Sunday, September 28, 2014

Polishing

I have nails again.  Stress abated enough to let my nails grow a bit.  They are (shockingly) long enough for polish and I'm experimenting with colors way (WAY) outside my comfort zone.  I found julep.com and am a 'Maven' - so I get three colors a month that I can select for a nicely discounted price.  The polishes aren't cheap but they do seem to hold up longer than the usual Target available colors I've used in the past.  Plus, they are really varied and give me lots of options to play with.

I'm not good at polishing yet - I don't get too much on my fingers anymore - but dark(er) polishes are harder to put on evenly - and the color is always heaviest on my right hand 'cuz my left hand isn't as skilled at the 'lighter touch' needed for thinner coats.  I keep trying.

I just ruined my entire right hand by typing way too soon - the thicker coats don't dry as quickly and I always underestimate where I'm at in terms of 'dry time'.  Oh well.  More practice later today when I attempt to redo them again.

I wore color to work a couple weeks ago and got a lot of compliments - but it's likely Monday will dawn with me and my usual coat of clear.  Or my favorite nail glaze of a light violet color (which I got at Julep and now they don't make anymore.  Drat!).  Clear looks very nice; is easy to do and hard to mess up - so it's been my 'go-to' color during the growing out process.

We had a wonderful thunder storm on Friday evening that was sudden and unexpected.  While packing up to call it a week, the sky got suddenly dark and shortly after arriving home, there was thunder and lightening and then some significant rain.  (Significant for us - not like last night's storm in Phoenix).  But enough to leave puddles around town for a day or so which is really welcome.

H. was so excited that he skipped around the house - getting more and more happy with each thunderclap.  Warmed my heart to seeing him find joy in something so unexpected.  It was a fun evening of him enjoying the rain -

Then he went out with friends and ended up being so hungover yesterday that he pretty much slept all day.

There's no counseling him on what he shouldn't be doing.  He knows he really shouldn't be drinking and certainly not enough to end up feeling 'horrible' for a full day.  I attempted to be supportive by offering to get him food; suggesting he take ibuprofen and drink a bunch of water.  All of which he did but still felt 'really bad'.  Yeah, 'cuz your body has enough to do right now without you inebriating it to the point of sickness, you twit.

He's young.

B. is heading back to El Paso via bus today - the training was only three weeks instead of six.  And he will get an immediate two week 'vacation'.  Seemed so silly for him to be going back to ELP when he could get here via car in a few hours?  But guess it's like taking kids on a field trip - the head count going needs to be the same headcount returning - and it would throw the entire system into a tizzy to have someone stay behind.  He is thinking he will drive back out - airfare short notice is pretty pricey and he thinks a road trip sounds fun.  And his car recently has a couple thousand dollars of work that should make the trip uneventful.  So we hope to see him here in a week or so - but are not positive what his plans are.  This may be the first vacation he has where he doesn't come home -

Scandal is back on and the first episode had Olivia doing her usual - drinking huge glasses of expensive red wines.  Last night, I attempted to do the same - not nearly as expensive as what Olivia drinks but enjoyed some wine with dinner.

It was delicious but I need to work on my tolerance.  I shockingly didn't sleep well at all - which I recall is something that often happens when I enjoy wine.

Guess I need to start drinking much earlier in the day -


Wednesday, September 24, 2014

Lumber

Thanks to our wonderful friend G. who loaned us her truck on Tuesday, H. & J. were able to pick up the lumber and bring it here in one trip.  H. worked so hard on Monday and had the entire dining room moved to the living room by the time I got home.  Now we wait for trim pieces and the risers. All the risers will be custom made for our stairs (there hasn't been a damn thing 'standard' in this house since we bought it) so that will be another two weeks.  It's looking like the job will start two weeks from today - so lumber in the living room is our life for now.  And our dining room dishes, china, antiques and crystal are also in the living room.  So glad we don't have a cat 'cuz that would be disaster.  One wrong move and it's all gone.

