Yesterday I managed to mow "vacuum" the lawn. I find it easier to deal with if I pretend I am just vacuuming rather than doing yard work. Picture this: I was wearing a fluffy skirt, tee shirt, a newsboy cap, black and white striped socks and ballet flats. That's proper lawn mowing attire, right?
There is something stuck on the back deck, I got most of it off but I think I'm going to need to scrub it. I also noticed that the primer is not holding up and I am going to need to use paint very soon. I should start that this weekend if possible before it gets too hot out. There is a possibility that the paint I used for the front might be ok still, but I'm really not so sure. I also need to get some gloves so I can take down the vines that are growing like crazy, as well as get out the weed whacker to do the edges.
With everything I need to do inside, it's hard to fit in the outside stuff too! The only inside work I did yesterday was to get a shower with Sachi and to do the dishes. I am committed to getting the tables done today. They are really getting on my nerves. Little by little things are improving. I am almost to the point where I can get to finish up the empty rooms and shut the doors on them until it is time to do the repairs.
I'm feeling pretty sinus-y today, but I think it's because of all the blooming and lawn mowing going on.
Tons and tons of work to do at the job today. I just cannot get ahead of it. I'm drowning in paper now for weeks. This is adding to my exhaustion and taking away from my home work time.
I still have some meatloaf left for dinner tonight, but I'm going to have to defrost something for dinner tomorrow to go with the mashed potatoes. I'm leaning toward stopping to get some hot dogs, frying the mashed potatoes and eating them with baked beans.
Wednesday, April 23, 2008
Tuesday, April 22, 2008
Ouch?
Happy Earth Day! This morning my cat peed on my "green" grocery bag... Ironic?
I woke up today quite sore in my shoulders and upper back. I guess all this cleaning is catching up to me. It's good to know I'm getting a work out though. Here is a recap of yesterday's actual progress:
Washed the coffee table, Dusted the TV, Put one blanket in the dryer and one away, cleaned up some random items, did the dishes, made this soup:
Cream of Celery Soup
INGREDIENTS:
* 2 tablespoons butter
* 2 1/2 cups chopped celery with leaves
* 3 tablespoons finely chopped onion
* 2 tablespoons all-purpose flour
* 1/2 teaspoon salt
* 2 teaspoons chicken bouillon granules Mix with some water.
* 4 cups milk
*2 tablespoons Butter to add to soup after milk is in
*A few dashes of Pepper
*A few dashes of Garlic Powder
PREPARATION:
In a 2-quart saucepan over low heat melt butter; add celery and onion and sauté until celery is tender. Stir in the flour, bouillon, and salt until mixture is smooth and bubbly. Stir in milk gradually, stirring constantly; bring to a boil.
Boil, stirring constantly, for 2 minutes.
Makes 5 cups.
This is really, really good. I think next time I might double the recipe so I can have more! It's a great way to use celery that is getting droopy. Less waste, more yum!
I've noticed that I always have all these grand plans for getting things done. I need to learn that after a 9 hour day at work, I just don't have all that much energy or time left. It's also becoming clear that while I love the results of all this cleaning and doing, I can't wait until I get it all down to the point where it's just lighter cleaning on the weekend. I feel like I have no time for me to relax at this point. It's getting to be exhausting.
This is why someone needs to be home just to take care of the house. I also, for all intents and purposes, consider myself living alone. M is never home for the most part. I don't even have really anyone else to clean up after and this is feeling crazy. I skipped cleaning for a week when the world was collapsing and now it is like there are a million more things to do. I've got to hold on until I can get all the excess left over junk out. Then fix the empty rooms, shut the doors and not think about them.
Today I plan on doing the tables and mowing the lawn. Shower for me and Sachi and that is it! Left overs for dinner. Maybe even watch Gosford Park.
I woke up today quite sore in my shoulders and upper back. I guess all this cleaning is catching up to me. It's good to know I'm getting a work out though. Here is a recap of yesterday's actual progress:
Washed the coffee table, Dusted the TV, Put one blanket in the dryer and one away, cleaned up some random items, did the dishes, made this soup:
Cream of Celery Soup
INGREDIENTS:
* 2 tablespoons butter
* 2 1/2 cups chopped celery with leaves
* 3 tablespoons finely chopped onion
* 2 tablespoons all-purpose flour
* 1/2 teaspoon salt
* 2 teaspoons chicken bouillon granules Mix with some water.
* 4 cups milk
*2 tablespoons Butter to add to soup after milk is in
*A few dashes of Pepper
*A few dashes of Garlic Powder
PREPARATION:
In a 2-quart saucepan over low heat melt butter; add celery and onion and sauté until celery is tender. Stir in the flour, bouillon, and salt until mixture is smooth and bubbly. Stir in milk gradually, stirring constantly; bring to a boil.
