We got up this morning, and ran four miles in the cold and wind. Now, Greg has never run four miles before (well, since I've known him), but he was kicking my butt this morning, dragging me kicking and screaming (ok, and a lot of cursing...) the whole way.
Then we came home. Greg mowed the lawn, and I went to the grocery store.
Then the 6 hours of painting fun started. It took two hours longer than yesterday with the primer. This is the first time we've painted without masking, and I am wondering if it is truly faster... I swear, I spent 3 hours just in the entry way. Part of my slowness can be attributed to the fact that I HATE ladders. Any more than 2 steps off the ground, and I feel out of control. It's not a fear of heights, just a fear of my own (terrible) balance. Apparently Dusty and Lefty's sensibilities were offended by the white walls, because when I locked them in the guest room today, they didn't protest nearly as much. I think they will also be much happier once we get the tarps up, as Dusty in particular has been high-stepping around downstairs. And the noisiness certainly detracts from their stealth attacks.
My whole body hurts, and I'm headed for bed.
In my Randy from "A Christmas Story" voice: "I can't lift my arms up."
Sunday, March 30, 2008
Saturday, March 29, 2008
Welcome to Our Hell...
Painting hell, that is.
Last summer, before the new kitchen cabinets went in, we painted the kitchen a light yellow, to replace the "builder's beige." Well, there isn't really a dividing wall between the kitchen and the rest of downstairs, except sort of the dining room. We were in a rush to paint, though, so we just did the kitchen, and have been living with splotchy walls since. In an effort to get the ghetto floor (vinyl that has been pulled up and set back in place, so there are waves in it, and it's pulling back from all of the edges) replaced in UNDER 1 YEAR from when we ripped it up, painting downstairs became a priority. So we moved all the furniture Thursday night, and prepped on Friday night. Today we primed. (We are big believers in primer... and the walls were a mess.) I did the rolling today, and can already see the blisters on my hands, so I'll be on brush duty tomorrow. The goal is to have this project done before we go to Boston in 2 weeks for a wedding. We actually bought a whole bunch of this paint, and are planning on painting upstairs with it, too. But that'll come later.
In preparation, we had to move this dresser that was downstairs (because we had moved it out of the guest room and couldn't decide what to do with it). Greg was taking out the drawers, and it automatically became a cat jungle gym. We had to lock the cats up in the guest room today while we painted, and for as easy as it was to trick them to go in there, they whined a good bit. On and off all afternoon, we heard "mew?" "mew?" "MAO!"
But they're just a big pile of kitty love. :) (from last weekend)
Our week was fairly uneventful. I can't believe that Easter has come and gone already (though I did have a strange craving for a hard boiled egg this week... and I don't usually care for them. Hm, now that I mention that, I'm *still* hungry for one...) The daffodils are, sadly, on their way out, and the blistering heat and humidity aren't long off now. We're taking advantage of the mild(ish) temperatures these days, and opening windows and doors as often as possible. The tulip magnolia (photos below) bloomed before I even realized it. I love these blooms -- they are the reason I made Greg buy one of these. When they bloom, the branches are bare, except for these bright pink/purple buds. It literally looks like a herd of butterflies have landed on the branches.
We are still working on planning our Washington/Oregon vacation, and I'm really starting to get excited! I think I've got our general route mapped out now, so we can start trying to lock in hotel locations. I'm too neurotic to get there without reservations every night. :) Plus, I think we're going to try to stay here one night. Doesn't that look cool?
Oh, and for those interested... A few weeks ago, when we went to Atlanta, we stopped at Archivers, and they had this Clip It Up system for organization/storage of scrapbook stuff (some of you will stop reading ... here...), but darn if they didn't want $50 for the thing. So we went to IKEA and brainstormed. We spent $2 on the lamp parts in "as is," and $7 on the lazy susan that Greg dissected. So here's the finished product... it stores my alphabets, and it spins. And, the best part, is that Greg made it for me. :) The clips are from IKEA, too, and probably cost more than the rest of it.
Did I mention that Greg's the best?
