Grumpy Day

Maybe I shouldn’t blog today. I don’t have any funny stories and nothing good to say. Sigh. Yesterday I had a sore throat and a headache and, of course, today I have the full cold. Yuck. And what great timing. I have to leave this weekend for a business trip. Drat.

Next week I’ll be in Charlotte, NC for a trade show. I was supposed to leave this afternoon, but after much agony trying to make a decision, I finally decided to put myself through all kinds of work stress next Monday in order to have two extra days at home with Karlo. It’s just not fair that work takes away two weekends in a row from us! Hmmmm, maybe it was all the stress that caused the cold. So now during my glorious extra weekend time with Karlo, all I’ll want to do is lay on the couch. This just isn’t fair.

After the trade show, I have to fly down to Nashville, TN for a day. I think my nephew will be interested in where I’m going . . . . I’m spending the day at the Gibson guitar factory. They use Mastercam to make their guitars and they agreed to let us do a story on them. We will be interviewing and filming them all day. I hope to get a factory tour too. Maybe they will let me snap some pics. Stay tuned.

Sorry for the incredibly boring post today. I’ll try to blog from the road, but I’m not sure how much internet access I’ll get.

Toodles

A Sad Day

I am leaving shortly to attend a funeral. I can’t think of many things in life that I dread more than that. In my lifetime I have already attended more than my fair share of funerals. I guess that is the price you pay for coming from a big family.

Luckily today’s funeral is not a family member. Well, not MY family member, but of course, there will be plenty of people there mourning the loss of their father, brother, uncle, husband, etc. Such a sad occasion. I don’t want to go!

This man was the father-in-law of the owner of the company I work for. I actually had a close relationship with him. Many of you may remember some of the paintings we have at home . . . one of the warehouse in Old Wethersfield, one winter boat scene with my name on the hull, another nautical scene, and my favorite . . . Nathan Hale in honor of our wedding anniversary. These were all done, especially for me, by Bill McKee.

Isn’t it funny how we appreciate artwork of dead artists more than we did when they were alive? Why is that? I haven’t walked by these paintings and really thought of Bill in ages. But from now on, when I see them, I will always think back to Bill. His memory will forever live in his paintings. He has certainly left behind lots to remember him by. Gone, but not forgotten.

I Always Wanted a Lap Dog

Little did I know that I already have one!

What a Night

Last night was a nighmare! No wait, having a nightmare would infer that I actually slept. This was worse than a nightmare. The only positive part about the whole thing, (and I’m still in shock over this), was that it happened while Karlo was home and not while he was away. I’m not quite sure how that happened. The house Gods must be turning.

So here’s the scenario. We go to bed at our normal 10 PM only I’m not tired. Not tired? How can that be? I have no good reason for that. I’m always tired. But last night I laid there restless in bed. I think I finally fell asleep somewhere past midnight and then was awoken by an obnoxious blaring BEEEEEEP. What the? Its about 2:30 AM and I fell like I’m half dead.

Karlo reached for his numerous alarm devices: cell phone, watch, travel clock. But it was just one beep and went away. Two minutes later . . . BEEEEEEEEEP. Again, reach over to the night stand, knock half the items to the floor. Again it goes away.

This happens another half dozen times over the next 10 minutes. What on earth is going on? Finally I figure it out and mutter, “Is it that stupid alarm system?” I remember in the past the darn thing beeping for no good reason. So Karlo gets up and investigates. Sure thing, the beeping is coming from the security system panel in our bedroom. But WHY? We have never set the alarm since we moved in.

Well, this went on for the rest of the night. Sometimes the beep would come every 8 seconds (yes, I counted). I felt like I was living an Edgar Allen Poe novel. Sometimes the beep duration was just long enough to fade back into a groggy sleep. But just when I started to lose consciousness, BEEEEEEP. I’m telling ya, I was ready to rip that stupid thing off the wall. Karlo got up and down 10 times trying to reset it, trying to put the passcode in. Of course, he knows nothing about the system because we never took the time to learn about it, so I’m not quite sure what he was trying to do.

