John

Fuzzy attack

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I was attacked by my sweater today.  I wore the new beige/ecru/other neutral color one I got for Christmas (Thanks, Pat!) – it’s really soft, and it fits nicely – and I realized about halfway through the day that my pants and my coat (which I have to wear most of the day ’cause we’re spending a lot of time in the freezing cold training room) were getting fuzzy.  By the end of the day, I looked like I’d been attacked by a lint trap.  So now I have to find my lint brush/tape thing and clean up.  But it’s okay.  You know why?  ‘Cause I’m having kimchi for dinner.  Ooh, I think the rice is done.

I hope John’s day got better.  He had an appointment this morning, but when he got to the doctor’s office, he found out that they canceled the appointment because the doctor had a death in the family.  They left us a message yesterday (or maybe the day before).  Neither of us has been checking messages, mostly because we’re lazy, so we totally missed that.  John checked this morning and found something like FIVE messages.  We had one from the doctor’s office, two recordings from CVS telling me to pick up a prescription, one from a recruiter, and one spam recording message.  So he was a little annoyed.  He has to reschedule (two weeks away!) AND he wasted a morning and was late to work when he didn’t have to be.  So his day didn’t start well, and he has class tonight, so unless something good happened at work, he doesn’t have something like kimchi for dinner to cheer him up.  Poor guy.

The handyman can.

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I have the handiest husband in the world.  This afternoon (late afternoon into evening, really), with very little help from me (except when I had to stick my hand in a hole in the wall to find the cable), he added an electrical outlet (wired and working) and a cable outlet (wired, but not working yet – that’s tomorrow) to the living room (soon to be family room).  Cut holes in the wall, drilled holes up from the basement (the hardest part), fed wires and cables through to the new holes in the living room, wired the outlet, wired the breaker box (I held the flashlight after he cut power to the house), tested the outlet, and cleaned up.  He’s nice to have around.

I’m living with Sting!

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On the advice of John’s grandmother’s live-in aide, Cheryl, we asked his new stylist, Jenny, to model his new haircut after Sting’s hair.  See exhibits A and B (we took these pictures with us):

Now, see John’s very cool, very Sting-like hair:

We’re discussing the possibility of a beard.  Short, a little scruffy, but neat.  And new glasses.  It’s almost like having a new husband!  Not that I was looking for one.  🙂  I like mine.

Happy New Year!

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So it’s 2010.  (I’ve decided to say “twenty-ten” and stop this “two thousand and ten” nonsense.)  The party (which was very fun) is over and everyone has gone home.  We cleaned a little (although the house really wasn’t a mess) and then decided to revisit the idea of rearranging the whole first floor.  I think we’re gonna do it.  Like, this weekend.  🙂  We have a three-day weekend, and once John’s semester starts, he won’t really have this kind of time.  The furniture moving really won’t be that hard.  The hardest part (or at least most complicated part, even though it’s not really hard.  According to John.  I think it’s hard.) is wiring the living room (which will become the family room) for the TV.  There’s no cable outlet there right now.  So we’re going to take the opportunity to run the TV cables behind the wall, hiding them from sight.  Means cutting holes in the wall (one behind where the TV will go and one near the floor) and running wires up from the basement.  A trip to Home Depot or Lowe’s is in our immediate future.

But right now, John is in the basement fixing the dryer.  The other dryer.  It’s the one we moved with, the one we bought when we moved to VA in 2003.  It started squealing shortly after we moved to this house, so we switched to the dryer the previous owners left behind.  Anyway, he’s fixing it, and once that’s done, we can move the extra washer and dryer to the garage and put them on craigslist.  I’m pretty sure none of our friends are in the market for a washer and dryer at the moment.  If you’re reading this and you need a free washer and dryer (they work great, we just don’t need two sets), let me know.