I went to get my hair cut (yes, dad... all of them) this morning. My hair has been getting long, and was starting to get to be too much, plus the heat is coming. I had her cut about 4 inches off. It still feels like a total treat to get my hair cut. I need to do it more often. Of course, I had her straighten my hair (because I am WAY too lazy to do it myself), and darn if it didn't start raining as soon as I left. Then I had to run a few errands, trudging through parking lots where people refuse to yield to pedestrians, even in the rain. And then at Costco, I had to dig stuff out of the trunk to return. When I came out, I forgot where I had parked, and walked all over before I found the car. (Normally I won't troll for a parking spot, but it was raining, and I had no umbrella.... Anyhow, this totally confused me when I came out.) By the time I got home, my hair was curlier than ever. All that wasted effort, Allison - I'm sorry!
Last summer, before the new kitchen cabinets went in, we painted the kitchen a light yellow, to replace the "builder's beige." Well, there isn't really a dividing wall between the kitchen and the rest of downstairs, except sort of the dining room. We were in a rush to paint, though, so we just did the kitchen, and have been living with splotchy walls since. In an effort to get the ghetto floor (vinyl that has been pulled up and set back in place, so there are waves in it, and it's pulling back from all of the edges) replaced in UNDER 1 YEAR from when we ripped it up, painting downstairs became a priority. So we moved all the furniture Thursday night, and prepped on Friday night. Today we primed. (We are big believers in primer... and the walls were a mess.) I did the rolling today, and can already see the blisters on my hands, so I'll be on brush duty tomorrow. The goal is to have this project done before we go to Boston in 2 weeks for a wedding. We actually bought a whole bunch of this paint, and are planning on painting upstairs with it, too. But that'll come later.
In preparation, we had to move this dresser that was downstairs (because we had moved it out of the guest room and couldn't decide what to do with it). Greg was taking out the drawers, and it automatically became a cat jungle gym. We had to lock the cats up in the guest room today while we painted, and for as easy as it was to trick them to go in there, they whined a good bit. On and off all afternoon, we heard "mew?" "mew?" "MAO!"
But they're just a big pile of kitty love. :) (from last weekend)
Our week was fairly uneventful. I can't believe that Easter has come and gone already (though I did have a strange craving for a hard boiled egg this week... and I don't usually care for them. Hm, now that I mention that, I'm *still* hungry for one...) The daffodils are, sadly, on their way out, and the blistering heat and humidity aren't long off now. We're taking advantage of the mild(ish) temperatures these days, and opening windows and doors as often as possible. The tulip magnolia (photos below) bloomed before I even realized it. I love these blooms -- they are the reason I made Greg buy one of these. When they bloom, the branches are bare, except for these bright pink/purple buds. It literally looks like a herd of butterflies have landed on the branches.
We are still working on planning our Washington/Oregon vacation, and I'm really starting to get excited! I think I've got our general route mapped out now, so we can start trying to lock in hotel locations. I'm too neurotic to get there without reservations every night. :) Plus, I think we're going to try to stay here one night. Doesn't that look cool?
Oh, and for those interested... A few weeks ago, when we went to Atlanta, we stopped at Archivers, and they had this Clip It Up system for organization/storage of scrapbook stuff (some of you will stop reading ... here...), but darn if they didn't want $50 for the thing. So we went to IKEA and brainstormed. We spent $2 on the lamp parts in "as is," and $7 on the lazy susan that Greg dissected. So here's the finished product... it stores my alphabets, and it spins. And, the best part, is that Greg made it for me. :) The clips are from IKEA, too, and probably cost more than the rest of it.
Did I mention that Greg's the best?
I went to get my hair cut (yes, dad... all of them) this morning. My hair has been getting long, and was starting to get to be too much, plus the heat is coming. I had her cut about 4 inches off. It still feels like a total treat to get my hair cut. I need to do it more often. Of course, I had her straighten my hair (because I am WAY too lazy to do it myself), and darn if it didn't start raining as soon as I left. Then I had to run a few errands, trudging through parking lots where people refuse to yield to pedestrians, even in the rain. And then at Costco, I had to dig stuff out of the trunk to return. When I came out, I forgot where I had parked, and walked all over before I found the car. (Normally I won't troll for a parking spot, but it was raining, and I had no umbrella.... Anyhow, this totally confused me when I came out.) By the time I got home, my hair was curlier than ever. All that wasted effort, Allison - I'm sorry!