Boil, stirring constantly, for 2 minutes.
Makes 5 cups.
This is really, really good. I think next time I might double the recipe so I can have more! It's a great way to use celery that is getting droopy. Less waste, more yum!
I've noticed that I always have all these grand plans for getting things done. I need to learn that after a 9 hour day at work, I just don't have all that much energy or time left. It's also becoming clear that while I love the results of all this cleaning and doing, I can't wait until I get it all down to the point where it's just lighter cleaning on the weekend. I feel like I have no time for me to relax at this point. It's getting to be exhausting.
This is why someone needs to be home just to take care of the house. I also, for all intents and purposes, consider myself living alone. M is never home for the most part. I don't even have really anyone else to clean up after and this is feeling crazy. I skipped cleaning for a week when the world was collapsing and now it is like there are a million more things to do. I've got to hold on until I can get all the excess left over junk out. Then fix the empty rooms, shut the doors and not think about them.
Today I plan on doing the tables and mowing the lawn. Shower for me and Sachi and that is it! Left overs for dinner. Maybe even watch Gosford Park.
Monday, April 21, 2008
Gray and Pink
When I get home I will post a picture of the tree with bright pink blooms outside my office against the gray sky of today. It's such a gloomy day I am going to make cream of celery soup today.
On Saturday, all at the same time, I baked 2 batches of chocolate chip cookies, biscuits, a meatloaf, steamed cauliflower, made a giant pot of mashed potatoes and a huge bowl of egg salad. Yes, all at the same time. I have serious issues.
I brought some of the cookies in to work today to share. I am listening to some Frank Sinatra and I need to get some of this on disc. I have some vinyl but until I get the burner, I'll need to get more anyway. Paragraph that makes no sense precedes this sentence.
I did bunches of cleaning this weekend and realized just how much I really need to do. I started on the dining room. I need to mow the lawn, I had forgotten to charge the battery. I pulled 4 boxes out of the house to donate. 1 box of trash came out of the basement. Still so much more to do down there. The box room might get looked at today. I did some dusting and I dread how much more needs to be done. Coffee table and dining table are the goals for today. I vacuumed and cleaned mirrors. Bathrooms fell by the wayside. Lots of laundry done and put away including bedding and extra blankets. I need to wash all the curtains. *sigh* I need to be home and not at work. The front porch needs so much cleaning and flowers and a little table and bench cushions. If I wasn't so worried about my neighbors...
On Saturday, all at the same time, I baked 2 batches of chocolate chip cookies, biscuits, a meatloaf, steamed cauliflower, made a giant pot of mashed potatoes and a huge bowl of egg salad. Yes, all at the same time. I have serious issues.
I brought some of the cookies in to work today to share. I am listening to some Frank Sinatra and I need to get some of this on disc. I have some vinyl but until I get the burner, I'll need to get more anyway. Paragraph that makes no sense precedes this sentence.
I did bunches of cleaning this weekend and realized just how much I really need to do. I started on the dining room. I need to mow the lawn, I had forgotten to charge the battery. I pulled 4 boxes out of the house to donate. 1 box of trash came out of the basement. Still so much more to do down there. The box room might get looked at today. I did some dusting and I dread how much more needs to be done. Coffee table and dining table are the goals for today. I vacuumed and cleaned mirrors. Bathrooms fell by the wayside. Lots of laundry done and put away including bedding and extra blankets. I need to wash all the curtains. *sigh* I need to be home and not at work. The front porch needs so much cleaning and flowers and a little table and bench cushions. If I wasn't so worried about my neighbors...
Tuesday, April 15, 2008
Another Day Another Dollar
Yeowwwch!
So, the plumbing fiasco ended up costing $733. But it is done and it is paid. The car is going to be $800 when the part comes in. *sigh* They are both being paid with the last of my equity loan.
I received my tax return money and I am now only behind 1 oil payment and one tax bill. Hopefully I can keep paying the credit cards and they will have lower monthly payments and then I will have money to put towards other bills? It's a question because that is my best option at this point...
I spent $40 of the tax return on myself, because I felt that I should get at least something out of it with all the troubles I've had had lately. Here is the list of my loot:
Gosford Park DVD New $9
4 1950's VA CD's and 1 Dion CD $20
Vintage apron $2
Brass candle holder $3
Books: Gulliver's Travels, Ettiquite (sp?) by Emily Post, Treasure Island 1911 printing $5
Quite a nice little haul for the money I must say. I haven't really shopped for myself in a few months so I really don't feel bad about it. Life cannot be all toil and scrimp and save. Sometimes you need a treat to balance it out.
