Friday, April 8, 2011
7 AM--alarm goes off, go to guest room, laze in that bed for about 1/2 hour. Visited by 2 out of 3 cats.
7:25--finally get out of bed, take AM meds, make sure DH is up since we have to leave for the oral surgeon (wisdom teeth extraction) in about an hour, talk with him for 10 mins or so, then leave him to shower & shave while I go eat. So rude to eat in front of someone on a medical fast.
7:45--in the kitchen. Make myself breakfast--2 eggs scrambled, with leftover rice, some cannelini beans, and cheddar cheese. If only I had some salsa...
8 AM--back upstairs, hop in the shower. Get dressed, comb hair, put some makeup on.
8:25--downstairs, put shoes on, gather up stuff to do while in the waiting room.
8:35--in the car, backing out of the driveway.
8:45--pull into surgeon's parking lot, head inside, check in.
9 AM--DH goes off with a dental assistant. I settle in with my MP3 player, some water, and a packet of info from our financial planner. I take a quiz that shows I'm low to medium risk. Ha! Really? ;-) Try to remember our monthly expenses while filling out a budget sheet. If only I had a laptop and had my excel files with me...
9:45--DH is done! I go back to see him, he's chatting away. Everything went smoothly. We get our instructions, I go get the car.
9:55--heading home, chatting away. DH's speech is VERY slurry. Is that the drugs or the gauze? Who knows. But he's making sense so that's good.
10:15--get home, help DH in the house and into bed. Back out to the car to gather our things.
10:30-11:30--change gauze 2x, play with the cats, throw in a load of dishes and laundry, prep potatoes for mashed potatoes later, prep meatloaf ingredients, pick up a bit, made a phone call, took out the trash and recyclables.
11:30-12:30--bring up ice packs and change gauze. And water. Check email and FB. Take away ice. Change gauze. Blog a bit. Read some articles online. Debate starting meatloaf. Think about when to go on painkillers run. Change gauze.
12:30-1:30--mix meatloaf, put in oven, deal with laundry issues (including why a load of blankets didn't spin out all of the way), clean up the kitchen. Bring up DH some jello, hang out and chat while he eats, talk about going for painkillers and movies, let the cats in to see him. Get radio from basement, bring back upstairs. Leave him to rest, head back downstairs, check meatloaf. Get mail, walk around house looking at all of the weeds that have sprung up in just a few weeks of non-snowy conditions. Must have been all of that WATER to help them along.
1:30-2:30--start email to former boss, timer goes off, pull out meatloaf. Make snack. Work on email to old boss. Check job postings online. Finish email to old boss. Check the patient, gauze change.
2:30-4:15--leave house to procure pain meds and movies, drive to CVS that is located near a Blockbuster, since many of them around here (around the country?) are going out of business. Tell the woman at CVS that I'll be back in about a half hour. Go to Blockbuster. I have a list of movies to buy if they are cheap enough and movies to rent. It's Turtle's lucky day (or I'm a sap) but he gets 6 DVDs for $40 and we each get a rental. It's about 3:45 at this point, and obviously I've taken longer than I'd planned, so I head back to CVS. Grab Turtle a new toothbrush since he needs a soft one and a few other things. Head to the pharmacy counter. Guess what wasn't ready. I'm glad I said a HALF hour, yet gave them an hour. Prescription was in "holding" since it was a narcotic, but whatever. Pay, leave, drive home.
After this, the day sort of blurred. I know I went home and ate dinner at some point. Did some cleaning up, etc. Then Turtle came up with this great idea to go to a grocery store to pick up a few things. I actually said to him, "I know you've been laying low all day, and probably feel wonderful, but I haven't. I'm actually a little tired right now. I need to relax for a bit. Then maybe we can go."
7:15--backing out of the garage and off to the grocery store! Home by 8:15, then watched a movie, and bed. I was so tired.
Next will be a "typical" Working Rabbit day. I don't know when, so just hang tight.
Friday, April 8, 2011
SAHW today!
I'll post more about my day later on. I'm not home for a good reason (Turtle had his wisdom teeth out this morning) but I'm getting SO. MUCH. DONE. In between running upstairs for gauze changes and ice packs.
I should do a "Rabbit at work" and a "Rabbit at home" days comparison.
I should do a "Rabbit at work" and a "Rabbit at home" days comparison.