I had dinner with a friend last night and was so glad to see her.  The hardest part of work lately isn't the work - it's feeling friendless and lonely.  The folks we've hired are all very nice and very busy. Getting to lunch isn't in the schedule for anyone so far - and while I'm saving money eating at my desk, it's isolating and a little lonely at times.  I miss my friend.  I drove to Brentwood where she lives to meet her for dinner - and that worked really well for her.  She's got two little boys at home so the closer she is to home, the easier it is for her to take time out for a dinner after work.  We are hoping to make it a every couple of months thing.

Tomorrow, I head north to Yolo County for a workshop and I'm really looking forward to it - primarily 'cuz I'm going alone so plenty of time for thinking and strategizing with just me.  It's one of my favorite drives - early morning before sunrise and then watching all the farms along the way waking up.

So excited it's the start of the fall lineup on TV - so many things to watch.  Tomorrow is Scandal (I can't WAIT for it!!) and tonight, it's Survivor.  Love our shows and glad they are back on.

The Honorable Woman ended interestingly.  It is an intriguing show full of suspense and surprises. I found myself thinking of the Israel/Palestine conflict in such a different way after the show.  There will never be an easy answer and all the involved parties have to compromise.  Not compromising is leading to more and more resentment which compounds everything over and over and over.  It was a great mini-series and I see lots of Emmy's in the future for the cast and crew.  Phenomenal television and we waited every week for the next show - and have watched each over and over including subtitles to be sure we aren't missing the dialog.  Next plan is to re-watch the entire series one right after the other -

Hoping for rain tomorrow!

Monday, September 22, 2014

I am Awake

4:45 alarm did the job - helped that I had awakened minutes before the music started.  My internal alarm never shuts off and all during vacation, I woke up early and just rolled over and went back to sleep.  Several times.  9AM is a really late sleep for me - so will have to look forward to weekends for that.

It's Monday.  Even Chloe seemed surprised someone was up this early with her.

B. lost a friend this past weekend - pretty sure she took her life.  We don't know many details and don't know if he knows.  We think he does.  We saw his green light on Facebook a bit yesterday and resisted the urge to inquire...figuring the few minutes he had on his phone, he could use to talk to others who knew her.  Very sad for a tight group of friends.

It's hard having B. unavailable - it's worse than Basic 'cuz we have no contact or updates about much of anything.  Four more weeks of this.

J. and H. will be trekking to Lumber Liquidators a couple times tomorrow to pick up the flooring - saves $150 in delivery - we probably would have paid for delivery except even if they deliver, you still have to bring the boxes of flooring into your house yourself.  We can drive over the hill two times and schlep it inside ourselves. The two of them will also begin moving stuff out and it looks like the work will start one week from today - so I can pitch in over the weekend.  Once the china hutch is taken care of, the rest is easy.

I think we're going to take Chloe to the kennel for a few days, too - less stressful on her and easier on J. to not have to worry about keeping her where she needs to be while workmen are doing their thing.

We have decided to make an official withdrawal from retirement savings in early January.  We've made it 2.5 years without dipping into long-term savings at all - but it's time.  A small withdrawal will pay for the flooring and beef up our savings a bit.  Next on the list is to acquire new furniture. We've had an empty living room for quite awhile and while our next house will likely only have one 'great room', we see ourselves here for at least another 10 years...and that's a long time to have an empty room.  (Though that empty room is sure coming in handy as a place to put the dining room while the floors are redone).  Heck - we may even decide that we love the new floors so much, we want to redo the living room and family room, too - we'll see.  Either way, having more cushion in our short term savings will really help - and allow for a trip in the Spring, we hope.  Either Paris or Cancun for our 25th - TBD depending on how H. is doing.

Casa Majah is showing her age and she needs some work.  Better to start making small, annual withdrawals that largely end up in savings - spreads out the tax burden a bit and makes things like landscaping, furniture, maintenance and upkeep easier to do.

It's time to get showered and dressed.  Pains me to be done with vacation so quickly but oh well.  The trip to Phoenix in November will be a nice break and then we'll be officially in holiday-madness mode.

Saturday, September 20, 2014

House Projects

Looks like we have decided to redo the floors including the dining room.  I stare at the hutch full of my wedding china and other very sentimental, old pieces I've collected from aunts, cousins, grandmothers.  All of it will need to be moved out of the hutch and somewhere 'safe' for a few days while the carpet is pulled out and laminate is put down.