Come to find out this morning, our cable signal was intermittent. TV was good for a few minutes and then gone for a minute. Then back, then gone. So we picked up the phone and sure enough, no dial tone. So that explains why the security pad was saying “Communication problem.” Every time that we lost the signal during the night the alarm system blurted out a loud beep to let us know. Gee, thanks.

I’m sure it’s still beeping away all day. The dogs are probably going to go insane. I guess I should post this blog and get on the phone with Charter Communications. Nothing can improve my day more than a frustrating phone ordeal with them. Sigh.

He Remembered

After Karlo went to Germany two years ago and came home with no gummy bears, he wasn’t going to make that mistake again. I told him over and over last time, “Please don’t forget the gummy bears.” Yes, I know I can buy the same ones here in the States, but it’s just not the same. They taste better out of a package written in German. Despite forgetting the gummy bears last time, Karlo brought home jewelry and other gifts, but I was still disappointed. I ended with a gorgeous necklace, but I still sulked.

So this time around he learned his lesson and came home with not only gummie bears, but a gummy watch! Am I a nut or what? Last time I got an expensive and very pretty necklace. This time I got a children’s rubber watch and yet this time I was happier. I am sporting my new watch today. Luckily I have the same size wrist as most 4 year olds so it fits me perfectly.

Thank you Karlo. I love my watch and please don’t eat all my gummy bears. I would hate to have to ship you back to Germany again.

Budding Little Stars

Looks like Tina's kids belong on the stage. She has three little actresses/dancers. They impressed me with quite the little dance routine during their visit this weekend. After showing off their routine, they decided it was time for dance competitions! Yikes, competitions? Let me give you a piece of advice. Never dance against Tina. You will lose - hands down. Ahhhh, it certainly brought me back to the days when I danced with her and not against her. Those were the good ole times.

After our visit we all went shopping together. Yeah!! I know I'm not supposed to shop, but I couldn't resist. And I have to blame the kids for just about everything I bought. They are very bad influences on me.

Thanks for a fun visit guys!

My First Homework Assignment

Does anybody remember the fact that I have a (not so) secrect desire to write a book? Well, I signed up for an online writing class and I just completed my first assignment. Since I have nothing else to talk about today (yes, shocking . . . I know) I decided to share it with you.

The assignment told me to find an object around the house that has some sort of meaning to me and sit quietly and observe it for five minutes. For me to sit still and do basically nothing for 5 whole minutes was torture. But I did it. I sat and thought . . .

Then I had to sit and write for another 5 minutes. Funny, the first 5 minutes was endless and the next 5 minutes flew by. I had so much more that I could have said. Well anyway, here's what I came up with:

When I look at my engagement ring so many memories flood my mind. I remember walking through the “diamond district” in NYC looking at all the sparkly rings. The hunt for the perfect ring was such an exciting adventure. I already found the perfect guy. Now I needed the perfect symbol of our never ending love.

I will never forget the day my husband purposed to me. I remember what he was wearing. I remember what I was wearing. I remember how nervous he was and the words he used. I knew that he was going to propose at some point, I just didn’t know when. And boy did he catch me by surprise. I remember the way my heart pounded through my chest and the feeling that my entire life changed in that instant.

With every passing year, more and more memories will be added to the never ending story of our relationship. This ring will always be the most special thing I own. It represents all the memories that I have made with my husband to date, and all the future years we still have yet to experience together.

This ring was a start of a wild adventure, one that I’m so happy I took and one that I never want to end.

Missing “Daddy”

I was going to blog today about Frasier (Kelsey Grammer) and how much I’ve missed watching him on TV. His new sitcom started last night and I had a ball watching it. This was the first sitcom I watched since living with Dad.

But when I logged into my blog today and saw that Karlo had visited and left a comment, it was so exciting. I’m so glad that he was able to connect. I know what that’s like. When I travel, the highlight of my day is always rushing back to the hotel room to get online to read Lisa’s blog. Every day she posted pictures and stories of her exciting days dog-sitting the hounds. It was my connection to “home.” I got to see my furry little darlings and got to hear all about Lisa’s adventures with them.

So this posting is especially for Karlo. I just want to tell him that we ‘all’ miss him at home.

Here’s Peanut looking for you:


And remember this tender moment with Bents?


And don’t forget me . . . I miss you too!!

Because Karlo is Away . . .