Tuesday, March 25, 2008
Does that make it better or worse?
For the longest time, I thought Dusty was still chasing her tail around in circles. And, as funny as it was, I kinda felt bad for her.
But then Greg corrected me, and based on some evidence I observed earlier, I think he's right: She's not chasing her tail. She's chasing the shadow of her tail.
Poor thing must always feel like someone's following her whenever it's light out...
But then Greg corrected me, and based on some evidence I observed earlier, I think he's right: She's not chasing her tail. She's chasing the shadow of her tail.
Poor thing must always feel like someone's following her whenever it's light out...
Sunday, March 23, 2008
Happy Easter!
I took these photos of the pear tree out front the other day, and didn't upload them immediately. I wasn't sure how they were coming out, but when I finally got around to looking at them, I love them! I thought they looked sufficiently spring-y to count for Easter. They're not at altered -- as I still haven't gotten around to that Photoshop class (now I claim I'm waiting for the new version of Photoshop Elements that Greg got me for my birthday ... should be released and ship this week) -- but I love how blue the sky turned out.
For us, Easter weekend meant I did the grocery shopping on Saturday this week. Not too much else eventful. We decided to try something new for dinner last night, and went to a place downtown call The Cazbah. It was great - good food, good wine. It was totally empty though - I think it's more of a late night place, and we were there at 6:00 (the true senior citizens would be proud). So, we got there, and there was literally no one else there. Two other parties came in while we were there, but it was a little weird.
Today, we slept in, and then went for our Sunday jog together. We came home, cleaned up, ate ... and promptly went back to bed for a nap. I'm still nursing my stomach a bit -- if I wait until I am really hungry to eat, I get nauseous after I eat. It's weird, but if I can keep a little bit on my stomach, and not be starving by the time I eat something, I seem to be doing ok. I've also been eating breakfast during the week, which I had kind of gotten out of. We'll see.
We broke down and bought plane tickets last week out to Seattle for the end of May - so excited! And, perhaps more exciting, Google Earth has the sites from the Goonies movie marked out in Astoria, OR! Now, initially I may have been just kidding when I mentioned sightseeing Goonies locations, but that was when I thought we'd be driving around aimlessly. But now we know exactly where Mikey's house is, as well as the pizza place where Chunk watches the police chase and smashes the pizza in the window. Now we're trying to start planning the trip, and booking hotels. The general plan is Portland, Oregon coast, Washington coast and islands, Seattle. Again, any recommendations (particularly lodging) would be appreciated! I think we're going to go on a food tour in Portland, that I read about in Cooking Light.
Saturday, March 22, 2008
My Cat is Smarter Than Your Cat: She Makes Her Own Necklaces
My alternate title was: Please Don't Call the ASPCA... She Does This to Herself, I Swear
Lefty has been obsessing (don't know where she could get THAT from) over this CVS bag all week, on occasion wearing it as a hat. But mostly just fighting with it all week, until she finally bit and clawed a hole through the end. Today she decided it was time to try it on.
Lefty just loves bags, sometimes just sitting on them, but usually putting holes in them.
Dusty's obsession of the week has been a pen cap.
Lefty has been obsessing (don't know where she could get THAT from) over this CVS bag all week, on occasion wearing it as a hat. But mostly just fighting with it all week, until she finally bit and clawed a hole through the end. Today she decided it was time to try it on.
Lefty just loves bags, sometimes just sitting on them, but usually putting holes in them.
Dusty's obsession of the week has been a pen cap.
Thursday, March 20, 2008
What Would You Choose?
I got a prescription filled at Target today.
I was a little surprised by the "Sex" line:
I asked ... I had to ... No, they don't carry flea medicine. But they get a number of prescriptions for pets that take Prozac. Gotcha. Now it all makes sense...
PS - Greg's home. :) Lefty is almost as happy as I am. She has woke me up the past two mornings, sometime between 5 and 6. I'm guessing she was expressing her concern that Greg hadn't come to bed yet. Here's to a more restful night!