(Side note:  we decided to go with laminate on the advice of the flooring guy who said with a pet and someone who constantly drips on the carpet [his name starts with an H. but he refuses to admit it's him.  It is.], laminate would hold up better in our 'life' at this point.  Guess we need to rethink hardwood for our next house, too, with the hope that somedays, there will be littles running around it now and then - in the form of grandchildren.  So laminate it is).

We have enlisted H.'s help and offered to compensate appropriately - we need him 'cuz there is no way me and my beloved can do this by ourselves.  We need brute strength and H. has that in spades over the two of us.

(Another side note:  J. celebrated his 65th birthday yesterday.  We enjoyed a quiet day waiting around for the floor estimator to arrive and then sushi takeout for dinner and a Nothing Bundt Cake (carrot cake!) for dessert.  He even got a quick call from B. who managed to 'get a couple minutes with my phone' so that was nice - he's alive and doing whatever it is they are doing.  Glad he was able to call J. even if only for a couple minutes).

J. just threw on a hat and headed to the pool store this morning to replace the skimmer basket.  Interesting that the entire filter system shuts down when the skimmer basket isn't in place and it's cracked and no longer functioning.  Fingers crossed J. can find what we need at our local pool supply store.

We will head over to Livermore shortly to pick out the flooring and pay the deposit then back home to begin two long days of schlepping stuff down to the living room.  Setting up our tables, etc. - to place china on to just sit while the work is done.

I resist doing it but I know that if we don't bite the bullet and get the dining room done, I will regret not doing it every time I look at the carpet.  It's actually not a high traffic room at all and the carpet is in very good shape for being 14 years old but the area will flow better with the flooring the same throughout.

Now my only regret is that we aren't doing laminate upstairs in the landing - stopping at each bedroom door?  Just can't take on that expense right now.

I've been sleeping in until 9AM the past few mornings and dread Monday's 4:30 wake-up with every ounce of my being.  Schlepping off to work will be hard.  Even harder are the auditors arriving at 9AM on my first day back - but I knew that when I scheduled the week off and will survive.  They always have plenty to do and there won't be any issue with them doing it step by step....while I prep the next thing for them.  It will be a busy week -

Wednesday, September 17, 2014

Two Weeks

Hi!  It's been awhile.  No reason in particular.  Busy days just pass one after the other.

I am in Jackson where Lady Luck is trampling me.  Last trip for a LONG time.  Yes, really.  I'm done.

B. is in Cali however, we can't see him.  He can't leave base and we can't visit - so he's in the state for six weeks and we won't see him.  It's OK.  It's something he can't control.  We don't really know what he's up to and even if we did, we can't comment on it.  It's all very 'military-ish' and hush hush.  We haven't heard from him much and don't expect to - so it's a little like when he was in Basic Training and we just hope he's doing OK.  Only without any pictures on Facebook - so we truly have no idea how he is.  That's hard on a mom.

H. had a scan today and we await appointments in the next couple weeks to find out how things look. He has complained of his chest feeling 'weird' lately and that bothers me.  This morning, I woke up from a sound sleep with the song I used to play over and over when he was in the hospital in my head.  So now I worry even more.  I'm sure it's all fine.  Maybe his chest feels strange 'cuz he's used to there being a tumor there - and it's not there anymore?

H. and I have been having a rough time lately - our communications are apparently unclear (to us both) and that results in a fair amount of drama.  My head can still go to the absolute worst scenario possible in nano-seconds.  I need to tamp that mom-ness down a bit.

Heading home tomorrow and then off Friday - it's J.'s 65th birthday!  Can you believe it?

And this past Monday was the 25th anniversary of the day he asked me to marry him.  September is a good month.

J. and I saw Flower Drum Song at Woodminster Amphitheater in the Berkeley hills last Saturday.  It wasn't anything like the original movie or show - rewritten completely.  The story was good.  Just different than what we expected but most of the music was the same - and it's the music that gets us to musicals.  Nice evening.

I'm off work this week - last vacation until Thanksgiving, most likely.  Oh wait!  We are heading to Phoenix for a long weekend in early November so that counts.  Th-Fr-Monday off with Tuesday being Veteran's Day (holiday).  That will be a nice break followed a couple weeks later by Thanksgiving!

