Inane Chatter » uncategorized

The wallpaper is gone.

Zannah — Thu, 03 Dec 2009 03:22:39 +0000

Today, I finished stripping the wallpaper and took the pictures and blinds down. John showed me how to spackle the holes and stuff, so that’s what will take me all day tomorrow. I also mailed chestnuts to John’s mom, went to the bank, bought a dress for Saturday’s office holiday party, and found two options for taking care of the dogs over Christmas. (I’m reminding myself why I shouldn’t feel guilty for not finishing the wallpaper until after dinner.)

Anyway, tired and going to bed.

Wait – I finished Her Fearful Symmetry yesterday. I just tried to write something about it, but since I don’t want to give away the story, everything I wrote was vague. Mom, Jess, call me and we’ll talk.

Dining room makeover, Part I

Zannah — Tue, 01 Dec 2009 23:45:44 +0000

Destruction comes first. The dining room is a complete mess. The walls have torn wallpaper and wallpaper glue all over, and the floor is covered in wallpaper I’ve managed to get off so far. The curtains (that Mom hates anyway) are down, and I’ve moved some of the furniture out. I think the table can stay (I’ll cover it and use it to stage paint and stuff), but I can’t move the sideboard/buffet thing by myself. And I still don’t know what color I’m going to paint it.

Aside from a trip to the store (Wegman’s and Home Depot – two stores), I’ve been inside all day, which is kind of a shame, actually. It was a beautiful sunny day, not too cold. Oh, and I very nicely got rid of two Mormon kids on their mission this afternoon. I was so nice I don’t think they even felt rejected.

Wet

Zannah — Mon, 30 Nov 2009 22:28:11 +0000

I got rained on today. When I left for my run, it wasn’t raining. It started to rain right at my halfway point, naturally, when I was as far from home as I was going to get. It didn’t start pouring until I was about a mile from home. That was nice. At least it wasn’t cold.

Thanksgiving was wonderful, busy, loud, fun, slightly stressful, and busy. And loud. And fun. And really good. Oh, and I’m exhausted. I didn’t do much today. (I was recovering.) I returned the table and went to Home Depot for paint chips so I can figure out what color to paint the dining room. Oh, and I discovered that the wallpaper in there is not going to come off as easily as I had hoped. I’ll have to score it and use hot soapy water and stuff. Yay. I’ll start on that tomorrow, I think. If I can narrow down the paint colors, I’ll get samples tomorrow, too.

What we discovered

Zannah — Wed, 25 Nov 2009 00:28:01 +0000

Our dogs are robots!

Are they planning to take over the world? Kill us in our sleep? Or just fight to the death over who gets to sleep on the dog bed?

Confusing TV

Zannah — Tue, 24 Nov 2009 01:41:55 +0000

John and I spent our evenings this week watching the AMC remake (in miniseries form) of “The Prisoner”. It was confusing, disjointed, confusing again, and ultimately unsatisfying. Waste of six hours.

I spent the entire day preparing for Thanksgiving. I shopped, I cleaned, and I cleaned some more. Tomorrow I’m taking the dogs to be groomed, and cleaning even more. Should be fun. But then, I’ll be READY.

Bagels and tables

Zannah — Sun, 22 Nov 2009 23:34:51 +0000

Earlier today I had something to say, but I didn’t say it then, and now I’ve forgotten it. Not a big deal. We slept in a bit, went to Wegman’s for bagels (John’s first trip to the new Wegman’s – very exciting for him), and sold the Korean end tables to a Korean woman, all before noon. This afternoon, I took John to Haverty’s so he could see some of the dining room tables I liked in person. I think I’ve convinced him that the Ebony collection dining room table and chairs are the ones we should get, but we’ve decided to wait a while. There’s no rush, since we certainly wouldn’t have the new table in time for Thanksgiving, and it can’t hurt to wait until we’re both making money again. We had dinner at Gout de Paris, the new French cafe that opened in our little shopping center. It was very good, and totally empty (it’s brand new), which may be why it felt a little uncomfortable. The manager (maybe owner?) and the staff were hovering a little. I think I’d go back for coffee and pastries, but not for a whole meal. Well, I might. It’s a little expensive for lunch.

Potential dining room table:

Matching chair:

Herndon Turkey Trot 2009

Zannah — Sun, 22 Nov 2009 00:05:06 +0000

Despite my best efforts to convince him that he was too sick to go (he wasn’t), John prevailed (as usual when it comes to races) and we ran the 2009 Herndon Turkey Trot 5K this afternoon. Also as usual, he was right and I was happy to be there and happy we’d done it when the race was over. My time wasn’t great (but better than it’s been lately), and I figured out why I don’t like this race (I don’t like the cross-country part – too slippery when the grass is kinda wet and there’s lots of mud), but that’s all okay ’cause I felt really good when I crossed the finish line. AND we didn’t see anyone we know today. For the last two years, we’ve run into people from our old company (I almost said “people from work”), and I’m pretty sure they were planning on being there today. I guess we missed them. And I think I’m relieved. These people in particular were always nice and everything, but they weren’t close friends and I’m not sure I’m ready to deal with that.

We’re home, I’ve gotten four emails from people who are interested in the Korean chests I put on craigslist today, and I’m hungry. We have steaks on the grill and champagne in our (plastic) glasses because we’re finally celebrating John’s new job (and mine). I’m itching to edit that plastic glasses thing. If they’re plastic, they’re not glasses. Plastic champagne flutes would be more accurate, but it’s a weird combination of pretentious or snobby (flutes instead of glasses) and trashy (they’re plastic so I won’t break them when I knock them off the counter). Hmm, not so much trashy as klutz-friendly. That’s nicer.

Look what I did

Zannah — Fri, 20 Nov 2009 01:43:58 +0000

What do I have to say today? Well, I was productive. I spent the entire day cleaning out the closet and the cluttered surfaces in the guest room, and from there I made a dent in the mess that lived in one corner of the bedroom. I threw out a lot of stuff (actual trash in some cases, including leftover lengths of wallpaper for rooms we stripped the wallpaper out of) and put together a couple of bags of donatable stuff. I have two whole under-the-bed plastic storage bins full of sweaters to give away, too, but I want Mom to have a shot at them before I get rid of them.

To be productive tomorrow, I think I’ll have to clean the windows. Or clear all the extra stuff out of the dining room. Vacuum upstairs. Finish putting the guest room back together. Or all of those things.

Today-o

Zannah — Thu, 19 Nov 2009 02:03:18 +0000

Not an eventful day. But that is totally okay. I’m making lists of what I can do around the house and then prioritizing for what really needs to get done before Thanksgiving. And then I didn’t do any of those things today. But I will tomorrow. For real. For reals, even.

I spent the rest of the day, um, reading Harry Potter. I’ll do better (be more productive) tomorrow.

The search is over. Kind of.

Zannah — Tue, 17 Nov 2009 18:44:09 +0000

I just signed, scanned, and sent back an offer letter. The best part is that I have a month and a half to get all kinds of things done around the house with NO pressure on me to find a job. I start in January.

I’m a little excited. And relieved. (I might have done a little dancing and singing after I got off the phone this morning.) I still won’t get paid until I actually start working (of course), and I no longer trust ANY companies (of course), and anything could happen between now and January, so I will still keep some feelers out there just in case (of course). Hence the “kind of” in the title. But…YAY!!