Another Dream Fulfilled

The inspiration that I felt after watching Jim's movie hasn't fully wore off yet. Nothing beats a story about somebody fulfilling their long time dream. I just love it. And now this . . .

My father has been dreaming about, and talking about, building a house on the CT River for so many years that I lost count. He's owned the land for a long time now and I think I resolved myself to the fact that it will always be "the lot" in Haddam. I never even acknowledged the existence of the little shack that was on it. But this past Spring he took a huge step with the demolition of the shack. After years of maddening red tape and bureaucracy, he finally got all the approvals to build. That alone was a miracle. But now the bigger miracle --

Things are happening down there. Last week the foundation hole was dug and now the foundation is going in. This project is now my brother's and my Dad's. They have teamed up to make this dream finally come true. I couldn't be happier. I think this means I can decorate another house!! Yeah


Congrats to Dad and all the Romano's making this happen.

Natural Light is Scary . . . Very Scary

From the moment I laid eyes on the master bathroom vanity I couldn’t wait to use it. The idea of gazing out at the beautiful backyard as I sit there . . . I thought I would feel like a princess with this elaborate make-up station. After the harsh camping conditions at Dad’s (I had all my makeup in one little bag and sat that bag on the toilet seat every morning) where I had to hunt and peck to find anything, I knew having a vanity would be a huge treat. And it is . . .

However it is incredibly scary to see yourself in harsh daylight. Holy smokes. The only good thing about fall coming is the fact that the sun is not really up by the time I’m doing my makeup. If you ever want to get depressed, go sit outside in the sunlight and look really close at yourself in the mirror. For me that is horrifying. I see every gray hair, every fine line, every skin imperfection. I’m ready to never want to go out in broad daylight again. Funny, I thought I looked much better when we were living at Dad’s. I have learned a very important lesson that low lighting is key. For every 5 years I age, I’m reducing the wattage in the light bulbs by 10 watts. Pretty soon we will be sitting in nothing but candle light!

Not a Happy Camper Today

I knew buying this house was going to stress me out. I don’t like stretching ourselves so thin and I also knew that it would be impossible to stick to the unrealistic budget that we need to adhere to in order to pay the new mortgage. On paper it seemed to be doable. But in reality, it’s impossible. So far we’ve been in Eastford for one month. And in that month (in addition to all the things we needed to buy for the house) we had to get Jessica a plane ticket and spend money on her visit, we had to pay over $750 for the repair of that stupid Volkswagon and then last night we got a tax bill for Karlo’s business (that has been shut down for over 2 years) for another $265. I am pretty sure that I’m going to have a nervous breakdown. This is NOT a good way to start off and if this continues every month (like it probably will) I’m going to own a beautiful house, but will have to check myself in and live in the looney bin.

I think I need a part-time job. Anyone know of any good ones out there? I either need to rob a bank or hit lotto to ease my financial worries. I am making a list right now of all the things that I need sell on EBay. Can I interest anyone in a very nice piece of land in Eastford? How about Maine . . . would you like to buy a great piece of land in Maine? Hey, maybe we can get Peanut racing again. Perhaps she can go to work and earn us some money. Hmmmm, that might be the best idea I had yet. Her training starts tonight!

Photo Journal

Remember when I blogged about the MSN week in pictures? Well, I loved that idea so much I decided to add something like it to my blog. I don’t think I can do it every week, but maybe bi-weekly. I also haven’t figured out an easy way to make it as slick as MSN’s (yet) so in the meantime I will just post some photos documenting my life every couple of weeks. Here’s a glimpse of the past couple of weeks:

This is my soon-to-be-famous friend Jim, signing his very first autograph . . . to ME!

The gang attending the world premiere of Fishwrap.

Our first fishing derby. Luckily nobody caught any of my 'pet' trout.

Lisa's dog Molly showing off at our first 'slumber party.'

Jessica and my friend Sue's daughter Sara at Sara's graduation/off-to-college party.

And we can never have a 'week in pictures' without at least one of the hounds.

Too Much Excitement For One Saturday

We sure did have an exciting Saturday. Not quite as peaceful and relaxing as Friday was. Saturday started off at 7 AM with my painting project. Not quite sure what possessed me to decide to start priming our walls at 9 PM on Friday night, but I did it and that meant the walls were ready for color on Saturday morning. I got started right away . . . could not wait to see the color on the wall.