Wednesday, April 6, 2011
Today: good, bad, then good again
Today was going to be a good day. I was going into work very late, since we had an appointment with a financial planner this morning. We had breakfast at a bagel shop in my hometown, which neither of us had been to before. It was wonderful to take our time, not be in a rush, then head over to the man's office. The appointment went very well; we liked the planner immediately, he seems like he's a good fit for us and our personalities.
Then we went our separate ways--Turtle for his usual 12 to 8 Wednesday, me for an abbreviated day, although I'd be staying very late. Work was...challenging. My boss, who has been there less than 2 months, has lots of great ideas and very little knowledge as to how things work in the office and with the company. I got in at 11:45, by 12:15 I had a headache. And was annoyed. Then the programmers didn't upload files that I'd asked them to upload last night, for an email blast that was going out today. Then I was angry. I thought about some things in my non-work life, which made me sad. Mostly me and my health, and how a few people have disappeared recently, despite my reaching out.
I wasn't feeling that great by the time I left work around 7 pm. I dreaded the drive home, even though I knew I was making steelhead trout for dinner and it's one of our favorites. I reached our house, walked inside, and WOW! All of our ceilings had been painted. The kitchen looked fabulous--it had been filled with nail pops and bad patch jobs. Our bedroom was amazing--there had been a large stripe down the center from (I think) a taping fix that wasn't neat. It was GONE. The other areas looked great as well.
It's funny how something SO simple can lift your spirits. I then sprang to action, getting dinner in the oven, pulling things out for tomorrow night's dinner, unloading the dishwasher, etc. I even managed to move some heavy furniture away from the walls so that the painter could work on those tomorrow. If only these "little things" can pop up while I'm at work!
Then we went our separate ways--Turtle for his usual 12 to 8 Wednesday, me for an abbreviated day, although I'd be staying very late. Work was...challenging. My boss, who has been there less than 2 months, has lots of great ideas and very little knowledge as to how things work in the office and with the company. I got in at 11:45, by 12:15 I had a headache. And was annoyed. Then the programmers didn't upload files that I'd asked them to upload last night, for an email blast that was going out today. Then I was angry. I thought about some things in my non-work life, which made me sad. Mostly me and my health, and how a few people have disappeared recently, despite my reaching out.
I wasn't feeling that great by the time I left work around 7 pm. I dreaded the drive home, even though I knew I was making steelhead trout for dinner and it's one of our favorites. I reached our house, walked inside, and WOW! All of our ceilings had been painted. The kitchen looked fabulous--it had been filled with nail pops and bad patch jobs. Our bedroom was amazing--there had been a large stripe down the center from (I think) a taping fix that wasn't neat. It was GONE. The other areas looked great as well.
It's funny how something SO simple can lift your spirits. I then sprang to action, getting dinner in the oven, pulling things out for tomorrow night's dinner, unloading the dishwasher, etc. I even managed to move some heavy furniture away from the walls so that the painter could work on those tomorrow. If only these "little things" can pop up while I'm at work!
Sunday, April 3, 2011
Updates to some older posts
1) I spoke with our priest, Fr. T, today about a lot of things related to why our parish is struggling. Turns out my post from 3/22 was (mostly) on the mark. Look for a post later in the week about this--I don't have much time right now. Hopefully I'll remember today's conversation.
2) Guess who got 1 coat of wall paint up in the half bath this afternoon??? Yup, me. Looks so. much. better. Plan of attack--sand some of the weird spots, coat #2, touch up the parts of the ceiling that got wall paint on them, paint the trim, paint the door, any other touch ups, and THEN, move the bathroom stuff back into the bathroom. By bathroom stuff I mean curtains, mirror, trash basket, etc.
Off to watch a movie with the other half--have a great week!
2) Guess who got 1 coat of wall paint up in the half bath this afternoon??? Yup, me. Looks so. much. better. Plan of attack--sand some of the weird spots, coat #2, touch up the parts of the ceiling that got wall paint on them, paint the trim, paint the door, any other touch ups, and THEN, move the bathroom stuff back into the bathroom. By bathroom stuff I mean curtains, mirror, trash basket, etc.
Off to watch a movie with the other half--have a great week!
Saturday, April 2, 2011
A few updates...