Something had to go wrong. It never fails. The oddest, most bizarre things always happen while he is out of town. Like for instance the time when the garage door decided it would only open half way, get stuck, and retreat back down to the ground. Why would the door pick the day that I’m alone for this to happen? That morning I had to find Karlo’s saw and spend 15 minutes sawing a 2x4 that magically moved into the track of the door. I was late for work and full of saw dust when I arrived.

Or the time when the smoke alarms kept going off in the middle of the night. No fire in sight, but yet the darn things were screeching away. Then there was the ant invasion, the central vac breaking down . . . I can go on and on. The house gods are against me and like to play games with me. I’m starting to think that maybe Karlo booby traps the house on me just so I realize how much I need him!

So last night I went grocery shopping (as if that wasn’t bad enough). Most of you reading have been to the house and know that the garage is in the basement. It makes much more sense to pull the car to the front door (which is on ground level), unload the groceries and then park in the garage downstairs. I knew this was going to be a problem because I have yet to successfully unlock the front door on my own. Karlo got annoyed with my inability to open the door one day so he tried to give me a demo on how to put the key in, turn it and open the door. Yes, I needed a demo! And guess what? Even HE had trouble. That’s when I threw my arms in the air and said “Forget it. I’ll just never open the stupid door on my own.” I was happy with that solution.

And all this came flooding back to me last night as I pulled up with my sacred melting ice cream, in a rush to figure out how to get into the house. I put the key in, pushed real hard, tried like heck to turn it . . . nothing. Oooooohhhhhh, I was getting frustrated. How hard could this (or should this) be? I pushed and turned even harder . . .

This is what happened:



So now what? I was far too lazy to drive down and lug everything up so I walked around the porch and tested the side door. Just as I suspected, I forgot to lock it the night before! Did that make me feel better . . . or worse? I got in the house, but geeez whiz I should be more careful when I’m alone.

As if Karlo doesn’t already have a million things to do around the house, now he has to figure out how to get the other half of the key out of the lock. I wonder if that is even possible. And if we have to replace the lock, does that mean we have to replace ALL the locks just so we can use one key for all doors? Uuuugh. This will teach Karlo to leave me home alone!

I Can't Think Straight

I'm sorry that I can't post a worthy blog entry today. If you could hear what I'm sitting through right now, you wouldn't believe it. I'm at work and there is major construction going on. I should be used to this because we've already been through various phases of the building construction over the past several months. But today is ridiculous. There is some sort of machinery 12 feet from my door that sounds to me like a jackhammer. My head is throbbing and I'm ready to go out there and cut their power cord. I don't really feel guilty for not working right now. I can't even think with all this noise.

So on this day when I can't put together many cohesive sentences, I will leave you with a couple of humorous pictures that a friend emailed. These are in honor of Karlo, who no doubt had to endure the pleasures of the, sometimes crazy, Homeland Security measures as he traveled to Germany last night.

Enjoy . . .

Week in Pictures

This was an easy “week in pictures.” We had a great time celebrating this past weekend. Our trip up to the Birkshires was exciting. We left early Friday morning and drove all day . . . thanks to the darn GPS flaking out we probably drove 50 miles out of the way. But I suppose going for a bike ride was the whole point of the trip so it wasn’t so bad. The weather was nice and the scenery was beautiful.

We drove to Williamstown, MA, home of Williams College, which was amazingly beautiful. My goodness, if I could do it all again, I think I would want to attend that school. I have to say, MA is the most charming state in the country. Every town we visited was even more charming that the last. I just love the architecture of the old buildings and the small town feel. Good to know that it’s so close to home!

Once in Williamstown we headed to Mt. Greylock – the highest point in MA. Unfortunately, the road to the summit was closed to vehicles. The only way up was to hike and that was out of the question in my big motorcycle boots. That place is a definite must to return to. I either want to hike to the summit or bicycle up the road. Can’t wait.

We had a lovely dinner at our favorite restaurant. What were the chances that the Coyote Flacos in Williamstown was related to the Coyote Flacos in Mansfield? Apparently pretty good! There was live entertainment (an old guy singing and strumming Spanish music on his guitar). We had a ball.

