Thursday, February 11, 2010

Wanting means doing

Rather than create an entirely new blog, I thought I'd resurrect this one. At least for now.

I'm sitting here oh-so-early in the morning perusing Apartment Therapy and thinking how much I would love to live in an apartment (actually, a HOUSE would be preferable) that didn't have piles of paper, books and dirty clothes for decoration. Right now this place has NO style, which is kind of ironic since I studied interior design for two years. I guess I should have gone for the whole four years if I wanted to be a superstar at it.

The point is I keep having these urges to redecorate and de-clutter, but I don't do anything about them. I'm writing this in the hopes that I can get shit together and DO something. I hate living in an apartment I'd be embarrassed to invite people into. Not that I have a ton of (or, like, any) friends here in Austin that are beating down my door to come over and hang. But that's another (sad, sad) blog post. Despite my hermit-like existence I want to change my environment. I have a lot of other changes going on right now in my life, so why not throw this one in the pile. I'm hoping if I document it here, I will become accountable. We'll see how that goes.

So here's what I want to get out of this:

A livable living room - Right now my living room consists almost entirely of computers and art-making paraphernalia. I want a couch, possibly a new chair, end tables, a vintage credenza for the television, a new dvd player and a Wii. And room to use said Wii. This could be challenging since the living room is small and will still need to house our computers. But seriously, I don't know that we need four computers between the two of us. At least not in the setup they are in now.
I need to...

  • Save money for buying most of the stuff listed above
  • Come up with new floor plan ideas
  • Get a flat monitor for Wayne's server computer and figure out how to get rid of the desk it's on
  • Figure out wtf to do with the printer
  • Clear away desktop clutter and come up with a way to prevent future clutter
  • Move art stuff to the bedroom

A functioning bedroom/closet - Right now the bedroom has far too many clothes all over the place. My little sewing area is inaccessible. I want our bed with a nightstand on either side, the dresser (with the mirror somehow attached even though we lost part of it in one of the moves) and a sewing/crafting/arting area. Ideally I'd like to get rid of both big black metal shelves that hold our clothes, but we'll have to see about that one. After all we do have a HUGE closet and a dresser for that kinda thing.
I need to...

  • Come up with new floor plan ideas for the bedroom
  • Figure out how to fit both metal shelves and a bike rack into the closet
  • Go through boxes in the closet and currently on shelves and give stuff to Goodwill
  • Go through CLOTHES and give stuff to Goodwill

A kitchen that keeps us healthy - The kitchen itself isn't really a problem for me. It's a small apartment with a small, bland kitchen. Not much to be done about that. It's what goes on there that's a problem. I'd like to eat better, which to me includes organic, local, fresh produce and actual homemade foods. Not frozen or from a can. I want to learn to can things and actually use the unopened bread maker that has been in the closet for almost two years.
I need to...

  • Find my cookbooks
  • Sign back up for Greenling
  • Make sure dirty dishes go into the dishwasher as soon as they are dirty
  • Ask my mom to show me how to can stuff, and possibly even use a pressure cooker (though that thought kind of scares me. I'm not a fan of things potentially blowing up in my kitchen)
  • Get a crockpot
  • Remember to bring my own bags with me to the grocery store

Of course most of this implies having an actual steady income, which right now is not happening. And I'm sure there are lots more steps and actions that can be added to these lists, but this is good for now. It's out of my head and into the real world now, which is a good start.

Wednesday, August 26, 2009

What I'm thinking...

I feel a little vomit rise into my throat when I even consider going to see The Time Traveler's Wife. Or My Sister's Keeper. Or pretty much any popular movie that was released in the last year (especially if there is a mall cop involved). Of course that didn't stop me from seeing a ton of movies last month.

Also.

If you are an adult please don't refer to your stomach as your "tummy" and don't say you have to go "potty".

That is all. For now.

Tuesday, July 08, 2008

Still kicking

I'm not dead, honest. I am kind of bummed I missed June's monthly booklist, but it couldn't be helped. I didn't have much time to read or post here as we were busy moving to Austin (and breaking down in Virginia along the way). But we're here now, finally, and I'm still surrounded by boxes that need to be unpacked. Not much going on other than job hunting and staying up too late doing... what? I don't know.

This week we're going to meet some friends in Brenham (or some such town), then we're heading to my parents in OK with the intention of getting a new car while we're there. We desperately need one. As I said, the car broke down in Virginia, but this was even after we had it in the shop to get some hose fixed on it before we even left. Then we got to Texas and the air conditioner broke. NOT FUN. Then the radio broke. It's a downward spiral.

Austin's not bad. We've seen some of the sights while we were here (bars, bats, restaurants, Drew Barrymore), but I'm sure there's still a lot more to see. I need to go grocery shopping now. I'll be back when I have something more interesting to talk about.

Thursday, May 29, 2008

Monthly Booklist

May is here and school is over! YES! Somehow I actually passed both of my classes and now I can focus on The Move before classes start again. I don't know how much reading I'll get done during that time, but over the past month here's what we have:

The Ruby Key by Holly Lisle: Always love Holly's work and this was no exception. I can't wait for the next one in the series (The Silver Door), but I guess I'll have to keep myself busy reading her awesome weblog and drooling over this book's cover art.

Magic Study by Maria V. Snyder: I've had this book sitting on my shelf for ten months. I don't know why I put off reading it for so long since I absolutely loved the first one. I guess I was afraid I'd be disappointed. I can't say that I finished it 100% satisfied - there were little bits and pieces that bugged me - but overall it was great.

I need to start a new category in the booklist called Books I Started But Never Finished Because They Were Incredibly Annoying. This is reserved for books where the main character says, "I never refused a job" then three(!) pages later she talks about the kinds of jobs she refuses. I'm looking at you, Zoe Martinique! But I try to give these kinds of books the benefit of the doubt. I mean I DID slog through almost every book in the Anita Blake series. (To be fair, it was only slogging for the last 4-5 books. Before that, it was devouring.) More than likely I'll try to finish this particular book and move on to one that entertains rather than infuriates.

These books (and others) can be found in my Amazon.com store conveniently located right here.

Tuesday, May 27, 2008

Legal mumbo jumbo

I was reading the lease for the new apartment in Austin and came across this little tidbit in paragraph 22:

Death of Sole Resident. If you are the sole resident, upon your death you may terminate the Lease Contract without penalty with at least 30 days written notice.

Does that mean you have to tell them 30 days before you die or after? Either way, I am not that good at planning ahead.

Wednesday, May 14, 2008

Morning observations

I totally saw a bald eagle as I was driving to work today. I don't think I've ever seen one just out, you know, flying around like birds sometimes do. It was kinda neat. Though I was disappointed it wasn't carrying around an American flag in its beak. Damn commie eagles.

I also saw a newspaper (not flying around) with a headline that read:

HIL
BILLY
WIN


I just saw it in passing and at first I was confused. Hil Billy? WTF? Then it hit me. Oh my god. It's like Brangelina or Bennifer. Hilary + Bill = HilBilly. If that's not reason enough to vote for Barack Obama, I don't know what is.

Friday, May 09, 2008

Public Service Announcement

Please make sure someone is a mother before you tell her Happy Mother's Day. I'm just sayin'...