Today I paid up some bills. Some that were looming over my head causing me stress, some that are only every now and again and yet they all fall at the same time. How does that happen? It's irritating.
I am going to dig myself out of this mess. It is going to happen. I've done it before and I will do it again.
Will showed up on my porch as a surprise on Friday. Shawn and I had gone to the diner, where they had no alfredo sauce, and had just gotten back to my house. Will called and asked if I had gotten the flowers he sent me. No, no flowers here. He tells me to check the porch. I look out and there he is, sitting on the porch, with a bouquet of sunflowers. Yet again, Will has amazed me with his kindness. After the week I had he could not let me spend the weekend alone. I love him so much.
We went to the mall on Saturday and he got my hair cut, or as he put it, he got my hair did. He also bought me this amazing Alice in Wonderland print of Alice that looks like a painting on canvas. I had a green tea latte outside the mall with him by a non working fountain. The weather was so perfect. We tried to go to Olive Garden (for alfredo) but they had a 2 hour wait. After driving around a while we ended up at Garfield's. It was terrible, but funny. His fries tasted like Arby's and my pasta sauce I swear was made from Campbell's Tomato Soup. I am not even kidding. I guess pasta was not for me to have!
Sunday we slept too late to go to Chapel, ran around to Circuit City to get a plug to hook up the computer to the TV. It failed. I was so sad to see him go. I cannot wait until we can be together always. The world sparkles so much brighter when we are together. I am going to really push and renew my efforts, because this has gone on long enough. It is also costing me way too much money and sanity to stay here much longer. This city is getting too dangerous.
So, the plumbing fiasco ended up costing $733. But it is done and it is paid. The car is going to be $800 when the part comes in. *sigh* They are both being paid with the last of my equity loan.
I received my tax return money and I am now only behind 1 oil payment and one tax bill. Hopefully I can keep paying the credit cards and they will have lower monthly payments and then I will have money to put towards other bills? It's a question because that is my best option at this point...
I spent $40 of the tax return on myself, because I felt that I should get at least something out of it with all the troubles I've had had lately. Here is the list of my loot:
Gosford Park DVD New $9
4 1950's VA CD's and 1 Dion CD $20
Vintage apron $2
Brass candle holder $3
Books: Gulliver's Travels, Ettiquite (sp?) by Emily Post, Treasure Island 1911 printing $5
Quite a nice little haul for the money I must say. I haven't really shopped for myself in a few months so I really don't feel bad about it. Life cannot be all toil and scrimp and save. Sometimes you need a treat to balance it out.
Today I paid up some bills. Some that were looming over my head causing me stress, some that are only every now and again and yet they all fall at the same time. How does that happen? It's irritating.
I am going to dig myself out of this mess. It is going to happen. I've done it before and I will do it again.
Will showed up on my porch as a surprise on Friday. Shawn and I had gone to the diner, where they had no alfredo sauce, and had just gotten back to my house. Will called and asked if I had gotten the flowers he sent me. No, no flowers here. He tells me to check the porch. I look out and there he is, sitting on the porch, with a bouquet of sunflowers. Yet again, Will has amazed me with his kindness. After the week I had he could not let me spend the weekend alone. I love him so much.
We went to the mall on Saturday and he got my hair cut, or as he put it, he got my hair did. He also bought me this amazing Alice in Wonderland print of Alice that looks like a painting on canvas. I had a green tea latte outside the mall with him by a non working fountain. The weather was so perfect. We tried to go to Olive Garden (for alfredo) but they had a 2 hour wait. After driving around a while we ended up at Garfield's. It was terrible, but funny. His fries tasted like Arby's and my pasta sauce I swear was made from Campbell's Tomato Soup. I am not even kidding. I guess pasta was not for me to have!
Sunday we slept too late to go to Chapel, ran around to Circuit City to get a plug to hook up the computer to the TV. It failed. I was so sad to see him go. I cannot wait until we can be together always. The world sparkles so much brighter when we are together. I am going to really push and renew my efforts, because this has gone on long enough. It is also costing me way too much money and sanity to stay here much longer. This city is getting too dangerous.
Tuesday, April 8, 2008
I'm still working on it...
Dropping in a post now, because I have a few moments where I feel relatively calm right now. These past 2 weeks have been a whirlwind of bad luck. The kind where it leaves you wondering what you could have done to deserve this. But, I know myself and I know that I have been through difficult times in the past and I will land on my feet. I always do. Really there is no other option.