I was a little surprised by the "Sex" line:
I asked ... I had to ... No, they don't carry flea medicine. But they get a number of prescriptions for pets that take Prozac. Gotcha. Now it all makes sense...
PS - Greg's home. :) Lefty is almost as happy as I am. She has woke me up the past two mornings, sometime between 5 and 6. I'm guessing she was expressing her concern that Greg hadn't come to bed yet. Here's to a more restful night!
Wednesday, March 19, 2008
Recent Projects
"I can never quite tell what Dusty is thinking, but I think she prefers it that way. She could be angry, hungry, or about to pounce."
"We spent a few days in Vermont in October 2007 with Greg's parents. We saw lots, including the Snowflake Bentley museum, a drive through Smuggler's Notch, walking around downtown Burlington with my parents, apple cider doughnuts, a walk down to the beach, gorgeous fall scenery, and a trip to Ben & Jerry's."
I don't think I ever posted these pictures of the Valentine's album I made for Greg (maybe because it didn't get finished until 2 weeks after Valentine's Day?). It's made of 5 cards from Hallmark (the silver envelopes came from Hallmark, too), kind of stitched together. The cards in each envelope pull out with the little ribbon tabs.
"We spent a few days in Vermont in October 2007 with Greg's parents. We saw lots, including the Snowflake Bentley museum, a drive through Smuggler's Notch, walking around downtown Burlington with my parents, apple cider doughnuts, a walk down to the beach, gorgeous fall scenery, and a trip to Ben & Jerry's."
I don't think I ever posted these pictures of the Valentine's album I made for Greg (maybe because it didn't get finished until 2 weeks after Valentine's Day?). It's made of 5 cards from Hallmark (the silver envelopes came from Hallmark, too), kind of stitched together. The cards in each envelope pull out with the little ribbon tabs.
Tuesday, March 18, 2008
No need to worry
I called the doctor yesterday, but wasn't able to get an appointment until Thursday (he's been on vacation... I normally never have to wait this long). I hesitate to say that I'm feeling a little bit better today... We'll see. I'm trying to decide if I still need to go.
Greg is in Fort Wayne, Indiana. :( I miss him lots. So does Lefty. She's lost without him.
I am cheering myself up with ... monkey socks (complete with bananas to look more authentic, as if the cute hats don't lend enough authenticity)...
and the monkey birthday card my brother sent me. (I ALWAYS get a monkey card from Dan. And I love it.)
Greg is in Fort Wayne, Indiana. :( I miss him lots. So does Lefty. She's lost without him.
I am cheering myself up with ... monkey socks (complete with bananas to look more authentic, as if the cute hats don't lend enough authenticity)...
and the monkey birthday card my brother sent me. (I ALWAYS get a monkey card from Dan. And I love it.)
Sunday, March 16, 2008
Saturday, March 15, 2008
A kick in the stomach
What a week. By Thursday, I felt sick to my stomach. Not the sort of "I have a virus" sick to the stomach - more of a "I feel like someone kicked me in the stomach." Just achy and sore, so I stayed home from work on Friday. It seems to come from a combination of stress, anxiety, and depression that I somehow bring on myself. Based on my past experiences, it could go on for months. They've never been able to find anything physically wrong with me, but antidepressants helped a lot last time. I'll probably be back at the doctor this week. It's been a banner year (and not in a good way) for me at the doctor this year so far. Not a good trend. (Oh, and sorry if that's more personal information than you wanted. I didn't give much warning.)
Not a whole heck of a lot going on here the last few days. We were under a tornado watch for most of today, but mostly just saw lots of much-needed rain. Greg and I went out to lunch, and were going to run a few errands, but decided we'd be better off at home with the weather and crazies on the roads.
We went back out again later and did some shopping before dinner. Both of us bought pants one size smaller, so we're still making progress with Weight Watchers. I've been getting fed up with it lately, just because I'm still hungry, and it seems like I can't actually eat three meals without going over my points total for the day -- which is even harder (and makes me crankier) on weekends.
Oh the vacation front, from the reading I've been doing, it sounds like the road around Crater Lake is closed from mid-October until mid-July; if that's the case, we're going to have to skip it this year. Which is a total bummer, because I was all excited to go. We may have to tack that on to another trip to see the Redwoods in California. It helps a little, as I think we were starting to get some scope-creep on this trip.