The fun part about rearranging the house will be discovering what new furniture we need and/or want.  Obviously, this will work great for our new dining room table (that we still haven’t bought yet).  I want a little bistro table and two chairs for the bay window in the dining room that is turning to the living room because I like having breakfast in that room.  It gets lots of sunlight.  I want a little armchair and a very small table and lamp so I can have a little reading nook in the dining room, next to the fireplace.  We’ll need a little loveseat and chair or something to go in the middle of the new living room (that used to be the dining room).  We’ll need to go find the entertainment center we’ve been discussing for years to go under the TV in the new family room, and, of course, we’ll need lots more bookshelves.  A big reason for doing this whole rearrangement thing is to free up wall space in the family room (new dining room) for bookshelves.  At least four big bookshelves will fit in the new living room, with room for some narrow shelves or a corner shelf in a couple of places.  The new family room will have at least two big bookshelves flanking the TV, and there should be room for three or four bookshelves (at LEAST) in the new dining room.  That’s at least three or four more big bookshelves than we have right now, plus the smaller ones.  And we desperately need them.  My poor books are doubling up on the shelves so you can’t even see half of them.  Poor, sad books.

Okay, change of plans.  We’re still going to rearrange the house, just not this weekend.  There are other things John wants to do, and I can use this last bit of extended free time to try to finish my filing project.  I’ve got six boxes, plus a few things in random plastic filing cabinets.  I want to knock out at least three of those boxes.  Hopefully more.

John fixed the dryer.  He’s very handy.  🙂  Now we just need to make sure it still, you know, dries.

Happy New Year!

Hooked and feeling good about myself

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I left the house today to go to the Ann Taylor at Reston Town Center, and as I passed my reflection in the windows of the other stores on the way, I was pretty happy with how I looked.  I was wearing my black boots with jeans, my black peacoat with my big green scarf, my new cute earrings (bought in Easton with Jess last week), and my fabulous new haircut, and I felt fantastic.  That lasted until I got home and ate brie and crackers AFTER my lunch of sushi and gyoza.  The brie and crackers were totally unnecessary.  But my earrings and haircut are still fabulous.  🙂

Hooked.  Overall, it was good.  We got there and mentioned to the hostess, while asking her to take a picture of us, that it was our anniversary.  So she seated us, and our waitress showed up a minute later, breathless and apologetic because she was afraid we’d been sitting there for several minutes before she noticed.  It had only been about one minute or so, so we let her off the hook.  🙂  1st good thing: bottles of wine are half off on Mondays.  It was a Monday.  2nd and 3rd good things: we each ordered a cup of soup.  Lobster bisque = fantastic.  She-crab bisque = really good.  John ordered scallops over pasta.  I think he really liked them.  The bite I had was very good.  Sadly, my mussels were just okay.  John tried a couple and got some bad ones.  (He’s fine.)  Mine were all fine, but the sauce they were in didn’t do much for me.  We decided to skip dessert and take the rest of the wine home (screw top), and when our waitress came back with the check, she had a bag that said “Happy 9th Anniversary” on it.  The bag had our bottle of wine and a free chocolate torte!  So she got a big tip.  🙂  And we had dessert when we got home.  Very good torte.  So those were good things 5 and 6 (4 was John’s entree).  We’d go there again.

I love gift cards

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I know there are people out there who think gift cards are the cop-out gift, the gift that says, “I didn’t put any thought into what to buy you for this occasion”, but I’m not one of those people.  I suppose a gift card could say that, if you received one for something you have no interest in, but I’m talking about the ones that say, “I know you really like books, but I have no idea what you have already or what you might want, so here.  Go shopping.”  Or, “You said you need clothes, and you want clothes, but I’ll just mess up the sizes or the colors or the style, so here.  Go shopping.”  I LOVE those.  And my family tends to come through for me, as evidenced by the years of Amazon and Ann Taylor gift cards.  They’re perfect.  I don’t mean to say that I don’t appreciate the sweater or the DVD, ’cause I do, and I like them very much, and I’m thrilled that you know me well enough to pick out the right sweater and DVD.  But it’s so much FUN to actually do the shopping and the picking out that I feel like I got TWO gifts.