I started in the bathroom with the ‘shocking’ blue. I put the first few strokes on the wall and I wasn’t as shocked as I thought I would be. I think I liked it right off the bat. I got halfway done with the first wall before the real shock came . . . As I was stepping off the ladder my foot apparently hit the water valve. Next thing I knew I had a mini fire hydrant blasting straight up (my shorts) and all over the ceiling, my freshly painted wall . . . EVERYWHERE. I screamed out “KARLO!!!!!!!” and he instantly sprang into action and ran downstairs. Downstairs? Where are you going? There is a flood in our new rooms! Karlo assumed that I burst a pipe when all I really did was turn the water on before it had anything hooked up to it. I got brave enough to re-enter the room that now had water spraying in every direction – dripping off the ceiling, blasting off the walls, pouring out of the doorway. Oh dear God, our brand new drywall. And did I mention the blue streaks of watered down paint dripping everywhere? What a disaster! And why didn't I take pictures?

We managed to clean up the HUGE mess and I was able to start repainting the walls. Meanwhile Karlo went outside to cut the grass. Since it takes 2-3 hours to cut the grass and that’s what it was going to take me to finish the painting that was the perfect plan. Poor Karlo drove over a bees nest and got stung 5 times. What a way to start our day.

We continued to work and clean the house until it was time go out for our big night out. I was so exhausted in the car, it was hard to drive. How was I going to stay awake for the movie? Well, that was no problem. This was the big premiere of my friend Jim’s “Fishwrap.” It was spectacular. I had a blast. Got to see old friends again and totally enjoyed the movie. It won’t be long before we see Jim at the Academy Awards. When the movie comes out on DVD, we will have a Fishwrap party at our place. Jim, I give the move two thumbs up!!!

One Perfect Day In Eastford

We took Friday off and had one perfect day in Eastford. Since we moved, I have had my ups and downs with coming to terms with the fact that we live in the middle of nowhere. But Friday sealed the deal that we made the right decision.

We started the day with a leisurely breakfast in our screened porch. Yes, I said leisurely! I'm not quite sure how that happened, but it did and it was blissful. When I walked out onto the back deck I found two huge flowers on our plant. What a surprise. Rick and Nancy left the plant for us and I had no idea they would sprout such beautiful flowers. Here's some pics of them:



Next we took an incredibly scenic motorcycle ride up to Southbridge, MA. This is the closest shopping for us and it's a 15 minute drive on one of Connecticut's "scenic byways." There is no question that I would rather drive 13 miles on beautiful backroads with no traffic than 4 miles with constant traffic lights and people in my way.

We did one-stop shopping and found everything we needed in one little plaza: a hardware store, a Radio Shack, a Big Y and our favorite . . . Job Lots. We only went into Job Lots because we were killing time waiting for Radio Shack to open. Every time we walk into that store Karlo asks, "Do we need a big cart?" and every time I say "No, we are only going to buy what we can carry." hoping that keeps our spending down. But it never works. This time I decided that we NEEDED a rocking chair. Hmmmm, that might be tricky to carry home on a motorcycle. But we bought it anyway and had to drive back with the car to get it.

Anyway, we took our nice ride home and then took the dogs for their first hike since we moved in. Poor neglected dogs! We drove one mile up our street and parked the car. From there we walked about a mile to a secluded lake in the middle of the Yale Forest. This land is open to the public, but by the looks of it not a sole ever goes in there. As far as I am concerned, it's our own private lake. The dogs took a dip and cooled down. I think they will like it here.

By now it was time for an ice cream break. We took both motorcycles out this time and after the ice cream stop we took THE BEST motorcycle ride EVER. I mean, I would have paid a tour company to guide me on this ride. It was spectacular. Karlo took me down roads that were trails, but much tougher terrain than I ever did in the past. I thought I did great. There was only one part that I flat out refused to bike down. It was a steep drop off slick rock. Karlo was frustrated with me and said "Come on, you wouldn't think twice about this on your mountain bike." Hello!!! My mountain bike doesn't weigh 400 pounds with burning exhaust pipes. And I wouldn't cry if my mountain bike got all scratched up. (OK, maybe I would cry a little, but nothing as bad as if I wrecked my 'new to me' BMW). I think I deserved a little more credit for driving through the terrain that I did. Anyway, the rest of the ride was just so amazing I can't wait to do it again.

Came home, did more work and then had to go back to Southbridge to pick up the chair. This time we toured Sturbridge to check out the area. We found a great recreation area with a big lake and an awesome restaurant. We enjoyed the day so much that we didn't want it to end. When we got home at 9 PM, instead of calling it a day, we decided to continue working until past midnight. I put two coats of primer in our new rooms so that I could paint on Saturday. Things are looking up.

