Summer ‘09 Phase Schmase

You have to trust me that I finished my kitchen, thanks only to Anna; and that I finished my living room, thanks only to Heather.  My daughter took my camera on her mission trip so you’ll have to see pics when she gets back. 

All the girls are back from Oklahoma and I was so happy to see them.  They grew like weeds and got their hair cut and I couldn’t believe how different they looked.  They were all tan and looked even less like my children than they normally do.  Couldn’t I have gotten one that looks like me?  Just one little blonde haired/blue eyed girl?   Nope, they all look like I’m the babysitter, but I love those little brown eyed girls. 

So where did summer go?  It was no summer of love. I didn’t do anything but train for my sprint triathlon, which I run this Sunday.  I went to exactly 4 movies, 2 at the vip, and it was actually only 3 movies because I saw The Proposal twice.  I worked a lot, painted a lot (or three rooms), and worked out A LOT.  But apparently I ate a lot too because I didn’t lose as much weight as I would have liked.  Oh well, it’s never as much as you want, I guess. 

Can you believe school starts next Wednesday??  I’m ready for fall.

Summer ‘09 – Phase One

I mentioned earlier the love affair the previous owners had for the color blue. I’m seriously not exaggerating. Seriously. For the blue dining room wall and the front living room wall, which I think was a very pale shade of blue, I went with a chocolate brown. I might have chosen it for the name, “Labrador”. I know it’s wrong, but the name does influence me. The problem I have is that the carpet in the living room is blue (I KNOW) and a little grey, I think it’s a berber-ish kind.  Because of the color, I couldn’t go with a real tan for the other two walls, but I wanted something a little more warm than the very pale blue.

So here’s  the dining room before:

Before

The clock is stuck on 8:05. When we have game night it’s like time stands still. The picture is a photograph my dad took on the beach in San Diego two years ago when we went that my stepmom had made into a canvas. I think I might like to eventually frame it.

When I got the dining set from my grandma, the chairs were a pea green corduroy. I originally went with the blue and yellow, you know, some sort of French countryside theme. Then I painted my previous dining room a wine color (or Sooner crimson) and changed the chairs to the flower pattern. However, since I’m a non-finisher, only two of the six chairs actually have the flower pattern. I’m working on that after this painting.

Here is the after:

After

Don’t you love Labrador on the wall? I think I might even like the wallpaper (which is to the right and you can’t see, sorry) with the new color. It looks darker than it really is because it’s late and the sun isn’t shining in. And I don’t know what’s up with the water spots on the right-hand side. I’ve cleaned my cheap camera, but you get the idea.

Stay tuned for the rest of the living room and the kitchen when I completely abolish the blue. Oh wait, I will have to paint the door jambs down the hallway if I want to get rid of all the blue. Door jambs, really? Oh yeah, you have no idea.

Home Project – Summer of ‘09

I am the queen of the unfinished project.  Not just here, but everywhere I’ve ever lived.  I have high expectations as I start something new only to not finish it completely.  I get bored. Also, I don’t really enjoy the little details at the end, you know, the touch up painting and fixing the paint on the ceiling. 

I’ve lived here three years and I’ve done the upstairs bedrooms (with the help of my friend Anna), the office, and the upstairs bathroom.  Carlos helped me with my office, so it’s really finished, but it’s crazy cluttered since I lost my sewing room (I know, enough with the sewing room whining).  The bathroom still has yellow paint on the ceiling, which I’m actually going to fix this time.

The people that lived here before me, who I love, had a love affair with blue.  Seriously.  EVERYTHING is blue.  The walls, the kitchen (including the ceiling), the carpet, the hall, the wallpaper, the previous bathroom that I changed to yellow.  It’s all blue all the time.  So this year, the summer project is even more lofty than past years.  I’m painting the living room, hall, kitchen (including the ceiling), dining room, and entryway.  It’s a lot and since I’m still the queen of the unfinished project, I’ll have to let you know how it goes. 

The really exciting part of all this is that rhymes with Schlowe’s has mistinted paint for $2.00 a quart. Isn’t that crazy? Not only that, but they had two colors that were close to the color I wanted for my living room so I bought them and am going to mix them. So not only am I painting everything, it’s going to be on a budget, and I’m painting two of my living room walls for $4.00. Don’t be a hater, you too can get mistinted paint if you know where to look, but I had no idea.