My point is that today was my big shopping day.  By 11am, I’d been to three stores: 1) Kohl’s, so I could exchange pants for John, 2) Target, ’cause John needs cushion-y socks for his work shoes, and 3) the Ann Taylor Factory Store in the outlet mall so I could spend my fabulous gift cards on fabulous work clothes for my new job (that starts next week!  Yikes!).  From there I went to the mall mall to look for a headband at Lord & Taylor (which I did not find – maybe it’s supposed to be at Ann Taylor Loft?) and to use my Banana Republic gift card.  I could have used it at the Banana Republic in the outlet mall, but I cruised quickly through that store and didn’t see anything I liked.  At the one in the mall mall, however, I found that sweater I was drooling over with Mom in the mall in KY in the perfect GREEN shade I like so much, and I bought it for $34.99!  (It was $59.99 two weeks ago.  Yay for sales.)  And I got a cream cami (with satin-ish trim) to go under it AND they gave me an extra 10% off just for using my gift card.  Yay for retail desperation.

Here is a badly aimed (and blurry) picture of the two of us outside the restaurant before dinner last night:

Blurry as it is, this picture is far better than our other attempts.  We asked the hostess to take one before we were seated, but it’s too far away and overexposed.  The ones we took after we got home have strange expressions and double chins.  (The photos themselves, not us.)  Not okay for internet viewing.

Home again, home again, something something

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And also, happy anniversary to us!  John and I were married nine years ago today, which makes me feel old, and at the same time, makes me think, “HOLY CHICKEN MARSHMALLOW BALLS (tm Dooce) we were so young when we got married!”  That might not have been the exact wording of that thought, but you get the idea.  And I like that phrase.  🙂

I just came back from my first pedicure in….well, more than two months for sure.  I don’t remember exactly when I last pampered my feet.  It was definitely before we became, ahem, monetarily challenged.  My new job starts in exactly one week, and I need nice-looking feet.  Well, I don’t need them, but they sure make me feel more prepared.  I’m putting my manicure off until this weekend (I really do need nice-looking hands) because a whole week would give me way too many opportunities to screw up my nails.  No one at work will actually see my feet until summer when I can wear sandals.

I have a very busy (and short) week.  I need to buy clothes (yay for after-Christmas sales!), get a haircut, fill out paperwork for my new job, prepare for New Year’s Eve (clean and shop), and get as much filing done as possible.

Anyway, so today is our anniversary.  Maybe I’ll remember my camera and manage to take a picture of the two of us at dinner.  ‘Cause we’re going out to dinner.  We’re going to Hooked, a seafood place I’ve been dying to try ever since our buddy Jeff first told us about it.  It’s been at least two years since he told us about it, and there’s no good reason why we haven’t made it there in that ridiculously large amount of time, but – look, we’re going there tonight, so back off, okay?  🙂  They have mussels.  I love mussels.  I’m having mussels for dinner.  Yay!

Kimchi!

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I don’t feel like I did enough today, and I think it’s because I didn’t run.  I got out and ran some errands (bought a new thermostat, got the oil changed in my car, had copies made of the house keys for the new pet sitter (who we’re meeting tomorrow)), so I was at least, you know, active, but I feel like a slob.

Dinner, while delicious and healthy (kimchi, rice, lettuce wraps), was painful.  I have a cut on my thumb, just under the nail, and the rice vinegar and soy sauce in the kimchi hurt a lot as it ran over my hands.  Which happened with every bite.  John eventually gave up on the lettuce wraps and just ate rice and kimchi with a fork.  Next time I’ll make sure we have chopsticks.  This is the second time I’ve made kimchi (using Mark’s recipe – good recipe, Mark!), and it turned out pretty well.  John has already eaten most of the non-spicy batch I made for him.

Tomorrow Jess is coming over, and we’re going to see the Canadian Brass Christmas concert at George Mason.  John surprised me with tickets for this concert last year at the Kennedy Center.  He’s pretty good with surprises.  And the concert was great, so I’m very excited.  And Jess is coming over!