I Hate Phones

It's final. I really hate phones. First it took us three incredibly frustrating weeks to get our 'land line' hooked up. During those three weeks I realized the need for one. Our cell phones, although they do work out here, are not reliable. The reception is very bad. On some days we have to stand outside. And 50% of the time the calls are dropped. So if I didn't already dislike talking on the phone, these issues just magnify it.

After the three weeks of wanting to choke everyone from Charter Communications that I had the displeasure of talking to, we finally got our home phone connected and I thought the aggravation would end . . . NOT. Now that we do have a land line, the phone rings every single night with telemarketers. My patience is wearing VERY thin and I swear I'm ready to disconnect the phone all together. Nobody ever calls us anyway. Now that we are long distance from the entire world, who besides telemarketers will ever call? Hmmmmm, I'm betting nobody. I'm trying to decide if it's really worth having the phone at all.

I guess the whole point of this blog posting is to warn you, in the remote chance that you may want to call us . . . Please leave us a message because I am flat out refusing to pick up that darn phone again. I just added our number to the Federal Do Not Call List, but I'm not holding my breathe that will actually work. Please leave us a message at home and then try my cell phone. One way or the other, I'll get back to you.

Wired For Sound

I’m so proud of myself that I just have to share . . . Last week I couldn’t stand looking at the huge box sitting on the floor containing our new surround sound speaker system. I knew that setting it up was one of Karlo’s lowest priorities. Plus he plain doesn’t like that sort of work so it would have been a frustrating ordeal for sure. Lisa was due to visit soon and I know it drives her insane to have no music playing in the house. So I decided to cut the box open and get a head start on the project by reading the directions (something Karlo would never break down and do).

Well, not only did I read the directions, I set the whole thing up all by myself! Back in Andover we spent an entire afternoon trying to figure out how to get both the DVDs and the regular TV to play out of the speaker system. And I single-handedly (OK, maybe I used both hands) got it all set up to play regular TV and movies through the speakers.

And I didn’t stop there . . . Last night I hooked up my new super high tech gadget that wirelessly streams the music from my computer’s hard drive to our surround system. Lisa came over for a visit last weekend and I did have music on for her. However, I could only play one CD at a time. What a drag. The CD would end and Lisa would start to twitch from the silence in the house. Who wants to keep switching CDs? So now I can magically play music for hours and hours right off of my computer. And get this, it even came with a remote control so I can sit on the couch and control what my computer is playing. You know, when technology actually works it’s not all bad!

My next task is to convert all my Police CDs to mp3s so we can listen to The Police non-stop. I bet Karlo can’t wait for THAT!

Anti-Volkswagon

Both Karlo and I have owned VWs in the past. Karlo has actually owned several. They are generally great cars. They are fun to drive and have tight handling. You get the expensive import car feel for a much cheaper price tag. However, deep down they really are pieces of crap dressed up to look like fine German engineering.

My old Jetta had it's share of strange VW bugs. For instance, it had phantom electrical problems. Sometimes when I went to start it, it made a horrific grinding noise. The fix was to quickly stop trying to turn the engine over . . . wait a couple of seconds and try again. Magic . . . all fixed. It also had windshield wipers that only worked when they felt like it. And again, if I needed them to work when they wouldn't, I would have to shut the engine down and restart. Just like computers, my Jetta needed often reboots.

But that was nothing compared to Karlo's last Passat. Holy heaping pile of problems . . . one after the other. I can't possibly remember them all, but here's just a few:

• The glow plug would blow once or twice a year. This is the device that starts a diesel engine and can only be fixed by a real shop.
• The interior dashboard lights were off more than on.
• The air conditioner didn't work.
• The power windows NEVER worked. On the off chance that you actually got one to go down . . . good luck trying to get it back up. How many times did they get stuck down before the rain started?
• The doors froze every winter so that we had to tie (with rope) the doors shut. Yeah, THAT wasn't too inconvenient at all.

So after these lovely experiences with our last VWs Karlo put his foot down and said "No more VWs for us!" and this was coming from a long-time fan of the German cars. And we went happily for 4 years with no VWs. Then this year we broke down. We were on the hunt for an all-purpose do-everything car with great gas mileage. It seems Volkswagon is the only car manufacturer that offers affordable diesels. The 50 miles per gallon made us forget all the previous bad experiences and we bought a Golf.