I've got some cute cat pictures, but I think that will wait until tomorrow.
Not a whole heck of a lot going on here the last few days. We were under a tornado watch for most of today, but mostly just saw lots of much-needed rain. Greg and I went out to lunch, and were going to run a few errands, but decided we'd be better off at home with the weather and crazies on the roads.
We went back out again later and did some shopping before dinner. Both of us bought pants one size smaller, so we're still making progress with Weight Watchers. I've been getting fed up with it lately, just because I'm still hungry, and it seems like I can't actually eat three meals without going over my points total for the day -- which is even harder (and makes me crankier) on weekends.
Oh the vacation front, from the reading I've been doing, it sounds like the road around Crater Lake is closed from mid-October until mid-July; if that's the case, we're going to have to skip it this year. Which is a total bummer, because I was all excited to go. We may have to tack that on to another trip to see the Redwoods in California. It helps a little, as I think we were starting to get some scope-creep on this trip.
I've got some cute cat pictures, but I think that will wait until tomorrow.
Monday, March 10, 2008
Cyst, Cyst, Go Away
Just an update. I went back to the doctor today, and, while the cyst has gotten a little bit smaller, it's not small enough. So, more medicine. And more waiting. And more hoping that it gets smaller and I don't need surgery.
And more moping.
Oh, and 30? Yeah, today it totally sucks.
And more moping.
Oh, and 30? Yeah, today it totally sucks.
Sunday, March 9, 2008
IKEA, and an Urgent Need for Pants
We went to Atlanta on Saturday to do some shopping, with a stop at Archivers (for me) and Fry's (electronics, for Greg) before heading to IKEA. We actually didn't end up getting a whole lot, just some organizational type stuff, as well as some parts from the scratch and dent department for a top secret project inspired in part by the IKEA Hacker blog, but also by my unwillingness to pay $50 for something at Archivers. Stay tuned.
Oh, but there was one other stop along the way -- we went into an Old Navy, because we were both looking for pants. So I'm bending down, sifting through jeans, when my need for new pants took on a new urgency, as I hear my pants rip! I knew they were getting worn, and that's part of the reason why I was looking for new ones. They didn't rip down the seam or anything; it was kind of across the inside of my thigh. Not super classy, but it could have been worse. So I ran and found Greg and made him sift through the jeans, because I was afraid that if I bent over again, the rip was just going to get bigger. :) So I came out of there with a new pair of jeans; borrowed scissors from the cash register and cut all the tags off. Then we went to a deserted corner of the parking lot so I could change my pants. Sigh. I think it's been said that, if it can happen, it will happen to me. :)
Sunday felt like it was spent in preparation for the rest of the week. It's not really a day of its own anymore, so much as a catch-up day. We got groceries, froze chicken that was on sale, cut up a cantaloupe, did lots of laundry.
In happy news, the daffodils did bloom this week. They make me happy every time I see them.
Oh, but there was one other stop along the way -- we went into an Old Navy, because we were both looking for pants. So I'm bending down, sifting through jeans, when my need for new pants took on a new urgency, as I hear my pants rip! I knew they were getting worn, and that's part of the reason why I was looking for new ones. They didn't rip down the seam or anything; it was kind of across the inside of my thigh. Not super classy, but it could have been worse. So I ran and found Greg and made him sift through the jeans, because I was afraid that if I bent over again, the rip was just going to get bigger. :) So I came out of there with a new pair of jeans; borrowed scissors from the cash register and cut all the tags off. Then we went to a deserted corner of the parking lot so I could change my pants. Sigh. I think it's been said that, if it can happen, it will happen to me. :)Sunday felt like it was spent in preparation for the rest of the week. It's not really a day of its own anymore, so much as a catch-up day. We got groceries, froze chicken that was on sale, cut up a cantaloupe, did lots of laundry.
In happy news, the daffodils did bloom this week. They make me happy every time I see them.