Roxy’s Big Getaway

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Roxy made a break for it this morning as John was leaving for work.  He was cleaning ice from his windshield, and I was just closing the door when she slipped out and headed across the yard.  John dropped everything to chase her, and I grabbed my shoes and her leash and followed.  I got outside and found John standing at the top of the hill, looking down the cross street.  When I got there, Roxy was looking at us from most of the way down the block, wagging her tail slowly.  I called her and she started to come to me, but got distracted by who knows what.  I jingled the leash, her ears perked up, and she took off towards me, sliding on the ice on the sidewalk.  I met her halfway, got the leash on her, and took her home.  Apparently, the joys of a walk trump freedom.  Or she’s stupid.  You decide.

She was so happy to be on the leash that I went home, got Riley, and took them both for a walk.  After I put socks on.  Walking in snow and ice in old mesh running shoes without socks is not so much fun.  Why wasn’t I wearing socks?  Well, I was in a hurry and my shoes were on the steps.  Who knows how far away Roxy would have been if I’d taken the time to go upstairs and get socks, too.  Every second counts, people!

Party on, Wayne.

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I’m tired of painting.  The second coat is on, so tomorrow I’ll do the trim.  Or at least part of it.  I think I’ll need John’s help with a couple of things.

I should feel more tired than I do.  It was after 1:30 when we got home last night from the holiday party.  I’m sure it’ll catch up with me tonight.  The party was fun, though.  Lots of food, open bar, a live band and music when the band needed a break.  We went to find Joe so we could say goodbye on our way out, but Joe was on the dance floor, so saying goodbye turned into an hour of dancing.  I like to dance.  🙂

So you know how John is usually the tallest person in the room?  He’s got a coworker who’s 6’6″.  We spent a lot of time talking to him last night, and I just couldn’t get over how he dwarfs John.  It was totally weird.

And now I’m off to shovel the sidewalk and the driveway.  Here’s a cute picture of Roxy (I didn’t want her to feel left out).

Fortune cookie

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Almost forgot.  We ordered Chinese for dinner tonight.  My fortune says,

“If you wish good advice, consult your mother.”

John’s answer,

“Betty, where can we get good advice?”

Smartass.

(His fortune said, “Spirit guides accompany you.”  He didn’t have anything funny to say about that.  And you know I can’t be funny on command.  Help?)

Primer! (Dining Room Makeover, Part III)

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Today I bought paint, cleaned the walls, taped the edges, and got a coat of primer on.  Just finished that.  (I also applied for the two jobs I’m required to apply for each week so I can receive unemployment.  Got my first check yesterday!  Woo!)  I ran, too, with the dogs.  My calves are sore.  And I’m very surprised at Roxy.  We went four miles, and she didn’t wimp out.  Good for her, I guess, and helpful to me.  I don’t like dragging her home when she quits on me.

Anyway, here’s the dining room with primer drying.  The dogs follow me around, so I really hope I don’t end up with dog hair caked on the walls.

I decided to go with Havana Cream (it’s a Behr color).  It’s a muted buttery cream color, and the first coat goes on tomorrow.  I might wear a hat…we’re going to the holiday party for John’s office tomorrow night, and I don’t think I should show up to a semi-formal event with paint in my hair.

And just because you’re nice, here’s an adorable picture of Riley.  See how cute he is with his nose tucked under his paw!

Dining Room Makeover, Part II

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Sanding sucks.  My arms are very tired.  And I’m not done.  But there are paint samples on the wall, so I’m making progress.  I think I know which one I want, too, but John needs to see them first.  As long as he doesn’t hate the one I like, we’re fine.

No pictures today (because I don’t want to show you my splotchy walls).

I don’t have much to say today.  Except that the more I think about it, the unhappier I am with Her Fearful Symmetry.  I don’t think I would read it again.  I enjoyed the journey the first time, but thinking back on it (and talking it out with Mom) made me think of all the unnecessary plot contrivances.  Maybe not unnecessary, but not very well done, I think.  Things don’t add up.