And that means Christmas isn't too far away!

Home Depot is so incompetent they can't do the stairs in laminate.  Or - well they can - but it will be $250 PER STAIR.  They suggested the two stairs between the entryway and the landing into the kitchen/dining room be recarpeted - so tile to two carpeted stairs to laminate.  How dumb will that look?  We realize stairs are a lot of work - but we are planning to leave the risers just painted white so only the top has to be redone with 'caps' on the edges.  How hard is it for a flooring installer to do that?  So now we shop around some more trying to see what other options we have.  A place in town says they can do it - but we're a little hesitant now.  We don't want the stairs to look crappy.  (Though nothing could look as crappy as our impossible to keep clean carpet at this point).

That's about it - two weeks summarized - life is good.  Blessings abound.  In spite of Lady Luck dragging me through the muck here while I 'relax' in Jackson.

Wednesday, September 03, 2014

Other Things I Keep Meaning to Tell You

Random things that I keep meaning to jot down:

There was a recent national news story on two animals who were rescued by a group not far from here. The one rescued first was pining for his friend so much that he didn't eat or drink for days - so the rescue group contacted the former owner and discovered he had a friend.  They brought the friend and the reaction was immediate and priceless and so sweet.  I sent a donation to this organization in honor of those two animals now living out a happy life together.

Notice I'm not mentioning the name of the organization.  Why?  They do amazing work!  It's an awesome group.  But they are hard-core vegans.  I've got nothing against that.  Heck, I admire it.  But these folks are serious.  To the point where I now feel guilty for donating to an organization I really don't support - in that I am using animal products and (yee gads!) eat them, too.  So I'm not mentioning their name here lest I get slammed with comments or....well, I don't know what the or would be but I don't want any part of it. Admire the folks doing this important work and rescuing farm animals from bad situations and giving them a place to live out their days.  But.....

They bombard me with news feed on Facebook about why we shouldn't use animal products - and that's just not happening.  Eggs, cheese, chicken, beef, pork....love them all and still eating them.

We are totally hooked on The Honorable Woman - mini-series.  It's so complex and intriguing.  We record it late Thursday evenings and watch it usually on Friday evenings and then again over the weekend.  We've started using subtitles because the dialog is so fast (and with accents) and it helps us really 'get' what's being said.  It's wonderful television and Maggie Gllenhaal is amazingly talented!

To my wonderful husband, I sent this yesterday in an email:


I can work another ten years - and it's nice to know that it will likely be far fewer years than that.  But this is what I need.  I need the freedom to feel like there is enough discretionary income to just have fun with now and then.  Maybe for a shopping excursion.  Or a trip somewhere.  Or a trip to Vegas! or Jackson!  Just a way for me to blow off some steam.  If our budget is so tight that there's never any fun money, then working is drudgery for me and it's hard to drudge alone.  And it will be impossible to drudge alone for ten more years.  Seriously.  I can't do it.  

That's all I'm saying.  

And upon arriving home last night, he said 'which account do I take the $1,000 from'?  

He gets me.  :-)  


Monday, September 01, 2014

Home Projects

Trying to bide my time productively.  Apparently, having weekends off is so foreign to me that I have no idea what exactly to do to fill up the time.  So I worked on cleaning the cabinets in the study.  Cleaning rag after cleaning rag proving that they were really in need of a good freshening up!  We drove all the way across town to Home Depot to find Liquid Gold - and they didn't have it!  I'm using some other wood cleaning product that gets the grime off - but nothing replaces that shiny Liquid Gold coat/smell.  I'm heading to OSH tomorrow to find it - or WalMart.  I've got to find it somewhere.

While at Home Depot, we set up a measuring appointment to get the landing and study floors redone with laminate.  These two areas are the highest traffic areas we have and the carpet is beyond redemption.  When they come out, we plan to also ask them to estimate redoing the stairs as well, as they are the next highest traffic area and hardest to clean.  The stairs are tricky - the laminate would be on the top surface and we'd have to paint the risers.  Should look nice but not sure how expensive it will be.

