Posted in Musings and Mutterings

Weathering the Weather

Not gonna lie, I’m hoping for a snow day. I don’t like driving the back roads when it’s a bit dicey out, and although our car Silver is a fantastic steed, Hubby is better in this kind of predicted muck.

I read today where the East Coast has been weathering 5 months of consistent mushy weather, which started in November. I’m ready to open the windows and sit on the front porch in the sunshine. The equinox that marks spring is just a few weeks away, and I’m looking for a sudden burst of sunny weather. Last fall I planted some bulbs, and I’m hoping that this hard winter will have spared my first attempts at gardening in my newer-to-me gardens!

“We actually get to decide right here, right now, to be miserable, or to be happy, no matter how complicated, fucked up or disagreeable our life may be.” -Chris McCombs

 

Posted in Musings and Mutterings

Telephone Time

BRRRRIIIIINNNNNGGGG!!

Hello?

Whenever Hubby travels, I know he has long days. He’s in a strange environment and he’s at work. I also know he throws me these tidbits to update me on his whearabouts during the day, and I appreciate all of it. I love talking to him and am glad we now have a way to “see” each other when he travels.

Tonight I also got to “see” my bff on the other side of the country. We were supposed to be playing Uno, but the other participants couldn’t make it for one reason or another, so our game went bust. Instead we talked for a bit. (well, mostly I talked because she swears she has nothing to talk about)

# 3 called earlier today to let me know that she’s installed a doggie nanny-cam for Dex. She’s going to set him up to see what he’s getting into so she can ‘train from afar’. Pretty cool idea. I’m looking forward to getting some screenshots of “Dex-in-action”  in the near future.

 

Posted in Musings and Mutterings

Happy Anniversary Home & My 600th Post

3 year ago yesterday, Hubby and I signed the papers to purchase our current home. After having lived and raised our kids in the same home for 25 years, we had decided to pull up stakes and move to an area that was a little less congested. Somehow, we managed to downsize to a larger house. Doh!

At first, I was feeling a bit intimidated, but my space has grown on me. The first year I felt like I was visiting someone’s home. The second year I started making some changes that began to put my mark on the place. Suddenly, I wasn’t feeling quite so out-of-place anymore. This 3rd year seems to be the  one that I’ve finally been able to feel like this is MY home. Maybe now I’ll even put up photos and art.

So far I’ve converted old railings into half walls in the loft/office space, changed all the doors on the first floor to nicer panel versions over the horrible Luan doors that were there. We replaced a portion of the roof and, replaced gutters all around and insulated the house with foam. We’ve also renovated one bedroom upstairs and one downstairs. The latter one has become Hubby’s office. We’ve replaced the flooring in the basement, all the appliances along with the washer and dryer, added two pellet stoves for heat, replaced the attic stairs, and added a set of French doors between the family room and what’s become the 3 seasons room aka “the pink room”.

Sometimes I feel like we’ve barely scratched the surface, so it’s good to look a the paragraph above and realize that we’ve been able to accomplish quite a bit in a short space of time. Awesome!

On the boards for this year, I hope to paint my bedroom and 2 bathrooms and replace the Luan doors downstairs with doors that match the upstairs area.There are always more ideas in the mix, but it’s going to be a busy year already, so we’ll see what else I can conjure up. Eventually, the kitchen(s) and bathrooms will need some updating, the front entrance needs a more functional entrance, the pool is going bye-bye and along with it a large portion of decking that makes the back part of the house feel closed off. Still, with what we’ve been able to accomplish already, I have confidence we’ll be able to get everything done.

In addition to this anniversary, this is my 600th post. Granted it’s been many years, and if you go back in my blog, you may see some photos are missing and blogs that might not make sense without the visual. That’s because I’ve migrated my blogs at least twice now, with everything ending up here. In the transition, some things may have been lost in the mix. Whenever I have time, I go back and find the photos – or ones that are similar – and repopulate my blogs. I know it sounds counter-intuitive, but one day I’d like to print all my blogs into a bound book.

Posted in Musings and Mutterings

Lifesaver Rabbit

image

Admit it. He’s cute. In a strange egg-shaped way, he’s adorable. So what if he doesn’t have arms or a tail, his smiling little face amuses me.
I have yet to name my bunny, so I’m open to suggestions.

I had read all kinds of articles about how sitting for long periods of time just isn’t good for you and realized that while I’m the picture of good health, I wanted to stay that way. I tried to look online for widgets and desktop alarms that would jolt me from my work-time clickety-clack stupor and remind me that I had functional legs, but couldn’t find anything that worked just the way I wanted. Just the way a simple kitchen timer does. Trust me… I can sit if I’m focused… or on an airplane. Fyi, even though I’ve been across the country a couple of times and over the pond 3 times so far, I’ve NEVER used an airplane’s facilities. NEVER. People, do you hear what I am saying here? I can sit on a plane for 8-9 hours and NOT MOVE from my seat.

So I decided I would find a cute kitchen timer for my office and set it to go off every hour or so. Or, like now, for the 15 minutes I have before I go to work. That way, when my timer went off with a  brrrrrrriiiiiiiiiiinnnnnnngggggg, (yepyepyep, unhuh, unhuh) I would get up and do something. Sometimes I’d go get a drink, sometimes I’d run up and down the steps, sometimes I’d just stretch. This part of my plan has worked out wonderfully, I must admit.
But what was tough, was finding a kitchen timer that you could stand to look at on your desk day in and day out. The mechanical ones are really boring and the more “kitchen” (kitschy) themed ones didn’t seem to fit. I’m not big on ladybugs – besides, I might try to put it in my bucket of doom, which is reserved for any little leggy things that invade my office. Since I like bunnies, I thought for sure it would be simple to find one that I could look at forever.

Not so much. This guy took me a few days of hunting on amazon and ebay (more sitting) and ended up costing me $14.00, since he is a fine Swiss-made time piece, I’ll have you know.

Since he’s been on the job, I find I’m more focused and I’ve danced around my office more than I had in the past. Because when the bunny brrrrinnnnggsss… and the music is moving you… the easiest thing to do during your break is to dance joyously about your office!

(I dare those of you who work in an office cubicle to try this. No one will ask you for much anymore.)