Two weeks into having it, we get a phantom ticking sound. Every time we used the directional signal, it would tick out of control for 2 minutes. Since the car needed a new timing belt anyway, we took it to the shop for a very expensive visit and had the ticking fixed along with the belt . . . . Two weeks later, the ticking comes back! Uuuuuuuugh, VWs . . . They make me want to scream.

Two months ago we discovered that the sunroof leaks - BAD. If the car is left outside during the rain, a very large puddle of water will form on the floor. If we are driving, it drips all over my feet. And we have even been in a downpour where I swear it was raining in the car.

All these things we could live with. But now the car is not starting! Just put a new battery in it and it still doesn’t turn over. If you take any advice from me at all, do not buy a Volkswagon.

Am I Boring You?

I hate to have so many blog entries about the projects at home, but that is pretty much my whole life right now. This week will be dedicated to taping and mudding the drywall which is a very long and time consuming process. Last night I covered all the screw holes so it looks like the walls have a terrible case of the measles. I’m sorry that I haven’t been documenting with photos. I’ll try to take some soon.

When I’m not working on the projects at home, I’m shopping for them. Yesterday I bought some new cabinet pulls for the kitchen and laundry room. Cabinet pulls are so much fun! But the selections are endless and how do you choose? Well, I finally bit the bullet and just went for it. I better like them considering we have 55 pulls in the kitchen! Very scary. Here they are:

And remember our new color scheme for the new bathroom? Its blue and tangerine. Look at what I found for the laundry room vanity:


Now I’m on to the new IKEA catalog.

I got an email from IKEA last week to alert me that the new catalog was out. I requested a printed one be mailed to the house and I was going out of my mind waiting the three dreadfully long weeks that they anticipated it would take. Then yesterday I was walking through the lobby at work and out of the corner of my eye I caught some splash of color sitting on a side table. It instantly got my attention and to my delight, it was the new IKEA catalog. There it was . . . sitting all by itself . . . completely unattended. Have you seen the movie “Finding Nemo”? You know that scene where all the seagulls are standing on the dock saying “mine, mine, mine.” Well, that was me. I scoped up the catalog and made a mad dash to my office. Now it’s sitting on my desk with 13 flags sticking out of the pages. I can NOT wait to make the long journey to New Haven!!!!

Random Tidbits

We had a busy weekend and my head is still scattered. So rather than try to tell you a cohesive story, I’m just going to share some random thoughts and pics.

Lisa (& Luke) were visiting this weekend and Lisa had her new Mac laptop. We had some fun taking pictures with the laptop:






The laundry room/bathroom project made some more progress and I don’t have pictures to prove it. Stay tuned on that. I had a conference with Jessica and Lisa and we have settled on the colors. We are going with a shocking blue (gulp, God help me – I pray I don’t regret this) in the bathroom and a tangerine in the laundry room. Those are complimentary colors to each other and I’m happy to tone down the color that you will see from the foyer.

The green bathroom tiles arrived on Friday and when I opened the package I was horrified. They were the ugliest things I ever laid eyes on. I was furious . . . until Jessica figured out that we were looking at the BACK of the tiles. Ooops. Blonde moment. I never saw tiles with the paper backing on the front before. Odd! But that was the best news I heard all day. If all goes well, we will start taping and mudding the drywall tonight and maybe I’ll be painting (or at least priming) on Friday.

And here’s something that I just have to share. I ran across this blog today that posts all sorts of printable store coupons. For instance, the craft store 40 or 50% coupons are always listed. For those of you that don’t get the newspaper, this is like gold. Check it out: http://printable-coupons.blogspot.com/2005/10/retail-coupons.html

Happy shopping!

This is Unusual

I can't think of anything to say! Wow, shocking. I'm sitting here at my desk, staring at the wall, trying to think of something interesting to say. As I'm staring at my wall, I'm looking at a piece of art that I made. Yes, it looks like a little kid did it, but I don't care. I still love it. It makes me happy every time I look at it. So I decided that today I will share the happiness with you.

I saw this painting at a gallery in Florida last year. I just loved it. My nickname at work is "giraffey" and I think they really are amazing creatures. So when the gallery manager went into the back room, I snapped a picture of the painting and recreated my own version of it. Look at all the money I saved!

Here's my masterpiece. Don't laugh.