A small outline of what turmoil I'm going through is:
M is moving out. She is going to live with S. This is seriously bad for me. Selfish I know. I brought her into my home to help her out of a bad situation and myself as well. However, since she has been here she has not held up her end of the bargain at all. Not responsibilities, not financial, not personal growth. It will hurt me for her to leave, but in many ways it will make some things easier. I do need to figure out how to stretch my money better in light of this though. I am also dismayed at all the bad choices she makes in her life. But it is her life, not mine. I offer gentle advice at times, but only she can make her own way.
I messed up my bank account to the tune of $500. This is the first time in my 32 years of life this has happened. I'm ok with it because I'm human and bound to make a mistake a some point. It's just happened at a very inconvenient time. I've been struggling to get my finances under control and this felt like a huge failure. It was nearly a month ago, and I am still not recovered from it, not even close.
Things with Will are wonderful as always. He has been really helping me work on the house in his visits. I really wish we had more time together. He holds my heart completely. I have so much respect for him and everything he does. It's rare to find such a genuinely good person.
My toilet on the 3rd floor backed up and is backing into the tub, so says M. I had a horrible row with the home warranty company and the plumbing company they were sending out to do the work. I won't go into all the painful details, but by the end I was crying at my desk at work at how they were treating me. The warranty company is not making me pay the $55 service fee for this ordeal and my Realtor is looking for a new plumber to do the work now. It may end up costing me upwards of $600. Very difficult for me to pay, but I have no choice, as I need to shower on a regular basis.
All the gages on my car have stopped working. It's very hard to drive when you don't know how much gas you have or what speed you are going. This happened about a week and a half ago. I took it into the shop and they said it was a pinched wire and fixed it for $20. Since then, it happened again and again. I dropped it off this morning so they can look into in detail. I await a phone call and the bill, for an unknown amount.
The computers keep not working at work. I fall further and further behind on a daily basis. It's so stressful to not be able to meet all my deadlines. I know there is not a single thing I can do about this situation, it's completely out of my hands. But with everything else going on, I just don't have any patience in reserve at this point. I worked until 8pm on Friday to try to catch up and it didn't even make a dent.
I'm sure there is more that I am leaving out, but those are the big ones. I've been head achy, sleepless, back pained and high strung. It's a terrible feeling like everywhere I turn, everything is crashing in on me.
But I always land on my feet. Because I have to, there is no other option.
A small outline of what turmoil I'm going through is:
M is moving out. She is going to live with S. This is seriously bad for me. Selfish I know. I brought her into my home to help her out of a bad situation and myself as well. However, since she has been here she has not held up her end of the bargain at all. Not responsibilities, not financial, not personal growth. It will hurt me for her to leave, but in many ways it will make some things easier. I do need to figure out how to stretch my money better in light of this though. I am also dismayed at all the bad choices she makes in her life. But it is her life, not mine. I offer gentle advice at times, but only she can make her own way.
I messed up my bank account to the tune of $500. This is the first time in my 32 years of life this has happened. I'm ok with it because I'm human and bound to make a mistake a some point. It's just happened at a very inconvenient time. I've been struggling to get my finances under control and this felt like a huge failure. It was nearly a month ago, and I am still not recovered from it, not even close.
Things with Will are wonderful as always. He has been really helping me work on the house in his visits. I really wish we had more time together. He holds my heart completely. I have so much respect for him and everything he does. It's rare to find such a genuinely good person.
My toilet on the 3rd floor backed up and is backing into the tub, so says M. I had a horrible row with the home warranty company and the plumbing company they were sending out to do the work. I won't go into all the painful details, but by the end I was crying at my desk at work at how they were treating me. The warranty company is not making me pay the $55 service fee for this ordeal and my Realtor is looking for a new plumber to do the work now. It may end up costing me upwards of $600. Very difficult for me to pay, but I have no choice, as I need to shower on a regular basis.
All the gages on my car have stopped working. It's very hard to drive when you don't know how much gas you have or what speed you are going. This happened about a week and a half ago. I took it into the shop and they said it was a pinched wire and fixed it for $20. Since then, it happened again and again. I dropped it off this morning so they can look into in detail. I await a phone call and the bill, for an unknown amount.
The computers keep not working at work. I fall further and further behind on a daily basis. It's so stressful to not be able to meet all my deadlines. I know there is not a single thing I can do about this situation, it's completely out of my hands. But with everything else going on, I just don't have any patience in reserve at this point. I worked until 8pm on Friday to try to catch up and it didn't even make a dent.
I'm sure there is more that I am leaving out, but those are the big ones. I've been head achy, sleepless, back pained and high strung. It's a terrible feeling like everywhere I turn, everything is crashing in on me.
But I always land on my feet. Because I have to, there is no other option.
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