Be sure to check back for the before and after pics.  Hopefully the accountability of my blog will encourage me to finish this year’s project completely.

Better to Have Loved and Lost? Blah, blah, blah

I watched Marley & Me last night and started wondering if it really IS better to have loved and lost than never to have loved at all.  What do you think?  Let’s just talk about animals right now.

Seven years ago we got two cocker spaniels, Max and Spirit.  Two months later Spirit died in a tragic pool incident.  The girls were little, but completely torn up about it, as were we.  Kasey still cries about poor Spirit dying.  She named him and she thought of him as hers.

My Kasey is always looking for something else, some animal to love and take care of.  However, when her mouse (yes, mouse) died, the crying, wailing and sadness that hit her were almost unbearable.  She loved that mouse (I can’t think of her name right now), and was sad for days after she died.  I, of course, was the one who had to take the cage outside with said dead mouse in it and put it on the deck.  The next day she put the mouse (what was her name?) in a checkbook box and buried it.  A couple of weeks later when the dogs dug the poor mouse up, there was more crying .  Poor Kasey.  I informed her that the mouse was the last new animal we would get, it’s too hard. 

Last night I couldn’t find the cat.  I was so scared that the cat was going to be dead under a bed somewhere and then what was I going to do.  I started wondering why we have all these animals and what’s going to happen when they die.  I’m not good at this stuff.  It’s bad enough when humans in your life start dying, but pets, come on.  Why do we put ourselves through this?  I like having pets.  The dogs are good for security, and the cat keeps the pests out, but nothing lives forever and does the joy of having them make up for the pain of when they die?

I’m not trying to be Debbie Downer, and I won’t even really get into this point for humans, pets are enough of an emotional wringer for me right now.  But food for thought:  When there’s a great love story that doesn’t work out, i.e. Jane Austen and Tom Lefroy, was she really better off loving and losing than never loving at all?   Oh, and if you’re wondering, the cat was fine.

4th of Julys of Days Gone By

I remember the 4th of Julys of my childhood.  The whole family getting together on the street, having a barbecue, and setting off fireworks all night long.  I was probably 8 years old and I was hit in the cheek with a pop bottle rocket.  It was terrifying.  Same 4th of July, the curtains in our neighbor’s house caught on fire because of a rogue swirling something.  Fireworks were legal back then.

I remember going to a Rockies game many years ago with the monkey and my dad and there was a rain delay causing the firework show to be delayed by about three hours.  I was exhausted by the time it was over and even more tired when I had to go to work the next day.   However, it was the most beautiful show ever.  We were on an upper deck and it felt like they were right over our head.  It was amazing.

When I’m where the girls are for the Fourth, I like going to a display like downtown OKC, or some place that puts on a show.  I’m not a big fan of lighting them in the middle of your street, and unless it’s a sparkler I don’t even want them playing with them.   This is probably one of the many places in child rearing that the monkey and I disagree, but luckily they are safely in Oklahoma.

This year, seriously, my neighbors have some sort of high velocity items that shake my house even though anything you light is illegal in my area.  My dogs are terrified.  TERRIFIED.  I brought them into the kitchen and I can’t even get them to go out so they can go to the bathroom.  I hope they hold it all night because they are cowering and not going anywhere.  I feel like old lady Kravitz, mad at the idiots down the street, and hoping that no one sets my trees on fire.  Oh, and I’m praying for rain so I can get some sleep.

What’s on Your DVR?

Let me say that I’m not proud, but I don’t know what we did before a DVR.  Seriously…..what did we do before DVRs?  Our VCRs flashing 12:00 and archaic timers to set.  It seems like a lifetime ago.  I tend to record quirky movies that I’ve only heard of before but haven’t seen.  Some of the movies aren’t, let’s say ”kid friendly”, so those are the ones I’m cleaning up now that the girls are gone. 

Here are (is?) my two cents on the ones that I’ve watched so far.  Keep in mind that I’m not recommending ANY of them:

Idiocracy – Starring the cute Wilson brother, Luke.  It was actually a very funny movie about a couple that was put in an experimental pod, not unlike Forever Young with Mel Gibson.  However, in this one, they went forward 500 years and humans were morons.  Luke Wilson started the journey as “perfectly average” and ended up being the smartest man on the planet in the year 2505.  It was a frightening look at the moral decay that could be coming if we don’t stop watching our DVRs and start reading a book or two.  Just so you know, after watching this movie I put a couple of books on hold at the library.  I feel better already.