Top 3 Things Dusty and Lefty Have Saved Me From This Week
1. Wrapping paper from the wrong side of the tracks.
2. A roll of paper towels that was looking at me the wrong way. (See Exhibit A.)
3. That devious bath mat. (Actually, this is an ongoing battle.)
Thursday, March 6, 2008
30
Happy Birthday to me! And, this year, I survived without wrecking a car...
I am now officially older than my Gram would ever admit to being; she was perpetually 29. She also perpetually asked for a mink coat and a trip to Tahiti for her birthday every year, but I think I made out better this year: Greg treated me to dinner at the Melting Pot, and it was great! I got some coaching from my youngest brother Steven right before we went: "You didn't eat lunch, did you?" "Don't eat all the cheese or you won't be able to eat anything else."
Greg took this of me at dinner tonight. He said I was dim, but I knew he meant the light. :) A little iphoto and some b&w, and I kinda like it. 30's not so bad...
By virtue of the fact that it was my birthday, I also decided we'd stop at Starbucks. Greg (aka the King of Arm's Length Photos) snapped these while I wasn't so dim. They remind me of photo booth shots.
My other big excitement for my birthday? Going to bed early. Night, all.
I am now officially older than my Gram would ever admit to being; she was perpetually 29. She also perpetually asked for a mink coat and a trip to Tahiti for her birthday every year, but I think I made out better this year: Greg treated me to dinner at the Melting Pot, and it was great! I got some coaching from my youngest brother Steven right before we went: "You didn't eat lunch, did you?" "Don't eat all the cheese or you won't be able to eat anything else."
Greg took this of me at dinner tonight. He said I was dim, but I knew he meant the light. :) A little iphoto and some b&w, and I kinda like it. 30's not so bad...
By virtue of the fact that it was my birthday, I also decided we'd stop at Starbucks. Greg (aka the King of Arm's Length Photos) snapped these while I wasn't so dim. They remind me of photo booth shots.
My other big excitement for my birthday? Going to bed early. Night, all.
Wednesday, March 5, 2008
More Laughs
In keeping with the 80s spirit of my Goonies, post, Greg hooked me up with this link, Elegant Presentation of Musical Things. There's a link on the blog to more stuff in Flickr, but I didn't get most of those.
Monday, March 3, 2008
Food, Food Storage, and the Movie that Made the Baby Ruth Famous
I forgot to tell you about my newest favorite Costco find - new tupperware! We are finally repurposing the old Martha Stewart (Kmart) stuff that leaks all over our lunch bags. This new stuff is crystal clear, and doesn't leak. We like it so much we got a second set (we really needed more of the extra small ones). And the NSF certification doesn't hurt, either, because it makes me feel like, if an astronaut needed to save and reheat leftovers, this is what he'd use. And that's good enough for me.
Our new recipe for tonight was kind of a "needs to be tried again" endeavor. We tried Sesame-Orange Chicken, but the sesame seed toasting and mashing went awry, the chicken was a little overdone, and the sauce was a little runny. Tomorrow we're back to an old stand-by, Lemon-Peppercorn Tilapia. Although right now, I'm craving those meat loaf leftovers for lunch tomorrow...Ah, and for those of you who guessed that our trip to the Pacific Northwest is partly to live out my "Goonies" fantasies, well, you're partly right. Look out, Fratellis!
Sunday, March 2, 2008
Signs of Life
Yes, we are alive. There just hasn't been a whole lot going on around here lately. I think we've got a serious case of the blahs. But there haven't been any more fires, so that's a good thing.
We finally pulled our act together on Saturday and went out to dinner to a Thai place that is one of my favorites, to celebrate my promotion at work. It's downtown, and we used to go there more earlier in our relationship, partly because our old apartment was really conveniently located no more than 10 minutes away. But now it's more of an endeavor, and as the downtown area has really grown up in the past few years, it's crowded, we feel old, and it has lost some of its allure. But driving in on Saturday night, I made a list of at least 5 restaurants that I wanted to go to. Maybe this will help us get out of a rut, too. When we eat out, 90% of the time, it's Moe's, Panera, or Doc Chey's. We tried a new Chinese place last weekend, and were a bit disappointed. For what it was, it was kind of pricey, and if I'm going to spend that much, then we'll go to PF Chang's and get Chang sauce, dang it.