Slow Night

Just about all the drywall is up and I didn't take a single picture last night. ooops. It was a slow night. The biggest excitement was taking a trip to the Eastford Town Office . . . a rockin' good time. It's hard to imagine a Town Hall smaller than Andover, but one exists! The ladies were nice enough. They gave us our very important pass to get into the dump, despite the fact that our auto registrations don't yet reflect that we are living in Eastford. These people are at least smart enough to know when to bend the rules a little - unlike the folks at DMV. And speaking of DMV, I asked the town hall lady if she knew how to go about changing our address on our auto registrations and she handed us the appropriate forms. She saved us a trip to DMV. I was ready to kiss her! I'm making fast friends in Eastford!

After all that excitement, I started the very thrilling task of putting all my file folders into my new filing cabinet. I know this sounds boring, but I actually had a good time. First of all, I love my new piece of filing furniture - always wanted a pretty filing cabinet. And this is my big chance to get and stay organized. So I filled one draw with financial info, one draw with legacy info (old tax returns, old credit card statements, etc) and one draw with everything else. I was very proud of myself for my organization. Then I remembered that Rick left us a bunch of folders pertaining to the house. My word . . . there was so many folders, it needed it's own drawer. There went my new system! So now I have an entire drawer dedicated to the house. I can tell that Rick is German. That man has every receipt and every piece of documentation for EVERY detail of the house. I'm so thankful and I'm going to follow his lead and try to remain that organized. We'll see how that goes.

My plans for coloring my hair didn't happen last night, but there's still time. I'm hiring Jessica for the job this time so hopefully things will go smoothly.

Pictures of the Bath/Laundry Room Construction

Ok Lisa, you wanted pictures . . . I snapped some pics last night, but this afternoon it will look much different. Today is drywall day and I can't wait!

This picture was taken from the foyer. The opening on the left was the old entrance to the bathroom. It will become a closet that you access from inside the laundry room. The opening on the right is the new entrance to both the laundry and bathroom. We will need to patch the wood floor and I'm sure that will be fun.

This shows you how small the bathroom portion of the room will be. A pocket door will go into the frame you see. Karlo had to relocate the toilet. I still can't figure out how he did that. I wonder if he flushed it yet. Yikes.

This is the other side of the bathroom. The new glass top vanity will go inside the blue lines. But for now, it's the home of the shop vac. All the plumbing has already been moved so the sink will be quick to install. And wait till you see the sink. I love it!

Here are the stacked washer and dryer. I took this picture from inside the new closet. To the left is the old sink vanity. We are keeping the vanity and putting a flat counter top on it for a place to fold the clothes. There will also be a wall completely hiding the washer and dryer so you don't see them when you walk down the new little hallway to get to the bathroom. Oh and one more thing . . . Karlo is going to add a window to that blank back wall to let some natural light in.

Last night I talked to Rick and Nancy and they asked how the project was coming. After I reported what Karlo did so far, Rick asked "Is there anything he CAN'T do?" and after some pondering I am pretty sure the answer is NO. So far, we haven't encountered anything that Karlo couldn't make, build or do. I married superman!

Weekend Update

We had a nice weekend . . . Went to a party . . . Ate too much . . . Took a break from working for the first time since we moved in . . . Visited with friends . . . Did laundry! Yes, that last one seems a little out of place in my list, but it was very exciting. On Saturday we got our new front-loading, high-efficiency washer and dryer delivered. Up until then, it's been two weeks since I did laundry and I was very eager. I LOVE the new machines. They are quiet and easy to operate. I have them stacked so it's only a pain to get in and out of the lower one (the washer), and the best part - the clothes come out of the dryer DRY, the first time around. What a joy. Thanks Ang and Penni for recommending them. I couldn't be happier.

Well, maybe I could be a little happier . . . I'm also very eager to have the room they are sitting in complete. Karlo has been working feverishly and I'm stunned at what he already accomplished. But we still have no walls. We have the essentials, plumbing hooked up and electricity where it belongs. The walls come next. I'm already shopping for tiles and paint. Once the new laundry room and bathroom are complete, I think we can finally take a breather. Well, we CAN, but will we? Doubtful.

I've Been Tagged

I was going to write about my exciting night Thursday night. Jess arrived for her summer visit and as we were taking her on a tour of the house, she pointed out that there was a ‘bird’ in the house . . . only it wasn’t a bird at all. It was a BAT! Good Lord, a bat in the house. Jess and I made a mad dash into one of the bedrooms and shut the door as Karlo tried to figure out how on earth he was going to catch this thing. Now you have to imagine the ceilings in our house . . . They are tall and the bat was flying back and fourth over the open foyer. So to make the tall ceilings even worst, Karlo didn’t even had a floor to stand on! But somehow, I can’t really describe how because we were scared to open the door to watch, he captured the thing with a towel. I learned a big lesson to NEVER keep the doors open for more than the 2 seconds it takes to walk out them. There are some scary things out here in the woods and I don’t want to find out what they are.