Clay Pigeons – A black comedy with the object of my affection, Vince Vaughn.  He was a serial killer and the FBI agent, Janeane Garofalo (not believable at all), was blaming Joaquin Phoenix for the  murders.  Vince Vaughn had this ridiculous way of laughing that was this high-pitch nervous giggle, it was very funny.  And he always wore a cowboy hat.  He was very cute, you know, for a serial killer.   Joaquin Phoenix had an adorable way of being in the wrong place at the wrong time.  The sheriff asked him to please stop finding dead bodies.

Trainspotting – The most vile, disgusting 95 minutes of my life.  I need to go take a Silkwood shower and find a way to clean between my ears without gouging out my eyes.  In my defense (yes, I have one), the only reason I recorded this is because it had Ewan McGregor, Jonny Miller from Eli Stone, and McArmy from Grey’s Anatomy; but I’m never getting that 95 minutes back.

Oh, there’s more.  There’s The Big Lebowski, We Own the Night, The Mission, and The Nativity Story along with Facing the Giants, Emma,  and Princess Protection Program.  But that’s it for now.  Don’t worry, I’m using my Barnes & Noble gift card to get something thought provoking tomorrow.  That will hold me over until my library books come in.

Take A Walk With Me Down Memory Lane

Exactly 19 years ago this weekend, or half my life, I moved to Colorado.  I wanted a new life, I wanted to run away from the life I was living at 19, I wanted to live with my dad.  Soon after I moved here, there was an awful storm with hail and tornadoes and I remember watching the news and not knowing exactly where I was on the map.    I remember people were stuck on the ferris wheel in the hail at an amusement park, but I didn’t know where it was compared to me.

The idea of living here and then actually living here were completely different, as you can imagine.  In reality, I only made it one month in my dad’s house until my past caught up with me and I moved into an apartment.  My dad didn’t speak to me for three months.  I’ve never understood “conditional” love, but I’ve certainly experienced enough of it in my family.  That apartment was the beginning of the end, as the monkey lived right across the hall and the rest is history. 

Do you think people can change their stars?  That’s what I’m after, what I’m trying to do.  I’m trying to change my stars.  I thought it would be enough just to move somewhere new, but it turns out it takes quite a bit more work, as it’s 19 years later and I’m still trying to do it.  I’m finally on the path, but it’s a winding, rocky path full of pitfalls. 

Even though the terrain is rough, I’m still walking it with my tennis shoes laced up.  Sometimes I’d like to take them off and sit for a while, but I still have my shoes on.

T Minus One Month

In exactly one month I’m going to be swimming a half mile, riding my bike 12 miles, and running/walking/crawling 3 miles.  Crazy?  Maybe.  Determined to lose weight?  Absolutely! 

I’ve been working out twice a day for the past couple of days, and then my training partner went out of town.  Here’s my real test:  can I work out as effectively on my own?  Hopefully. 

When I was 20, I did the Fat Tire Classic with my dad, which means I rode my bike from Frisco to Breckenridge over a mountain pass and then back the next day.  To understand the accomplishment you’d have to see a map.  To get ready for it I rode my bike 15 miles every day after work with a mountain ride on the weekends.  I hated it, every minute of it.  I’m not an exerciser by nature, it’s a chore.  I loved how I looked, I had awesome legs, but if it weren’t for my dad, I wouldn’t have done any of it.

What I’m doing in one month is going to be a million times harder than that, and I’m 18 years older.   “Why do it?”, you ask.  Well, I need a goal, and a date, and a life.  I’ve said from the beginning that I don’t necessarily WANT to do a triathlon, I want to be ABLE to do a triathlon.  Big difference.  I want to be in the kind of shape that I don’t have to train for a year, I could just do it if I wanted.  And not always a tri, but a half marathon maybe, or a 10K where I’m not dying the next day.  And, more importantly, I want to be a better example for my kids.

I guess I’d better stop blogging and get moving.  Pray that I don’t drown on August 2nd.