother moving our existing balance over to the new account. They planned to send a refund in two months but wanted more money now. I don't think so!
Later today we get to go visit the title company and finish our part of selling the house. It will be nice to get that out of the way. I did a tax mock-up and discovered we are taking a slight loss (about $3K) on the sale. C'est la vie.
Next big accounting-type project will be to analyze our medical expenses and insurance options since open enrollment is in full swing. I also need to dig through the office closet to find the box which has our Christmas cards and printer paper so we can get cards ready over Thanksgiving break.
The guys were back to work on the lot again. They sprayed straw all over the place. Turns out I seem to be allergic to it so I've been miserable ever since they started. At least the dog is happier about going out on straw instead of mud.
DD's latest food is DH's chicken parmigiana. I had mine on fettucine and DH had his on rice and the fettucine was DD's fav. She was gobbling it down as fast as I could fork it up for her. I managed to sneak a couple of bites for myself. The little critter sure doesn't have normal one-year-old tastes!
I've also managed to get a fair amount of stitching done on a photo frame which will be a gift for a family member. Once it is completed and sent, I might tell who it is for.
Later today we get to go visit the title company and finish our part of selling the house. It will be nice to get that out of the way. I did a tax mock-up and discovered we are taking a slight loss (about $3K) on the sale. C'est la vie.
Next big accounting-type project will be to analyze our medical expenses and insurance options since open enrollment is in full swing. I also need to dig through the office closet to find the box which has our Christmas cards and printer paper so we can get cards ready over Thanksgiving break.
The guys were back to work on the lot again. They sprayed straw all over the place. Turns out I seem to be allergic to it so I've been miserable ever since they started. At least the dog is happier about going out on straw instead of mud.
DD's latest food is DH's chicken parmigiana. I had mine on fettucine and DH had his on rice and the fettucine was DD's fav. She was gobbling it down as fast as I could fork it up for her. I managed to sneak a couple of bites for myself. The little critter sure doesn't have normal one-year-old tastes!
I've also managed to get a fair amount of stitching done on a photo frame which will be a gift for a family member. Once it is completed and sent, I might tell who it is for.
Saturday, November 15, 2003
Success! There are now knobs on the cabinets in the half bath, the hall bath, and the drawers in the master bath. I would have done more but the drill needed to recharge. That takes care of all the single-screw knobs. The remainder for the master bath and the kitchen are two-screw pulls. This will require a bit more effort. The one goof I've encountered is the length of the screws. The 2" length was correct for the half bath. The knobs I chose for the other baths are shallower. So I have about 1/8" of the screw to the inside of the drawers. If I get ambitious, I suppose I can either buy shorter screws or get something that will cut/break that amount off the end of the ones in place.
The crew was here working on the lot grade again yesterday. They have put in some snow fence and covered sections of the ground with a mat that looks like excelsior. Not sure what it is. I don't think they are finished; we'll see.
We made Manwich tacos the other night. DD thought the Manwich was ok but really liked DH's baked beans. I've never seen her eat so much at one sitting. Tonight we went out to eat and she was too sleepy to do justice to her mac & cheese. She did eat a couple of my beans (wax) but shunned my beef tips & rice and DH's lasagna. She has put on some weight in the last couple of weeks because her face is getting some fullness to it. We are pleased.
The crew was here working on the lot grade again yesterday. They have put in some snow fence and covered sections of the ground with a mat that looks like excelsior. Not sure what it is. I don't think they are finished; we'll see.
We made Manwich tacos the other night. DD thought the Manwich was ok but really liked DH's baked beans. I've never seen her eat so much at one sitting. Tonight we went out to eat and she was too sleepy to do justice to her mac & cheese. She did eat a couple of my beans (wax) but shunned my beef tips & rice and DH's lasagna. She has put on some weight in the last couple of weeks because her face is getting some fullness to it. We are pleased.
Wednesday, November 12, 2003
Last Saturday DD went to her best friend's first birthday party. What an event! She had a great time since there were several other tots around. Ever since the party she has been far more confident about walking instead of crawling. I figured if she saw other kids doing it, she would too. She has also become a much better eater so we are hoping her weight is now closer to normal for her age and height.
At this point we have all the fiction books unpacked (we think) and sorted by first letter of author's last name. Next will be full alphabetizing and shelf arranging. The stuff in the kitchen is pretty well cleaned up and put away. Still slogging away at the cabinet/drawer knob project. Sigh. At least I was correct about the #8 machine screws, small victory that it is.
We had a fairly heavy rain the other night so now the soil & water conservation people have decided our lot and the neighbor's lot need to be treated to prevent erosion. Everyone agrees we moved in too late to seed the lawn this year so we aren't being held responsible. One of my big projects this winter will be landscape design and research so I'll be ready to plant when spring comes. We have some rather steep grades on parts of the lot so it will be challenge. As much as I love a luxurious lawn, mowing will be unsafe in some places so we'll probably have to do mulched flower beds or put in retaining walls and do some leveling.
