kcobweb

Okay, my week has finally turned around. :)

* I had two concerts this weekend, and they are now over! (There was nothing wrong with them, I just wasn't in the mood, and this wasn't my favorite music ever. Except 2 short songs by Holst, and that's not enough to propel me happily forward, apparently.)

* Yesterday, we bought a new dining room table! Just like that! I am given to understand that normal people go shopping and sometimes spend money, but we usually have to agonize over purchases for MONTHS before we allow ourselves to spend. We ventured out to a couple of antique stores in Pittsfield, and at the second one, we saw a gorgeous gorgeous table, and I think we both fell a little in love on first sight. And the price was so so so much lower than what one would pay for a new table!!!!! So. We'll get it Tuesday. And then we need to get new chairs too. Now we can actually have people over and have somewhere to seat them! We can reciprocate for all those people who have had us over for dinner! \O/

* An actual Girl Scout came to my door this afternoon selling cookies. Need I say more? No more having to hope that I will stumble upon them hawking cookies at the grocery store or the mall! \O/

* For those of you not following galagan's status updates on Facebook - we just got Rock Band 2. I can sing, no problem, but I suck at the instruments. (Even on Easy - I'm sort of pathetic.) Yay, what fun! \O/

* My daughter is absolutely hilarious. If this is a preview of what 4-years-old will be like, it's going to be a fun year. :) Tonight she drew a picture of "the step-mother, Anastasia and Drizella" and another of Cinderella with most of the planets around her. Her own special spin on the fairy tale. Yeah. If she's not asking constant questions, she's singing made-up songs or racing around the house like crazy. It's a riot. Also, exhausting.

Elena was really resisting taking a nap this afternoon, and at one point, she started crying again a bit. I went upstairs and found that not only had she thrown everything out of her crib onto the floor (very standard - used to be a daily event around here), but she had also taken off all her clothes and was just standing there wearing a diaper. Totally cracked me up. I dumped everything back in the crib, pulled her T-shirt over her head and left again. She's quiet, but I don't think she's asleep..... *sigh* I really want her to keep napping - I'm not ready for her to give it up. (I don't think she is either, but don't think I can convince her of that point.)

( hallowe'en! )

Meanwhile, I'm in my usual frenzy of housecleaning the day before I have houseguests. Laundry, sweeping, picking up junk off the floors..... (My dad's coming for a few days.) This is good, though - I need incentive to tidy up, apparently.

Rainy day. Fall weather has finally caught up with me. Aaahhhhh.

I forgot to mention how truly satisfying it was to come back home to a house that is really quite bright red. The painters have almost finished (a few sections need another coat; clearly they can't do it today). It's very striking, and I'm thrilled to pieces every time I go outside or look out the window. Before and after pictures will follow, as soon as they are really done.

Having just left Canada, it seems appropriate to mention that today is Canadian Thanksgiving! I will be making galagan's favorite Thanksgiving food (green bean casserole - we're so pedestrian) for dinner in honor of the occasion.

( book meme! )

Yes, there are a few that I both finished *and* found completely unreadable. If you'd asked me 5 minutes after closing the book what it was about, I'd have said "dribble dribble hilxcuik hkjnaso", or something to that effect......

*gulp* I have a long to-do list. I should really attack it now.

ETA: Vacation pictures here

We were out for a little while this evening, and when we came home, there was a whole bag full of tomatoes and peppers hanging on the doorknob. Presumably from our neighbor who we got veggies from yesterday. I'm going to make gazpacho tomorrow - yum - but what can I do to thank her? I was thinking about making some cookies to take to her. All I know is that she's an older woman, and married, and has a garden to keep herself busy (that's what she told me the one time I met her). Cookies? Or something else?

Meanwhile - gazpacho!!!!