Well, I guess I did just tell you about my exciting night after all, but today’s blog entry is supposed to be 8 random facts about myself. My friend Lisa got tagged by another friend of hers and she had to blog about her random facts. What a riot they were. If you know Lisa, and even if you don’t, you might be amused to learn more about her. Check out her blog posting here.
So now it’s my turn and this won’t be easy. I don’t think I could come up with facts that you don’t already know, but here are some things that might give a stranger a better idea of the real me.

1. I am a certified interior redesigner. I got my certificate last year and it was the most fun I ever had doing homework and lessons. I love my job. I really do. But I would find it wildly exciting to start a new career. I would love to be an architect (despite the fact that I can never spell it right) or an interior designer.
2. I don’t vote! I hate politics, Politians and everything remotely related to politics. When I see people standing on the side of the road, in the cold, holding political signs and waving to cars I am simply stunned. I truly can’t imagine why anybody in their right mind would waste their own personal time. And do they REALLY think waving at cars is going to influence voters? Idiots. (Just for the record, I toned this item way down for public viewing. I REALLY have strong feelings on this subject so I had to hold back.)
3. Despite the fact that I think travelling is really a drag (the actual transportation part), I have visited 19 different countries. Many of the countries, I’ve been to more than once. I feel very fortunate about this fact and it’s definitely affected the way I view the world.
4. In my next life I want to be a dancer. I love dancing. I love watching other people dancing. I achieved one of my long-time goals of taking dance classes and performing in a recital. That was a big deal for me considering I was the only one in the class that hadn’t been dancing since I was 6. It was hard and challenging, but I did it. Next time around I want to start when I’m 6 years old and continue dancing for the rest of my life.
5. I run a side business and I really enjoy the challenge of it (most of the time.) Sometimes I get so overhelmed I want to quit, but I’ve been plugging along now for over 3 years. I love the sense of accomplishment it gives me and nothing pleases me more than getting fan mail from people that think YogaDudes is a ‘real’ business.
6. I am still very close friends with 4 or 5 girls that I started kindergarten with. I personally think this is one of the most amazing random facts that I can share. I have never met anybody at my age that still has such strong ties to the kids they grew up with. I think that says something about the times when we were kids and the area that we grew up in. It’s hard for me to go back at this point to where I grew up, but I wouldn’t trade my childhood for anything.
7. I am semi-neurotic and overly nervous about just about everything. I feel unexplainably guilty for ridiculous things, I can’t seem to say no, and spend way too much time worrying about things I can’t control. Last week I got a silly email survey from a friend. One of the questions was “What do you hate most about yourself?” I looked at what the other girls wrote and everyone complained about a physical trait. I have plenty of those that I hate and would love to change too, but the thing that I truly hate the most about myself is my nervous nature. I really wish I could change it because it affects every aspect of my life. Sigh
8. I have a secret desire to write a book. I feel like, so far, I’ve lived an incredible life. I’ve already done more things than dozens of people combined will ever do in a lifetime. I’ve had so much fun writing about some of my stories in my blog that the idea of writing a book is really starting to interest me. Who knows, maybe someday I will. In my spare time . . . what’s that?

Week In Pictures

I recently discovered MSN's "Week in Pictures" and I love it! It's going to take me months to go back through all their archives, but I'm gonna do it. The pictures are amazing and they represent news around the world for that specific week. Each picture has a little story explaining it. After you look at all 12 pictures from any given week you can vote for your favorite and then see the results of all the other people's votes. It's fun to try to guess which picture was the most popular.

Even if you are not as fascinated by photography as I may be, you will probably enjoy looking at these photos every week. Go to this link and click on the big dates listed under the picture. That will bring you to the most recent week. And if you are like me, you can also get totally sucked in and go through the archives. Fun fun - enjoy.

I don't mean to brag, but . . .

My nephew rocks! Click here and listen to this song. You will hear three different instruments: a guitar, a bass, and the drums. My nephew John is playing BOTH the guitar and the bass . . . at the same time!! Isn’t that amazing?