We are currently scheduled to close the sale of the old house on the 20th so I have to get together the packet of materials for the new owners (warranties and instruction manuals for appliances and fixtures, keys, that kind of stuff) and make certain we have everything out of the old place. We think it is cleaned out, but we could be missing something. Then I need to schedule final utility readings and let our insurance company know the house is sold. Yay!
At this point we have all the fiction books unpacked (we think) and sorted by first letter of author's last name. Next will be full alphabetizing and shelf arranging. The stuff in the kitchen is pretty well cleaned up and put away. Still slogging away at the cabinet/drawer knob project. Sigh. At least I was correct about the #8 machine screws, small victory that it is.
We had a fairly heavy rain the other night so now the soil & water conservation people have decided our lot and the neighbor's lot need to be treated to prevent erosion. Everyone agrees we moved in too late to seed the lawn this year so we aren't being held responsible. One of my big projects this winter will be landscape design and research so I'll be ready to plant when spring comes. We have some rather steep grades on parts of the lot so it will be challenge. As much as I love a luxurious lawn, mowing will be unsafe in some places so we'll probably have to do mulched flower beds or put in retaining walls and do some leveling.
We are currently scheduled to close the sale of the old house on the 20th so I have to get together the packet of materials for the new owners (warranties and instruction manuals for appliances and fixtures, keys, that kind of stuff) and make certain we have everything out of the old place. We think it is cleaned out, but we could be missing something. Then I need to schedule final utility readings and let our insurance company know the house is sold. Yay!
Friday, November 07, 2003
Big Bird is done. I think this is the first time I've done all the backstitching in one day for any design larger than a coaster. It is actually rather cute. My foot is gradually getting better although it got stepped on while we were at a restaurant a few days ago which set things back a bit.
We had family pictures taken last week and have been examining proofs. DD was hungry and grumpy when the session started so the shots of the whole family aren't wonderful. So we took a break, gave her a snack, and changed her outfit. Then while we were deciding what shots we wanted next we put her on the floor and DH handed her some Cheerios. She ate a few. Then she got the bright idea to feed them to the dog. The photographer went nuts and got some really great pictures. Other people came to watch and it didn't distract our little characters one bit. Afterwards the audience asked how we trained the dog to behave so well. Training?!? Shelties will do almost anything for food and they are experts at being cute.
DH hauled several things into the house which had been sitting in the garage since moving day. We still don't have room to put both cars in the garage yet. We need to get someone with some muscles (and without a bum foot) to help move a few big things and it'll be done. I've unpacked some more books. Man, do we have a lot of books!
I also did a hardware run but haven't had great luck with projects yet. The dork (and that is putting it mildly) at Home Depot insisted I couldn't use machine screws to put knobs on drawers. Instead I have bags of these cheapy brass-plated pieces of crap because he said I'd be disappointed if the screws didn't match the knobs. The heads strip out before they are even halfway through the drawer. Yes, I drilled a pilot hole first. I worked very carefully with pliers to twist that sucker back out hoping it didn't break at one of the "pre-scored for easy sizing" points. I was afraid I might have to drill the darn thing back out and my little cordless drill certainly is not up to that. I also do not want to ruin my new cabinets over this. As for matching, the screws for the knobs don't match the screws the cabinet manufacturer used to attach the drawer front and it is all inside the drawer anyway so what's the point?! The garbage screws are going back and I'm getting the stainless steel 2" #8 machine screws I wanted in the first place!
We had family pictures taken last week and have been examining proofs. DD was hungry and grumpy when the session started so the shots of the whole family aren't wonderful. So we took a break, gave her a snack, and changed her outfit. Then while we were deciding what shots we wanted next we put her on the floor and DH handed her some Cheerios. She ate a few. Then she got the bright idea to feed them to the dog. The photographer went nuts and got some really great pictures. Other people came to watch and it didn't distract our little characters one bit. Afterwards the audience asked how we trained the dog to behave so well. Training?!? Shelties will do almost anything for food and they are experts at being cute.
DH hauled several things into the house which had been sitting in the garage since moving day. We still don't have room to put both cars in the garage yet. We need to get someone with some muscles (and without a bum foot) to help move a few big things and it'll be done. I've unpacked some more books. Man, do we have a lot of books!
I also did a hardware run but haven't had great luck with projects yet. The dork (and that is putting it mildly) at Home Depot insisted I couldn't use machine screws to put knobs on drawers. Instead I have bags of these cheapy brass-plated pieces of crap because he said I'd be disappointed if the screws didn't match the knobs. The heads strip out before they are even halfway through the drawer. Yes, I drilled a pilot hole first. I worked very carefully with pliers to twist that sucker back out hoping it didn't break at one of the "pre-scored for easy sizing" points. I was afraid I might have to drill the darn thing back out and my little cordless drill certainly is not up to that. I also do not want to ruin my new cabinets over this. As for matching, the screws for the knobs don't match the screws the cabinet manufacturer used to attach the drawer front and it is all inside the drawer anyway so what's the point?! The garbage screws are going back and I'm getting the stainless steel 2" #8 machine screws I wanted in the first place!