The next day . . . not so good. We knew rain was in the forecast, but it was predicted to end by noon. We started off the day in the mist and it wasn’t so bad. But with every passing hour, my body temps dropped another 10 degrees. It pretty much rained the whole way back – until we crossed the border of CT, when the sun came out and it was beautiful. Oh well, we still enjoyed the ride.

We spent yesterday having some home town country fun. We went to an event in Woodstock called “Artists in the country.” Then we went wine tasting in Pomfret. Followed by a farmers market in Ashford. How much country fun can one have in one day?

Click here to view my Week in Pictures.

Remember This Day?

It was 5 years ago today! I still can't believe how quickly five years have passed. Scary.

Well, today is our special day and we are on our way up to the Berkshires to celebrate. Seems we have started all sorts of anniversary traditions . . . one being that we are always away on Sept. 14th. We originally planned our Croatia trip to celebrate our anniversary, but it somehow ended up being my birthday celebration instead. So since this is our biggest anniversary to date, we just had to go somewhere. A two day motorcycle tour of the Birkshires it is!

Other traditions include buying a bottle of wine on our anniversary that we drink one year later on the next anniversary. I wonder if there are any local vineyards in that part of MA. We have learned from experience that buying local wines in Chicago is darn near impossible. So I'm no longer quite the stickler about the wine having to be from the locale that we are in. Now I just look for a pretty label.

And this morning we may have started yet another tradition. For the past 4 years we have chosen to purchase one gift for both of us . . . usually something small for the house that we can look back on and remember our anniversary. Two days ago Karlo called me from the airport (and this is classic Karlo). Here's our conversation:

K: Hi babe, I'm at the airport. Can you tell me again what the rule is this year about our anniversary? Am I allowed to buy you something?

P: Absolutely not! I am not planning to get you anything and I would rather pick up something in the Berkshires to remind us of our special weekend.

K: OK!

And then Karlo proceeds to hang up the phone and go and buy me jewelry. He NEVER listens to me and I'm not quite sure why he even asks me things. But on a brighter note, he got me some Swavorski crystal earrings and this morning I announced that "It would be OK to start a new tradition of shopping at Swaroski every year for our anniversary." hee hee

A Little Bit of Tuscany in Tolland

Last week I went for a walk at lunchtime and brought my camera. I usually don’t even notice the beautiful grounds here at work. I walk along the adorable brook, by the wooden bridge and gazebo, and across the field near the beautifully restored old barn every day, without really taking a second glance. I forget the days when I worked in an ugly industrial building near the projects in Hartford. I really should stop taking this place for granted and start enjoying all that it offers.

This Spring I noticed that a huge section of field was newly cultivated and I wondered why. Then a couple of months later the sunflowers started to appear. We now have an enormous ring of sunflowers welcoming us as we enter the driveway. Nothing makes me think of Tuscany more than sunflowers. They are my favorite flower. I wish they could last all year. Check out this picture I took. Can you find the little lady bug on the flower? (click on the photo to enlarge it!)



And here's the restored barn:

I'm looking forward to my lunchtime walk today!

My First Night Alone At Home

Last night was my first night all alone in Eastford. Karlo is in PA for a couple of days and this is a good warm up for his upcoming 7 day trip to Germany. For the first time in 10 years I was concerned about having all the doors locked. We never locked our doors in Andover and I was never afraid of being alone. So why is it different now? I'm not sure. I don't know if I'm afraid of critters in the woods, physchos that might find me alone, or maybe I'm just concerned that something will go wrong with the house . . the house that overwhelms me because it's so foreign to me. I just felt more comfortable in Andover. I knew every square inch of that house. I built that house and was intimately familiar with it. But now I feel lost. Karlo left his sword by our bed, but what good is that? I can barely pick the thing up. Can you see me tangling with a bear using Karlo's sword? There's a picture for you.

And on my very first night alone, I set a meeting with a complete stranger that I met on Craig's List. What was I thinking? Well, I wasn't thinking. I completely forgot that Karlo would be away. It reminded me of the time that Lisa sold something on Craig's List and Luke was not home when the buyers wanted to come over. Lisa called me in as her security back up. As it turned out the people were completely normal, nice, and friendly. I figured if Lisa considered me security, than I would be OK on my own!