OK, so he’s not actually playing them at the same time, but he did play both instruments and his instructor put them together to make this cut. Still pretty darn amazing if you ask me.

Pretty soon we will be going to see John in concert. Maybe then I’ll actually spend the $80 for the concert T-shirt. Wait a minute . . . my nephew BETTER get me discount on his shirts!

Good job John! Keep up the good work. I can’t wait to be a groupie. But don’t wait too long to get famous. I still need to be young enough to dance around and look like an idiot in the crowd.

Under Appreciated

In case you are not sick of hearing me talk about how much work we have been doing . . . I just need to vent. After over a week of solid, non-stop back breaking hard work unpacking, cleaning, painting, decorating, and shopping for the house, I have to say that it is ASTONISHING what we accomplished in one week’s time. Of course all the unpacking and decorating has been my duty. Karlo has been very busy with ‘boy stuff,’ but I am responsible for the house looking like a home after just one week.

When I look around, even I can’t believe how far I’ve come from the blank white canvas that I started with. So last night when Karlo got completely on my case because stuff was on the floor in the office, I wanted to smack him. Stuff is on the floor because I’m waiting for my new file cabinet and bookshelf to arrive. I have no place to put the ‘stuff’ and I’m still trying to pay bills, record expenses and work from my office. So there are a few books, CDs and file folders on the floor . . . has he even took the time to LOOK at the rest of the house . . . the painted walls, the window treatments, the homey touches? Uuuugh!!!!

So the next time you see Karlo, give him a little whack upside his head and tell him how lucky he is to have a hard little worker for a wife. I think sometimes he forgets.

Roughing it out in the Boonies

Just two days ago I was thrilled about my new TV in the bedroom. I was so missing watching the news in the morning to get my weather forecast. I can’t start my day without it. Yesterday morning I woke up bright-eyed and bushy-tailed all excited to turn on the TV . . . I switched to channel 3 (CBS) only to find out that CBS is no longer WFSB from Hartford. Out here it’s W-whoknowswhat from Boston!!! What the?!?!? Where is my Channel 3? Where is my Scot Haney? This is terrible. I don’t care about the weather in Massachusetts! Nobody told me that Eastford was THIS far from civilization!

We took an ice cream break yesterday and drove our bikes down to the local dairy bar where we met a few other bikers. One group from Rhode Island and one from MA. This is when it hit me that we are closer to both of those states than we are from Hartford. The guys from RI pointed out that the music playing at the dairy bar came from a RI radio station. Sigh. I just don’t know how I can make it through without Scot Haney in the morning. I’m sad.

And I’m not the only one roughing it out here. This big house and no place to wash the dogs! The poor dogs have gone from a nice bathtub with warm running water, to a garden hose and a Rubbermaid tub in the driveway. These are greyhounds and should NOT be subjected to this kind of dog abuse! Poor things. They were good sports about the whole ordeal and they may have even secretly liked the refreshing water.



More house news . . . after 7 straight days of unpacking, decorating, cleaning and desperately trying to get the house looking good , Karlo starts to destroy our downstairs bathroom. I think I can best describe this in pictures.

This is what the foyer used to look like.

This is what it looked like just before our ice cream break yesterday.

And this is what it looks like now.

According to my calculations, with the rate of Karlo's working speed and his obsessive nature to get the job done, the entire project - demoing one big room and building two new rooms - (moving all the electrical and plumbing, building new walls, etc.) should take about a week. Good thing, because the new washer and drier are coming on Saturday. Yippeeee. You Go Karlo!!

My New and Improved Birthday Present

Yes, my birthday was a month ago, but I just got around to trying on the present that Karlo bought me. My present arrived in Eastford some time around my birthday, but by the time we got back from our trip and made our way out here to get it, it was nearly time to move. And then once the process of moving started, well my new bike shorts and jersey were the last things on my mind. But during one of my ‘sick days’ this week, I started organizing my clothes. I ran across the new stuff and at first I just threw them into the “bike clothes” box that lives under the bed. Just after I pushed the box back under the bed I thought “maybe I should try the darn things on.” Well, I’m glad I did!

I put the shorts on and I positively hated them. I thought long and hard as to what I should do about this dilemma. A couple of years ago Karlo got me leather chaps for motorcycling riding and I hated those too. I totally hurt his feelings when I sent them back and now I’m worrying that maybe he will just stop buying me things all together. I’m trying real hard to improve his purchase decisions, but apparently it’s not working.