The weather this weekend was gorgeous, with highs in the mid 60s. We had windows and doors opened, and the cats were just loving it. (The feel of wind through your whiskers, I guess.) Most of the daffodils around have already bloomed, but ours (like usual) are a bit behind. The ones right outside the front door are almost ready to bloom... maybe Monday or Tuesday.
Saturday was spent in pursuit of flooring. We had this whole, big elaborate PLAN to get our new downstairs flooring from Costco. There's a coupon that came out months ago for the stuff, that starts on Monday. So, since January, we'd been planning on going to Costco on March 3 to get the flooring. Well, last weekend, we noticed that Costco no longer had the color we wanted. We looked at Costco, Sam's, BJ's (no, we're not giant club whores. They're all free through work.), and Lowe's. Lowe's was easily double the price of anywhere else. BJ's didn't have a whole lot. We definitely found some good options at Sam's, though. They have some additional colors available online, and I think we're happy with that. I looked a little bit more closely at the Costco coupon today, and realized that it does actually say "flooring with padding," which is what all of the stuff they now have is; when we were first looking at it in January, the stuff they were carrying didn't have the padding.
Also trying to break the blahs by trying some new dinner recipes this week. We tried this meat loaf recipe from Cooking Light, which calls for dividing the meat up and cooking it in a muffin tray (so it's done in like 25 minutes). It was really, really good! I'll report back if the other new ones are any good.
I think we finally decided on a vacation for this year, but don't have much planned yet. We want to go out to the Pacific Northwest, and drive around Oregon and Washington for a week. We've just started reading up some information, so if you have recommendations, let us know. It will probably be early June. (No, it's not *just* to make a Starbucks pilgrimage...)
We finally pulled our act together on Saturday and went out to dinner to a Thai place that is one of my favorites, to celebrate my promotion at work. It's downtown, and we used to go there more earlier in our relationship, partly because our old apartment was really conveniently located no more than 10 minutes away. But now it's more of an endeavor, and as the downtown area has really grown up in the past few years, it's crowded, we feel old, and it has lost some of its allure. But driving in on Saturday night, I made a list of at least 5 restaurants that I wanted to go to. Maybe this will help us get out of a rut, too. When we eat out, 90% of the time, it's Moe's, Panera, or Doc Chey's. We tried a new Chinese place last weekend, and were a bit disappointed. For what it was, it was kind of pricey, and if I'm going to spend that much, then we'll go to PF Chang's and get Chang sauce, dang it.
The weather this weekend was gorgeous, with highs in the mid 60s. We had windows and doors opened, and the cats were just loving it. (The feel of wind through your whiskers, I guess.) Most of the daffodils around have already bloomed, but ours (like usual) are a bit behind. The ones right outside the front door are almost ready to bloom... maybe Monday or Tuesday. Saturday was spent in pursuit of flooring. We had this whole, big elaborate PLAN to get our new downstairs flooring from Costco. There's a coupon that came out months ago for the stuff, that starts on Monday. So, since January, we'd been planning on going to Costco on March 3 to get the flooring. Well, last weekend, we noticed that Costco no longer had the color we wanted. We looked at Costco, Sam's, BJ's (no, we're not giant club whores. They're all free through work.), and Lowe's. Lowe's was easily double the price of anywhere else. BJ's didn't have a whole lot. We definitely found some good options at Sam's, though. They have some additional colors available online, and I think we're happy with that. I looked a little bit more closely at the Costco coupon today, and realized that it does actually say "flooring with padding," which is what all of the stuff they now have is; when we were first looking at it in January, the stuff they were carrying didn't have the padding.
Also trying to break the blahs by trying some new dinner recipes this week. We tried this meat loaf recipe from Cooking Light, which calls for dividing the meat up and cooking it in a muffin tray (so it's done in like 25 minutes). It was really, really good! I'll report back if the other new ones are any good.I think we finally decided on a vacation for this year, but don't have much planned yet. We want to go out to the Pacific Northwest, and drive around Oregon and Washington for a week. We've just started reading up some information, so if you have recommendations, let us know. It will probably be early June. (No, it's not *just* to make a Starbucks pilgrimage...)
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