And I was. The guy showed up at the door and he instantly reminded me of an old friend. (Sue, he could have been Wes's brother). He was very normal and friendly and get this . . . He's building a house right down our street! What were the chances of that? So this means that I just met and made friends with another neighbor. Sue, are you even more impressed now?

I now have a signed contract for the rental of our "boat/snake house." (only Lisa will get that part) and I'm thrilled that we will have that little bit of extra income every month. Yeah!! You gotta love Craig's List. I have to go figure out what else to list and sell . . .

I Want That!

It seems the most popular question from anyone entering our house is “Where did you get that fish tank?” As a matter of fact, after the complete tour of the house, Sheryl announced that the coolest part of the whole house was the fish tank! I had to make sure Karlo heard that one after all the begging and pleading to get him to agree to it. Not that I needed him to agree to it before I just went ahead and bought it anyway . . . but I really wanted him to want it too.

And speaking of wanting it . . . the answer to the burning question of where I got that amazing tank is the subject of today’s blog entry. There is an awesome show on my favorite TV station (HGTV) called “I Want That.” What a ball it is to watch, but I’m warning you now, very dangerous. It’s amazing how many things that you didn’t knew exist yesterday, but suddenly today you MUST have. Like for example that fish tank.

No time to watch TV? No problem. You can go online anytime and see all the products that they feature. Here’s the link. And once you get to the site you will see that you have 4 choices:

• I Want That! – all sorts of misc products
• I Want That Kitchens
• I Want That Baths
• I Want That Tech Toys – my personal favorite

You can get lost on this site making your wish lists. Oh what fun. And since tonight is the Lotto drawing and my aunt bought me a ticket that for sure will be a winner . . . I think I’ll go and pick out some goodies now.

Happy shopping.

Weekend In Pictures

This picture sums up our awesome weekend. Our house is finally a home thanks to the visits from our friends. For those of you that made it out, thank you so much. The weekend was priceless. For those of you that couldn't make it, we so look forward to seeing you soon.

Our friend Sheryl made that giant fortune cookie and inside was the "Home Sweet Home" fortune. I just loved it. How creative was that? Sheryl refuses to read the blog, but I'm going to publicly thank her anyway . . . or maybe guilt her into starting to visit and read it.

This was an easy "Week in Pictures" or actually just "Weekend in Pictures". Just follow this link to the slide show.

http://picasaweb.google.com/paulasworld/OpenHouse/photo#s5108346372306465586

Get This . . .

My friend Regina flew to LA yesterday to attend a party this weekend hosted by Oprah! Yes, that wasn't a typo . . . she is going to Oprah's party. Hmmmm, I guess my invitation got lost in the mail. Must have been due to the recent move. Oprah doesn't have my new address yet.

I'm not really sure about the details. All I know is that it has something to do with politics. That must be why I didn't retain the info. Tina knows all about it so maybe she can fill us in.

Regina better come back with pictures! If she does, I'll post them for all to see.

Our Little Town From The Air

Today, I thought I would post something much less controversial so as to not cause a big debate! There's nothing to argue about this one.

I just wanted to share some pictures that I found online of Eastford from the air. Can you believe this is CT? I swear it looks like Vermont or New Hampshire to me.

This is Crystal Pond, the closest one to us.
This is the next closest lake, but I'm not sure how to spell it.

This is Buell's apple orchard. Has to be the biggest business in town.

This is "downtown."

Footnote: You will not get this feel when coming to visit us. These pictures show fields and wide open spaces, however we live in the middle of the forest. You will see a couple of fields, barns and a bunch of cows, but mostly you will see trees - lots and lots of trees.

I Need Help

Will somebody please knock some sense into my husband? Stubborn is his middle name and sometimes I think I want to substitute it with a different "s" word. I am hoping that maybe Penni can scare him into his senses . . .

Last night Karlo stepped on a rusty nail. I think this is probably the 3rd or 4th time this year and I'm getting so used to him getting hurt and shrugging it off that it doesn't seem to phase me as much as it should. But this time I just got a bad feeling. I guess because this time he's hobbling around like I did when I impaled my foot this Spring. This one was obviously a deep one! With all the current stresses and never ending To Do list, and Karlo's upcoming trip to Germany, the last thing we need is to have him get sick from this stupid nail. What does it take to get a silly shot to ensure that you don't get sick? I mean why wouldn't you? Why take the chance? Penni, I need some help here. Please tell Karlo what could happen if he's too lazy to drive 5 minutes down the road and get the darn shot. Anyone else reading . . . Please chime in and help me out.

