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Momentary Thought
Hee! My sister is coming out for a visit from March 13 - 19, and bringing her two oldest children. In the going on eight years that I've lived here, this will be the first time that anyone in my family has come out to visit. I'm stoked.
High/Low
High: See "Momentary Thought".
Low: I'm being meeting-ed to death this week.
Current Obsession
Work again, I'm afraid.
Grin Source
I helped Marie with her Algebra last night, and it only took a bitty memory jog to remember the method. We even came up with the same answer. Heh. It's the little things in life.
Singing
...in the rain, just siiinging in the rain!
A Year Ago
More or less
Some general weirdness and fun.
Storyteller
Bio
Dramatis Personnae
Who I Read
Recipes
The whole atmosphere of the house I live in has changed drastically since I moved into it in 1995. Or was it '94? I always have to do the mental arithmetic. Let's see... I was married in '91, moved to Arizona in '93, lived in an apartment for a year, then moved into the house in July of '95. X(m) and I lived in it together until January of '97, at which time we separated and he moved out. (Boggle. Was the time that short?? Less than two years together in that house. It seemed like an eternity.) I lived alone throughout our separation, and our divorce was final in February of '98 (he kept going into hiding, and finally my lawyer and the judge declared the divorce finalized in absentia). Calvin and I got together in June of '98, and from that moment the house started changing.
Picture, if you will, a house to which no improvements had been made. Indeed, I lived in the house for over a year with the ex until he "allowed" us to have furniture. If you don't even have furniture, why should you shampoo the carpets, or paint the walls, or fix the back door, or get window coverings to replace the sheets on the curtain rods? Having people over was an embarrassment, and so we didn't entertain. Clutter ruled the land. I worked long hours simply because I didn't want to go home. Although the condition of the house itself was only part of the reason for that.
At any rate, X(m) was certainly a boat anchor, and the house was just four uninteresting walls and a place for me to land after work. It brought me no happiness. No warm feelings. No sense of belonging. It depressed me, and I found lots of reasons not to spend any time there.Then, enter Calvin and the kids (and the dogs!).
Long time readers will recall the Home Improvement Project from Hell (HIPFH (tm)). Finally, finally I had a partner who was motivated enough, I had finances that were secure enough, and I had happiness that was uplifting enough to take the house, with all of its negative vibes and rejecting non-features, and turn it into a home. We took something that really belonged to neither of us (despite my tenancy), and made something that is ours. A place we don't want to leave. A place we're excited to come home to. A place we're proud to entertain in. A place that seems to be "the" hangout for all the kids' friends.
Well over a year ago, we finished the HIPFH (tm) and moved in. As it happened, our moving in exactly coincided with achieving a zero balance in our checking account, and so we lived with the bare bones with respect to finishing touches and decorations. We had all the "needs" (like light fixtures!), but were seriously lacking in the "wants". And so, until recently, we lived a rather plain existence among the tile and the light fixtures and the dogs. The improvements we had made were vast, but the bareness of it all screamed at you as soon as you walked in the door.
But we are bare no more! Because of some fortunate financial turns, we've been able to finally fill in the details. Over the past two weekends, we've been "detailing" our brains out. Two weekends ago we bought a bunch of southwestern style pottery and plates. We bought grassy/flowery/stick-like fronds and decorated the pots. We arranged everything on the plant shelves and declared it fine. We placed an order for a pub table to go along with the pool table, and are anticipating its delivery in February.
Last weekend we had the living room and the game room swapped out. Just moving the living room from the large, cathedral-ceilinged front room to the intimate, four-walled back room hugely improved the feeling of it. Instead of sitting in what feels like the middle of a warehouse, we're now snug and cozy with a view of the back yard (and the dogs begging to come in). We bought some black and white prints and arranged them around the entertainment system, and hung one of a pair of sofa sized abstract paintings over the (wait for it...) sofa. Just doing that added a huge amount of character, and the colors in the painting offer a great contrast to the predominantly beige/tan/black motif we have. Once we add an end table, a lamp, a ceiling fan (Readers: "Oh no! Not another ceiling fan!!!" Laura: "Boy howdy, you ain't kidding.") and an area rug, the living room will be complete. (Except that Calvin will never settle on a TV and is already maneuvering for a flat-screen. Yeah, like I'm paying $14,000 for a TV.)
We had the pool table moved to the front room, and now have more than enough room around it to play. Calvin took the other abstract painting and hung it over the pots on the plant shelf to take up that large blank space. We bought a couple of fun neon-lighted framed prints and added them to the walls around the pool table - it looks really cool in there with those lit and all of the other lights off. Finally, we hung an electronic dartboard off to one side. Once the pub table is delivered and stuck in the corner, we'll have our own Bar and Grille. Happy Hour at our house! 
Marie's room is gaining in sophistication, with the addition of a couple of framed prints we bought last weekend. She already had Van Gogh "Starry Night". With her wrought iron canopy bed, walk in closet, private bathroom, and entertainment system, I practically want her room (it was mine, once, but wasn't nearly as cool then). We haven't done much with Michael's room, simply because he hasn't been home. And now that he's pretty much moved out, we'll probably do something neutral with his room so we can use it for guests when he's not staying with us on leave.
Home ownership is a project that's never done, I'm discovering. We're changing the color of all the trim in the house, and want to add some sort of "water feature" (as Calvin has taken to calling it) in the back yard. The garage, while somewhat neat, is begging for new drywall and some cabinets. We need bookshelves in the computer room. The dining room needs a large mirror on the back wall, and perhaps a couple of wall sconces on either side of it. We'll be putting a curio cabinet in our bedroom for my mother's Hummel figurines (my Uncle is shipping them out this month, after cleaning out my Grandmother's basement), and perhaps adding a painting or print over the bed. I've taken a liking to those huge and artfully arranged jars of fruits and vegetables, so I'll probably keep adding to those I have in the kitchen.All that stuff will come in good time. I'm just so thrilled with how our home is now, I can stand to be patient for the rest of the stuff. Home. That's definitely what the house turned into. Just a few short years ago, I never would have believed it could happen.