Sick again!

We've been sick yet again in the busted house. Being sick in the summer sucks. You want to climb under all your covers, but it's too damn hot for that nonsense. And while lying in bed, I'm forced to look at my still unpainted walls.

Well, actually, the bedroom walls are painted...in 2x3 blocks of varying shades of blue....none of which are satisfying me. Harbor mist didn't work - too light and cold, and neither did the 5 other color combinations I tried. Maybe blue is the wrong way to go. But I love blue...and I look ever so fabulous in blue that I feel compelled to have at least one room painted that color. Anyone have a blue they're particularly fond of?

I did go on a cleaning spree yesterday and tidied up the bedroom. I was guilty of heaping all my clean clothes on top of my dresser because there was other stuff impeding access to the drawers...like more stuff. It sort-of looked like a mountain...only one composed of socks, and shorts and tank tops and sweaters that still needed to be boxed up for the summer. Once the cat took to scaling the mountain and knocking everything off on her way down, I decided that a clean-up was in order. So, now the tops of the dressers all have penicillin on them. We'll see how long the clutter germs stay away.

Cat-arium for one, please

We're very excited at the busted house. Everyone is really into the re-organization....even the cat. Smidgen is being ever so helpful by placing herself into every box in the house....even this clear one, which prompted us to consider creating a cat-arium (like terrarium, but with a cat, get it?), where we could view her all day long without the allergies. But logistics got the better of us, and we filled the box with clothes instead.

We took a weekend trip here, which I hate to admit, but sometimes, you just gotta do it. We got some stuff we needed, and some stuff we didn't. That place sucks you in like that!

My storage unit still has some stuff in it from the FEMA flood zone incident. I really need to get that stuff out cause it costs bucks to keep it in there. There just isn't any room in the house yet! We must purge some more.

I had a lovely distraction this weekend with Miss Rebecca. I didn't take any interestingly angled shots of her like a certain someone we know, but we did take a bike ride downtown and make a stop at two different galleries. We had some late lunch, and wandered around looking at 100 dollar tank tops and some kitschy stuff here...where we learned how to be a stripper and how to be popular (do not wiggle your shoulders while dancing). Then, the bike ride back uphill....which amazingly enough was alot more work than the cruising bike ride to the galleries. Darn hills! We were doing this for entertainment, not exercise!

Back from the hinterland

Phew!
Talk about a whirlwind weekend....well, extended weekend. Steve-o's friend from high school was getting married in Vermont, so off we went. Started out on Wednesday night about 9:30. We planned on stopping at Steve-o's mom's house in NJ and sleeping there for the night. Well, torrential downpours and Steve-o's light and tiny car made a 4-hour trip into an 8-hour trip. Yep. We arrived in NJ at 5:30 in the morning. Poor Steve-o had to drive the whole way cause I don't know how to drive stick yet, though I've had my first lesson - and didn't stall the car!

So, we slept in late to recover from that ordeal and didn't leave NJ for the trip to VT until 3:30 on Thursday. We stopped at some outlets, where Steve-o was actually the only one who bought anything, and made it to his condo sometime before midnight.

Up bright and early and off the the
VT DMV to get Steve-o his
Vermont license. He's so proud.
Then, off to a state park for some boat races (in canoes) and then some boat races
(a.k.a. drinking games). Steve-o drank his team to victory. I'm so proud.

Off to rehearse all the wedding stuff and then the rehearsal dinner at a cute Inn where we had some fabulous food, and a bit more alcohol.

Then, sometime around 11:30, we made our way back to Steve-o's condo - an hour away....or two hours when you get lost driving country roads with no lights, plenty of deer and enough twists in the road to make you nauseous.

Then - the big wedding day. Hooray! Everything went smoothly. And the General Lee even blassed the wedding! Steve-o's ex pointed out that she almost wore the same dress as I did. Can you imagine that one! Girl fight! The ceremony was short and sweet....as they should be. And the reception was accompanied by tasty Vermont cheese and a whopping 6 hours of open bar! It was an outdoor reception, but the bugs were pretty tame. Per the groom's request, they nuked the garden the day before to the point where it was "toxic to all living things." Ah, better living through chemistry, right?

I was unwilling to drive the backroads at 2 a.m. again, so we stayed at the Inn where they had the reception and had a tasty breakfast, too. It also happened to be the place where they filmed the sitcom, 'Newhart' for those of you old enough to remember 'Larry, his brother Daryl, and his other brother Daryl.'

We did the drive back over 2 days as well, and it was relatively uneventful...but very pretty. See? We did have some tasty ice cream, got passed on the highway by two Amish guys in a pick-up truck and made it back just in time for Steve-0 to get to class. I now officially need a vacation from that vacation.

And now, some gratuitous cat photos of Smidgen with the mouse I made her (complete with beady little red eyes), and Smidgen napping, which she seems to prefer doing at 1p.m. rather than 1 a.m.....when she's busy dragging her toys into the bedroom to amuse herself, and wake me up. Do you see this cat's super paws? Crazy, huh?

And you want to know what's going on with the house? Absolutely nothing yet. Well, that's not entirely true. Before we left, I sent off my official correspondance to my sleazy contractors...the ones who wanted to keep overhead and profit for work they didn't do. I returned to a letter from them telling me that they didn't agree with my "philosphy on overhead and profit," that I cannot profit from an insurance claim (which I'm not, since I had to pay someone else to do the work they didn't do), and that my actions could be considered fraud. My actions are fraud?!? Hello - keeping money for work you didn't do - now that sounds like fraud! Ooooh, they make me so mad. Must channel anger, though. Have too much to do.

R* kindly installed our new bathroom faucet and showerhead while we were gone, so it's nice that that's done. Now, I must go on a painting and organizing spree. I think my brain has finally recovered from the funes, so it's time to paint once again! Harbor Mist - here I come!

Half-done and half-crazy

You'd think that with my hiatus from blogging, I'd have gotten some stuff done. Well, you'd be wrong. :) Lots of shopping at the home despot, but everything is still in a half-done state. I built most of the box that will go in the kitchen in the space I made between the wall studs. But it's not quite done. I'm still organizing and unpacking, but it's not quite done. And I'm still emptying stuff out of the storage unit, but it's not quite done either. I've also been thwarted by the rattling, stalling, and subsequent towing of my dear old car. Goodbye paycheck, it was nice knowing you!

But I did buy some blue paint for the bedroom. Honestly, I was so confounded by the choices that I just forced myself to pick something. I can always re-paint, right? So, I'm giving Harbor Mist a try. I had a urge to try Bluetonium, but I have to admit, I might have just been attracted to the name.

We have managed to get rid of a ton of boxes. But this seems to result in us making big heaps of stuff, because we get a lot of satisfaction out of emptying a box and tossing it out, but not so much satisfaction in going through everything in the box, sorting it, and putting it away in an appropriate location. Hmm, what was that I said about liking organizing?

Well, we're going away this weekend (10 hours of driving - 20 for the roundtrip - hooray!), and R* will be our house/cat sitter. We've stocked the house with ice cream as payment for his duties. He's actually cat-sitting for two cats this weekend, so we had to lure him to our house with something!