Karlo's latest excuse is that he has to give blood today and maybe he can't with the shot recently injected into his bloodstream. I'm sorry. I don't mean to sound selfish, but I'm not really as concerned about other people needing blood as I am about Karlo getting sick. There are plenty of people around here that can give blood (and I'm not one of them!) Do I really need one more thing to worry about? I don't think so!

Eastford Is Growing On Me

I'm happy to report that the emotional rollercoaster is over. I officially love it in Eastford. We had a gloriously perfect long weekend and coming back to work today was painful. I love it at home so much I never want to leave!

On Friday we ventured out of our isolation and went shopping in Sturbridge. As if I didn't already love the cute little town of Southbridge, MA . . . Sturbridge ROCKS! Not only is it filled with tons of places to eat and lots of touristy shops, but we stumbled upon a plaza with a Walmart, Pier One, Staples, Famous Maker Shoes, Dress Barn, Bed Bath & Beyond, Old Navy . . . AND MORE. Unfortunately, I'm not allowed to really shop for the next few months, but when I can . . . Oh boy, I'm there!

The biggest highlights of the weekend include our major trail blazing project. We had originally thought this project would take us a couple of months to complete. But you know Karlo and I . . . Once we get started, there is no stopping us. We worked our tails off for two straight days and completed the construction of a 30 minute hiking trail. It was a lot of hard work and I only wish I had video of Karlo ripping trees out of the ground with his bare hands. It was incredible. We did cheat a little and use the ATV, a rake, and a saw and we are simply in love with the final result. As if I didn't already love the house, now we have our own private hiking, biking, quad, cross country ski trails. Heaven. It was worth my sore back and several bee stings that poor Karlo had to endure. If you are coming to our open house this weekend and want to take a 30 minute tour of the land, please bring some sneakers!

Another big highlight of the weekend was meeting 4 new Eastford friends. Our neighbors Sharon & Bill invited us over Sunday afternoon and we had a wonderful time. They have two awesomely friendly dogs that I now adore and that makes a total of FOUR new friends. One of the dogs is a spaniel lap dog and the other is a beautiful Fidelco shephard. Love them! Anyway, Sharon & Bill are terrific people and I do look forward to getting to know them more. We had a ball visiting them. Sharon even stopped by yesterday to drop off fresh tomatoes from her garden. In all my years in Andover, I never had a neighbor do that. Oh and did I mention that they are long distance bikers?

And speaking of biking, yesterday we took our first tandem ride (well, not including the 2 mile roundtrip to our neighbors house in my jeans and flipflops, carrying a bottle of wine). I had to pry Karlo out of the garage and his organization project, but he later thanked me. We rode for about 16 - 18 miles and I think we only encountered 4 or 5 cars. It was a spectacular ride.

One great long weekend and not a single picture to show for it. I'm such a slacker.

Bathroom/Laundry Room Project Completed

Well, almost completed. It just needs some artwork and other misc touches. But for the most part, WE ARE DONE! (insert a big sigh of relief here).

And here's the final results:

The hall way is now where the closet was.

Did I mention that I don't like blue? The entire inspiration for this room came from that tiny piece of art over the toilet. It's a glass fish that we bought in an art gallery in Croatia. I figured the fish needed an ocean to swim in and this blue will always remind me of the majestic water in Croatia.

Very had to see in this photo, but I love the peacock sink. Also served as inpiration for the whole room. I did all the tile work all by myself. Which is nothing compared to everything that Karlo did, but I'm still proud of myself.

We even saved some space for a dog bowl.

The transition from laundry room to bathroom with a sliding pocket door.

One of my favorite parts, I gained a whole new closet and Karlo added lots of built in shelves. Heaven.

Another favorite is my new clothes folding countertop. We went with laminate over granite just so we could wrap it around the beam. I love all the extra space.

Time to go and do some laundry . . .