I confessed to J. that my obsession with Titanic has not as much to do with not working as it does with just wanting to have an influx of cash so we could start doing stuff on the home front.  We need new flooring; painting; and in a perfect world, we'd love to redo some cabinetry and the pantry.  Heck, we'd really like to knock out the wall between the kitchen and dining room and 'expand' the kitchen out a ways....which should allow plenty of room for a walk-in pantry.  That's a bit longer term.  But maybe someday.  We've sort of realized that staying here is the best financial decision - but fourteen years in the house is resulting in typical wear and tear.  We'd like to update some things when budget allows.

So we trekked to Home Depot and looked at flooring and think we can do it for not too much.  And if we need to dip into long(er) term savings to do it, then we will.  Though we did apply for a HD credit card and would get 24 months free financing!  That would be lovely and we could definitely pay it off pretty quickly. No $700 a month car payment - so that $ could go for new floors for the next six to twelve months.  (I don't think it will be that much but we don't really know - stairs are expensive and the study will take a lot of trim work to get the flooring under and around the cabinets).

We are both tired of carpet which will not stay clean no matter what we try - and while I'm sure laminate flooring will also be challenging to clean in some ways, it can't possibly be harder than carpet.

While at Home Depot, we also looked at some new shrubs and flowering plants for the front and back yards.  The new gardener will take out the bamboo shrubs which are woody and gangling and add absolutely nothing pretty to the front yard.  We are going to turn a good portion of the front yard into more ornamental plants - pretty, flowering area.  I will post some ideas J. has gathered from neighbors yards in a couple days. We looked for plants that are drought resistant and will also ask the gardener for suggestions.

H. went skateboarding with friends yesterday and banged up his arm.  He refused to go to the doctor today (the urgent care clinic is open every day) though he complained about the pain.  He took ibuprofen.  It seems swollen - but he can move it and lifted a basket of laundry off the chair no problem.  But it's possible he chipped a bone on his elbow?  He promised that if he's still in pain tomorrow, he will go to the clinic for an x-ray.

Tomorrow, I will go to the office for a few hours - meetings everyday this week and it's a board prep week so would like to get a bit of a head start.  Though will definitely enjoy sleeping in and a leisurely morning.  If J. has to take H. to the clinic in Stockton, then he will go to Trader Joe's on the way home.  Otherwise, he and I may trek there - we need a few things that are best procured at TJ's.  That means a stop at Dave Wong's for Chinese takeout is likely.  And possibly a box of Krispy Kreme's.

We also boxed up 21 pairs of prescription glasses that we've had here for years to send to Lions International.  Their donation program provides glasses to people who can't afford them and we certainly had many pairs to offer.  We've had them stashed in a cupboard in the study and add to them every time we get new glasses....  I kept thinking we'd find a donation station in town somewhere (two Lions groups in our city including the one I used to be a member of) but no such luck.  This works out better anyway 'cuz we will get a letter acknowledging the donation for our taxes.  J. will take the package to the post office tomorrow.

B. heads to Cali this Friday - a 12 hour drive.  We don't know anything at all re: his schedule but he has a(nother) new phone so hopefully, he will be able to be in touch and let us know if/when he is off for a weekend so we can trek down there.

J. is going through carousel after carousel of slides.  A project on the 'to do' list for years.  Here's hoping it finally gets done.  We can deliver slides to my aunt when we visit in November - 'cuz I think some of the slides we have from my mom's estate are actually my grandmother's - and my aunt might want them.

Though she'll probably have the same reaction we do - yee gads!  So many slides!

I remember after every trip my grandmother took (and she traveled extensively in her life), we would head over to my aunt and uncle's house for an evening of slides.  Not the most fun thing to do as a pre-teen but we did it.  It was just what happened after every Grammy trip.  I remember how excited I was to finally have my slides to show of my Europe trip - only I don't remember ever having a slide show.  I'm sure we did.  I do know my aunt and uncle came for dinner the very first night I was home and sat patiently through a meal while I told them every little thing that happened.

Travel!  The bug catches you early -

March

I'm starting to think maybe I will just do a monthly post and call it what it is - whatever month we're in.  Here we are winding dow...