I decided that it would be silly to just keep these shorts, knowing I would never wear them, because by the looks of them, I knew they were probably expensive. But I had no idea . . .

I asked Karlo to send me the receipt so I can contact the company and see if I could get a refund, despite the fact that so much time had passed. Well, when I saw the receipt I nearly fell off my chair and, lucky for Karlo, he was 20 miles away. I wanted to CHOKE him. Can you imagine spending $430 on a pair of bike shorts and one jersey???? As Lisa said, for that price they better have rocket boosters in them. And, in fact, the shorts were see-through and I didn’t like them at all. They weren’t even gel padding so they couldn’t possibly be as comfy as my $30 pair. What is going through Karlo’s mind when he decides this purchase is a good idea? I need to beat him over the head with a bat to make him understand that a high price tag doesn’t necessary make something ‘special.’ Especially when I never heard of the brand name and I already have dozens of biking outfits.

To my delight, and Karlo’s relief, the company said we could return them for credit. I still needed to cash in on a birthday gift so I spent HALF of Karlo’s credit and got a new flat screen TV for the bedroom. Karlo insists that shouldn’t be my present because we will both enjoy it. But I don’t care. I need the TV to help me sleep and I’m addicted to watching the weather in the morning. Karlo crafted an adorable little shelf for it and it's nicely hidden behind one of the posts. I love my new present! But I fear what will happen next July. Will somebody please coach Karlo on gift buying?

By the way, you can see the 'honeysuckle beige' wall color in the picture. I'm also happy to report that all the painting is done! Thank you Lisa for your help with the bathroom. It's such a relief to be able to put away all the painting supplies now. And I'm also happy to report that I love every color that I picked. An even bigger relief.

Still on a Cloud

Last night was the much anticipated Police concert and it was in one word – spectacular. Not seeing The Police when I was in high school has haunted me for 20 years. Most everyone reading this blog knows that I have been a die hard Police/Sting fan. I remember my father asking me when I was going to ‘grow out of this?’ and I guess that never happened.

In high school I was completely consumed by this band, however I was alone in this infatuation. I didn’t share this love with any friends. I was in my own little world. I even learned how to play the bass and had my father write out every note of the Synchronicity concert so that I could come home from school and practice over and over. I got to the point where I could play every note of the whole show. Those were the days. I used to sneak out my Dad’s good bass (the one I wasn’t supposed to touch) and crank the amp up so the whole street could hear. But then have everything put neatly away before Dad got home from work. Let’s hope he’s not reading this! None of my friends ever cared for The Police and that was their loss.

So when the band came in concert, I had nobody to go with and stayed home completely TORTURED that I was missing seeing them live. Then when the announcement came not long after that they were breaking up, I was sure that I would roll over and die.

Last night was my big chance at removing one of the few and major regrets in my life. I FINALLY GOT TO SEE THE POLICE. And it was worth every penny of the insane ticket price. I was in my glory. The show was fantastic. I simply could NOT have asked for a better night. I ditched Karlo (at his recommendation) and sold his ticket to my friend Sue. We went out for a superb dinner at Evergreen Walk; had an amazingly easy commute into the parking lot; walked into the stadium and found the restroom – where there was nobody in there and walked right in and out. Then the opening act (more on that later) started just as we got in. The weather was excellent. I wasn’t cold, there was a full moon. And get this . . . even getting out of the parking lot was relatively easy! I’m still in shock about the whole event.


So the show was . . . hmmmm, I’m starting to feel like I’m describing Croatia. I just can’t come up with the right words. You can just imagine what it was like for me. HEAVEN. They sounded awesome and they still look pretty good for ‘old guys.’ Speaking of looking good, Sting’s son, Joe Sumner, was the opening act with his band, Fiction Plane. It is eerie how much he looks like, moves like and sounds like his dad. I enjoyed watching him – despite that I couldn’t understand much of what he sang. He is not quite the literary that his dad is, but those amazing eyes suck you right in.

This is Joe.

The Police sang just about every song that I would have expected or hoped for. Well, except Shadows in the Rain. I was hoping for a funky version of that one. And can anyone please explain to me why I often have trouble remembering what I had for dinner the night before, but yet I can still remember every lyric to every Police song ever recorded?

It’s going to take a day for my voice to return. My legs are sore and my feet are killing me. I even took a sick day today to recover . . . or maybe to surf YouTube and convert every single Police CD to mp3s. I’ll have a busy day ahead of me for sure. At this point in my life, I feel that I have done it all! What’s next?