So, I was standing in the bathroom, when I saw something move out of the corner of my eye, and I look down and it's a mouse, wandering along the wall. I get between him and the door, and then tried to get galagan's attention.... okay, so I was dying my hair, so I (a) was totally naked (as one is, when one is dying one's hair, no?), and (b) had head and hands covered with staining goo. So I didn't want to run the length of the house in that condition to fetch him. He heard me, thankfully, and came to assess the situation. We managed to herd the mousie with the toilet brush to run behind the toilet, where we set the empty garbage can on its side to trap him. The big strong man took it outside and said goodbye and let it run away. I wonder if there are any more? (I haven't seen many conclusive mouse signs, so we're probably okay. But I'll be imagining/seeing/hearing mice everywhere for a while.)

So, I've been playing Scrabble on Facebook (against several of you). And I'm really bad. I'm not just saying that to be self-deprecating; I'm *really* bad. I was complaining about this in an email to my sister, and she proposed a theory: as a child, she would never play Scrabble with me, because I was too good. Due to my resulting lack of experience, I'm really bad. I like the circularity of her argument - I had to read it several times over at first, and then found that I agree with her. Anyway - if you wanna play Scrabble, you can come find me there and trounce me, giving yourself a good win record, and myself some much-needed playing experience.

I have a to-do list a mile long. Fortunately, I got some good things crossed off it today, like the car inspection, and a long-delayed phone call.

Having said goodbye, of course (oh-so-predictably) I'm back. First, because I had to share this amazing map-or-poster-or-drawing. Just too cool for words.

Secondly, all my painful agonizing phone calls have proven victorious, and we have someone lined up to paint our house! (He is the only person - out of 4 painters - to call me back, and show up when he said he would to do an estimate. The rest just can't be bothered, apparently - so screw 'em. They don't get my money. I'd rather hire someone reliable and punctual, frankly.) And I *haggled* on the price, and he agreed. I'm so cool.

Now, about that packing.....

Searching for Mercy Street: My Journey Back to my Mother, Anne Sexton, by Linda Gray Sexton. I've always liked Anne Sexton's poetry, but didn't know much about her life except that she killed herself. This book leaves no holds barred, and was one of the most disturbing books I've read in a long time, I think (I don't disturb easily). Anne was depressed, of course, but she also had absolutely *no boundaries* and had to be the center of everyone's attention - fine for her, but she obviously was incapable of thinking about the effect that had on her children. It's amazing they turned out as well as they did. Linda Sexton talks a lot about how her mother was one of the confessional poets and believed in 100% honesty in all things. As her mother's literary executor (and in this memoir), she felt she had to honor that honesty and openness, even when she didn't want to, when it was painful, or when it hurt other family members. So you get a fairly complete picture here - drawing not only on Linda's memories, but also on the papers and records Anne left behind (including records from her therapists). Really powerful and moving, to be sure.

The Boy Next Door, by Meggin Cabot. This was journeywoman's suggestion when I said I liked chicklit. And it was pretty good: light and fluffy. It's all epistolary - but via email, because this is the 21st century, right? - but better done than most books that employ the told-through-email trope. There is a somewhat silly/contrived set-up situation, but with clever likeable characters, and a really good revenge scenario.

In other news - what a lovely day! We went to the playground this morning to play with Elena's friends - she went on the big-kid swings, and then wouldn't get off because swinging was so fun. (And we got to see a 10-day-old baby that belongs to a friend of a friend. So *tiny* - it's just amazing! Even when you've had one of your own, you can't believe later they were ever that small.) This afternoon, I finally got to visit the local quilt store, which was very nice, with many many temptations. I'm going to be doing a quilt block swap soon, so this was sort of a scouting mission.

We've also had the news that our house does not need to be re-sided after all - someone came and looked and said that our siding is cedar and would be insanely expensive now and is some of the best we could have, so it just needs scraping and painting. Woohoo!!! (We got a good chunk of money knocked off the purchase price of this house based on the condition of the outside of it and the assumption - at the time - that it would need complete re-siding.) So now I have to call some painters instead. Because we'd be crazy to try to do it ourselves, right? Or not? Anyone have much experience with house-painting? I only know from watching my father paint our house growing up, and he always bitched about it, and took several years to actually get it finished.

Dinner conversation turned to Christmas shopping, and galagan revealed that he has bought *nothing* yet.