I've added some new links to my "Check out some cool blogs..." area on the bottom right. If yours is not up there, it's due to my oversight, not because I don't like you or don't read your blog or because you have green hair.
Catherine Alexander--sorry to "call you out" like this, but I went to follow your blog, and now I cannot find it. If you still have it up and are accepting followers (wow, that sounds like I'm asking to join a cult!), could you please email it to me? rabbitturtle29 at gmail dot com Thanks! :)
It is April 2nd and we have a fire going. WHERE ARE YOU, Spring!?!?
Catherine Alexander--sorry to "call you out" like this, but I went to follow your blog, and now I cannot find it. If you still have it up and are accepting followers (wow, that sounds like I'm asking to join a cult!), could you please email it to me? rabbitturtle29 at gmail dot com Thanks! :)
It is April 2nd and we have a fire going. WHERE ARE YOU, Spring!?!?
testing!
Can I really post from an email? This might be handy for those times when I am in a hurry. Or at work and something comes to mind that I have to get out..
ETA: Oh ho ho! It worked!
ETA: Oh ho ho! It worked!
Friday, April 1, 2011
I caved in (NOT an April Fool's joke!)
When we bought the house, I had grand ideas. We were going to tackle things ourselves, and we'd only call in professionals when absolutely necessary. I was going to paint the ENTIRE house myself! It would be SO easy! Psh, me and a 2,000 square foot house? No big deal. The fact that I'd NEVER painted a room before? That's NOTHING! (Turtle saw the light early on and excused himself from any painting. That, and he grew up seeing painting first-hand. Smart, very smart.) If only I had known...
You see, I grew up in a post and beam house. No sheet rock, no paint, no wallpaper, no carpet. Wood, a brick chimney, tile and linoleum in the bathrooms and kitchen, respectively. That's it. But mostly wood. After visiting friends' houses when I was very little, I came home asking my mom if we were poor, since we didn't have the "luxuries" of shag carpet and glossy wallpaper like some of my friends. As a pre-teen, I bemoaned that my bedroom looked like something out of Little House on the Prairie, and didn't even have 4 straight walls so that ALL 40 bazillion of my New Kids on the Block posters couldn't be hung. (Gambrel roofs do not make friends with 11 year olds wanting pictures of Joey McIntire ALL. OVER. THEIR. BEDROOM.) I had to make do with the curved walls and the beams cutting into my fabulous design plans. In high school, these little pieces of walls were perfect for Absolut Vodka ads. Mind you, I didn't have my first "forbidden" drink (meaning, without adult supervision on holidays or at a wedding) until the summer following my senior year of high school. And, I never went to any parties in college before I was legally able to drink. Hey, I thought they were creative means of advertising! Look at me now, I work in marketing!
Back to the present. The painting. It worked well for awhile--I painted our TV room all by myself. Even if it took almost 2 months, with a little help from my mother on the trim towards the very end after I thought it would be great to host Christmas and things still weren't done. Whoops. Then I took some time off (oh, a year!), and started the half bath in...late February or early March. Today's April 1st and I still haven't rolled paint on the walls.
In non-painting tasks, we garden together. We stained 2 decks this summer. We clean and maintain other things on our own. Turtle does the lawn care on his own. (Except for the turf people who put down fertilizer and lime and all of that stuff since the previous owners basically let the grass that existed at one time burn out. This year will be our second/last year.)
But, since I havedelusions of grandeur grand ideas, I often forget how much free time I really don't have, and am a poor judge in how long tasks will take. Then I get frustrated with half finished projects, like our less than half painted half bathroom, and wonder if they will ever be complete. This from the same woman who said in October 2009, "I can paint this entire house ALL. BY. MY. SELF."
Right. Here we are, just shy of living here 18 months and what do I have to show for it? The TV room. (Not even counting the unfinished half bath.) GOOD JOB! Granted, things did get in the way. Like a broken hand. Like outdoor projects. Like all of this #*@()$&@^# snow we got this winter. (Yeah, I know, if I was stuck inside for so long, how come I didn't paint? My job does not stop because there's pretty white fluff on the ground. Working from home doesn't mean flipping the channels while answering a few emails. Oh, and when you've got FEET of snow to move, that takes up any extra time.)