Me: But my birthday is five days away! Five!
Elena: Sit! Sen!
(we laugh)
Me: Yes, and eight days from now, it will be Christmas!
Elena: Nun! Ten! E'ven! Telv! Siddoo! Ot-doo! Mmm-doo! Uh-doo!

She cracks me up.

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We leave tomorrow. I should really think about packing. I did make pesto - I have a basil plant I bought in summer, which has somehow survived all this time (usually, I kill basil in this span of time). I am sure it wouldn't have survived us being gone for 8 days - so I stripped all the leaves and made yummy yummy pesto. I also cooked most of the remaining veggies from our fridge, and had a lovely dinner. Now we truly have no food in the house.

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I rarely bake at home for just us. We don't *need* all that stuff, or I'm too lazy, or whatever. But Christmas is the one holiday my mom really goes nuts for, and I've always enjoyed helping her. She has promised to put me to work once I get there - she claims that she'll watch Elena and I'll cook/bake. I have a few ideas of my own of things I want to make - some almond lace cookies we did last year that were unbelievably scrumptious and irresistable, the cream caramels we've done the last few years (so! much! stirring! but truly yummy), and perhaps candied orange peel (I tried to make it a few years ago and it turned out weirdly, so I'd like to try it again). Plus there are the usual standards - candy-cane cookies, buckeyes, wreaths, etc. My sister arrives Tuesday night, so she'll be able to help too. I do love baking (and candy-making), so this should be lots of fun.

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Of course, tonight we discovered a leak from the kitchen sink that seems to be penetrating the floorboards and dripping down into the basement. Why do these things always happen right before you're headed out of town? But we put a bucket under it and called our landlord, and he seems to know about it (I guess that spot's been a problem before) and promises he'll take a look at it. So we won't worry.

The small: I am personalizing a Christmas stocking for the EB. Everybody in my family has stockings that were knit by my grandmother - our names are on them and everything, and each is different. (Actually, galagan's was store bought, because she wasn't knitting anymore by the time he came along.)

I bought a red velour stocking - it's a gorgeous deep red. I have cut block letters out of white felt, and I'm going to sew them on, and silver metallic thread will be involved. Yay for craftiness!

The big, nay, huge: We have a verbal agreement to sell our house! Our former roommate is interested, and we had a price estimate done - and after careful consideration of that, he has accepted!!! I'm thrilled - on every front. Financially this is nice, because we won't be officially listing the house on the market, so expenses are cheaper (the realtor will get 1% for her fee instead of 6%, for starters). He will buy it as-is, so no worries about painting or fixing up. (He's an architect, and already has big plans for the place. Measurements have been taken. I can't wait to see what he'll do with it!) This is also wonderful on an emotional level. When I first moved back to Billings, he was the person who *found* this house to begin with, and I lived here with him and our friend Mary (who died last year). This feels appropriate - like we've come full-circle. He belongs in this house, and now it will happen!

Okay.... back to the stocking.

Just got an email from this weekend's houseguest:

> Your house is just so
> cozy and comfortable, it just wraps you up in itself
> like a favorite old sweatshirt or something. I
> always feel good being there.

I just love this, and told her so. I don't think I've ever aspired to having a magazine-perfect house - but this is infinitely better, by my reckoning. We have such a messy house, much of the time, that I'm generally not too comfortable with people seeing it. And yes, we cleaned up for the weekend of visitation. But it's still a nice affirmation.

(kassrachel, you're no doubt used to this - I think a lot of people feel this way about your house - but it's new for me.)

Meanwhile, it's been a crappy week at work. Just miserably overwhelmed, and never quite sure how to tackle the immense pile before me.

Plus I'm tired tired tired. To all the women reading this: if you ever get pregnant, see if you can plan it for a time when you can take lots of naps. That would make it so much easier on you. Several older co-workers asked me today if I was past the "tired stage" - and my reaction was "you mean it ends?" Oh yes, they chirped, about the end of the first trimester. Well, I'm easily past that and into my second trimester - and still tired tired tired. More alert, to be sure, than I was those first 13 weeks. But oh man, I could use a nap at any given time of day, even first thing in the morning. Which sucks.