I wanted to be like John & Sherry at Young House Love who get up every day, rearing to go paint and create! In fact, I probably would be if not for the fact that I must get up and shuffle off to a desk to NOT paint and create. It it HARD to work full time and try to squeeze in a lot of house stuff into your evenings and weekends when you have a million other things going on, and not much vacation time. So I had to accept what I could not change.
On Monday afternoon, I called a painter to come and give me an estimate. We spoke on Tuesday. Wednesday, she came to see my house and what I needed done. Yesterday I hired her. She starts on Tuesday. I would just like to confess that I have had this woman's card in my planner for almost a YEAR now. Because, I was going to be able to paint everything MYSELF and I would NOT need a professional to help me. Something told me to keep her card though...
It's not like me to ask for help. Growing up, my parents didn't have the money to get people to do things for them, so my dad eitherfurther broke fixed things, or we did without. Plus, my mom was home full time for a very long time, so she took care of a lot of house things, both indoors and out, while we were in school all day. I wanted to be Superwoman, but I can't.
This was a BIG deal for me to say 1) I cannot do this in a reasonable time frame (or, ever) and 2) I need to PAY someone MONEY to do it for me. Turtle is jumping for joy and saying alleluia!
People, I can be very cheap, especially when it comes to doing things for myself. Like I've said before here and in other posts, it's how I was raised. I rarely get my car washed and the inside cleaned because I have a vacuum, two hands, soap, rags, Windex and all of that. On the other hand, it's not like my car is always immaculate, either. I will wear nylons with holes in them with pants since no one can see the holes. I reuse everything. My purse is slowly falling apart. This time, I did not blink at the expense. It needs to be done.
The price for painting was VERY good, and I feel good about giving someone a job. Especially a woman who owns her own business. I got her name from my mom's coworker, who had nothing but great things to say about her. To make this small world even smaller, after I'd asked the painter to have her insurance company fax me a certificate of coverage (can't be too careful!), we have the same insurance agent! The agent called me today to let me know she'd be faxing over the documents and to put in a good word. How's THAT for service?
What's getting painted?
As my mom said the other night when I called her to run the estimate* by her, I'm going to feel much more settled when this is all over. Hanging this over my head for so long wasn't helping me to feel at home, in my own home. Hopefully I'll be on a roll and finish setting up the house the way I really want it.
Oh, but picking colors would help, huh? I told the painter that it's good that she's starting soon, as I work best under pressure. She'd never had a customer say that before. I bet. I do work well under deadlines. I'm going to the paint store tomorrow for yet MORE chips. I hope I can narrow it down...
Of course this comes after me drawing up a new budget and paying off some bills. It's either all or nothing with me, in so many areas. Sometimes, I just shake my head at myself.
*The estimate apparently was good--someone else my mom works with had their living room done. Just 2 coats of wall paint, the ceiling and the trim = $1200. All of my rooms together, plus the paint, are less than double that number. WIN! And thank you tax refund.
You see, I grew up in a post and beam house. No sheet rock, no paint, no wallpaper, no carpet. Wood, a brick chimney, tile and linoleum in the bathrooms and kitchen, respectively. That's it. But mostly wood. After visiting friends' houses when I was very little, I came home asking my mom if we were poor, since we didn't have the "luxuries" of shag carpet and glossy wallpaper like some of my friends. As a pre-teen, I bemoaned that my bedroom looked like something out of Little House on the Prairie, and didn't even have 4 straight walls so that ALL 40 bazillion of my New Kids on the Block posters couldn't be hung. (Gambrel roofs do not make friends with 11 year olds wanting pictures of Joey McIntire ALL. OVER. THEIR. BEDROOM.) I had to make do with the curved walls and the beams cutting into my fabulous design plans. In high school, these little pieces of walls were perfect for Absolut Vodka ads. Mind you, I didn't have my first "forbidden" drink (meaning, without adult supervision on holidays or at a wedding) until the summer following my senior year of high school. And, I never went to any parties in college before I was legally able to drink. Hey, I thought they were creative means of advertising! Look at me now, I work in marketing!
Back to the present. The painting. It worked well for awhile--I painted our TV room all by myself. Even if it took almost 2 months, with a little help from my mother on the trim towards the very end after I thought it would be great to host Christmas and things still weren't done. Whoops. Then I took some time off (oh, a year!), and started the half bath in...late February or early March. Today's April 1st and I still haven't rolled paint on the walls.
In non-painting tasks, we garden together. We stained 2 decks this summer. We clean and maintain other things on our own. Turtle does the lawn care on his own. (Except for the turf people who put down fertilizer and lime and all of that stuff since the previous owners basically let the grass that existed at one time burn out. This year will be our second/last year.)
But, since I have
Right. Here we are, just shy of living here 18 months and what do I have to show for it? The TV room. (Not even counting the unfinished half bath.) GOOD JOB! Granted, things did get in the way. Like a broken hand. Like outdoor projects. Like all of this #*@()$&@^# snow we got this winter. (Yeah, I know, if I was stuck inside for so long, how come I didn't paint? My job does not stop because there's pretty white fluff on the ground. Working from home doesn't mean flipping the channels while answering a few emails. Oh, and when you've got FEET of snow to move, that takes up any extra time.)
I wanted to be like John & Sherry at Young House Love who get up every day, rearing to go paint and create! In fact, I probably would be if not for the fact that I must get up and shuffle off to a desk to NOT paint and create. It it HARD to work full time and try to squeeze in a lot of house stuff into your evenings and weekends when you have a million other things going on, and not much vacation time. So I had to accept what I could not change.
On Monday afternoon, I called a painter to come and give me an estimate. We spoke on Tuesday. Wednesday, she came to see my house and what I needed done. Yesterday I hired her. She starts on Tuesday. I would just like to confess that I have had this woman's card in my planner for almost a YEAR now. Because, I was going to be able to paint everything MYSELF and I would NOT need a professional to help me. Something told me to keep her card though...
It's not like me to ask for help. Growing up, my parents didn't have the money to get people to do things for them, so my dad either
This was a BIG deal for me to say 1) I cannot do this in a reasonable time frame (or, ever) and 2) I need to PAY someone MONEY to do it for me. Turtle is jumping for joy and saying alleluia!
People, I can be very cheap, especially when it comes to doing things for myself. Like I've said before here and in other posts, it's how I was raised. I rarely get my car washed and the inside cleaned because I have a vacuum, two hands, soap, rags, Windex and all of that. On the other hand, it's not like my car is always immaculate, either. I will wear nylons with holes in them with pants since no one can see the holes. I reuse everything. My purse is slowly falling apart. This time, I did not blink at the expense. It needs to be done.
The price for painting was VERY good, and I feel good about giving someone a job. Especially a woman who owns her own business. I got her name from my mom's coworker, who had nothing but great things to say about her. To make this small world even smaller, after I'd asked the painter to have her insurance company fax me a certificate of coverage (can't be too careful!), we have the same insurance agent! The agent called me today to let me know she'd be faxing over the documents and to put in a good word. How's THAT for service?
What's getting painted?
- The kitchen (which I was going to have a pro do anyway, because I am not tiny and there are a lot of little spaces where I'd never be able to do)--some kind of beige/neutral since we have greenish countertops, thanks previous owners for choosing that, it really limits your options!
- The dining room--a blue
- The library--very light greyish-pink/light mauve. With the wood stove, I need something that will hide smoke well. But we have brick in here, so something to accentuate that.
- The foyer--a creamy light yellow, since it's dark
- The stairwell--ditto
- The upstairs hallway-ditto
- The master bedroom (was also going to have a pro do since we need it to sleep in and I don't think it would have been good for me to take months to do it)--it was going to be blue but tonight Turtle suggested yellow. Now I'm not so sure...
As my mom said the other night when I called her to run the estimate* by her, I'm going to feel much more settled when this is all over. Hanging this over my head for so long wasn't helping me to feel at home, in my own home. Hopefully I'll be on a roll and finish setting up the house the way I really want it.
Oh, but picking colors would help, huh? I told the painter that it's good that she's starting soon, as I work best under pressure. She'd never had a customer say that before. I bet. I do work well under deadlines. I'm going to the paint store tomorrow for yet MORE chips. I hope I can narrow it down...
Of course this comes after me drawing up a new budget and paying off some bills. It's either all or nothing with me, in so many areas. Sometimes, I just shake my head at myself.
*The estimate apparently was good--someone else my mom works with had their living room done. Just 2 coats of wall paint, the ceiling and the trim = $1200. All of my rooms together, plus the paint, are less than double that number. WIN! And thank you tax refund.
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