A New Day One

Day One of the bathroom renovation had to be postponed because the water heater in the rental house pooped out so BP had to go and buy a new one and install it, and move the refrigerator out because our new tenants, who’ll be moving in at the middle of the month, had their own and wanted to use it. So, hey. Good deal. These people seem sane—mom, pop and two kids.

So Day One was really today and as you can see by the pictures, things are going swimmingly. SIX layers of wallpaper and THREE distinct floors in various stages of decay and disrepair. BP said, “It’s probably a good thing we’re doing the renovation now because had things stayed they way they are at one point you would have gotten up in the middle of the night to go pee and you and the toilet would have fallen through to the basement.” (Did he just call me fat?)
He wants to save the medicine cabinet because “it’s an antique—people out east pay big dollars for crap like this.” He wants to save the old windows for the same reason. I think I might paint the small old window and use it as a feature thingy somewhere.


In regard to a previous comment—yes, blu. I’m very grateful BP is so good at home repair. I’ve posted before that he can do just about anything and everything that needs to be done around the house: plumbing, drywall, electrical, carpentry, and cabinet-making. That’s part of the reason I married him—I love a man who can do things with his hands (wink, wink.) I do things for him too. He hates doing the laundry—I don’t mind it at all. He will not wash a dish, or change the toilet paper in the bathroom, so I do. He doesn’t like to do yardwork and I actually enjoy it—so we’re a good match.

Anyway—tonight I’m meeting some friends for work for drinks and dinner. When I told LP this he said, “What? Is it two dollar cosmopolitan night?” What a sweet lad he is.

Day 1

Day 1 of the bathroom renovation. WTF would carpet a bathrom anyway??

My part?
1. Clean out the bathroom. Check. Did that last night and threw away one and one half garbage bags full of half-used shampoo, soaps, old combs, old medicines, and your basic crap etc. etc. etc.

2. Go to work.

3. Motivate BP to get up and go to Menard's for:

The floor tile
The bathtb/shower
Toilet
Vanity
Plumbing spupplies

We already bought:

Tub/shower fixtures
Vanity fixtures
Ceiling light/fan/exhaust
Electrical supplies


He and his buddy have agreed to work fast. I can live without a shower, but not without a toilet.

The Dave Building

MUNCIE, IN - Ball State University announced today that it will name a new campus building after one of its most prominent alumni, late night television host David Letterman.
On Sept. 7, the Letterman name will appear on a new campus landmark, when Ball State dedicates its just-completed, $21 million communication and media building in the entertainer's honor. The Ball State board of trustees authorized that recognition unanimously during a special meeting July 30 at the university's downtown Indianapolis Center.
"Millions of people across the country know of Ball State because of David Letterman's frequent references to his alma mater on ‘Late Night' and ‘The Late Show.' It is entirely fitting that the university should respond in kind with this public demonstration of our admiration and respect for such an accomplished and loyal alumnus," said Ball State President Jo Ann M. Gora. "It's also appropriate that we seek to recognize Dave as a great role model for our students, not only in terms of his professional success, but also his generous establishment and support of the Letterman Scholarships.
"By naming our cutting-edge communication and media building in honor of David Letterman, we hope to provide another, somewhat more visible example of his inspirational commitment to Ball State." MORE


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Dave's given so much to Ball State and the Children's Museum of Indianapolis that it's nice to see him honored this way. Plus, he's my not-so-secret boyfriend.
PS: The Dave Scholarships are given to student with a C average--haha

Garden Update: What's in bloom

Coleus

















Frilly Zinnias--butterflies love them























Petite zinnias. One seed produces scores of flowers.






















white lily---almost past it. lovely fragrance






















Black Eyed Susans and another kind of coleus

Boring Post. You don't have to read it if you don't want to

***It is Saturday, and because I loathed this work week, I’m glad the weekend is here. Now I need to work on stretching these two days into two or three months. Anyone have any ideas on how to do that?

***I’m doing laundry as I type and I haven’t even had any coffee yet.

***Yesterday I showed the rental house to an actual sane person, so keep your fingers crossed for me. Meme, you keep your legs crossed.

***I’m going to look at tile at Menard’s today. BP is supposed to start my bathroom renovation this week. Yum, a whole week of not being able to use the toilet—I might explode. Since our bathroom is tiny I’m going to go full tilt and vanity on the tile I want.

***Hey you guys know I love HGTV. I watched a show called House Hunters International last night. This show follows a couple around to three homes they are thinking about buying. The International version follows people in Mexico or France or Italy, etc. Last night a couple wanted to find a place in Paris. Of course the places were very expensive, but the BATHROOMS. They were no bigger than closets. A stool butted up (no pun intended) against the shower and a tiny airplane-sized sink. I’ve noticed the same when they highlight a NYC couple. The woman always squeals with glee when showed a closet that is the size of a refrigerator carton, “OH!!!! SO MUCH STORAGE!!” This there no storage in New York City? I love this show because I can see the value of property in other parts of the country.


*****OH MY GOSH! I FORGOT--Today is my 8th anniversary of wedded bliss with the BP. How could I have forgotten that?

The End

I finished Harry Potter tonight. What a wonderful ending to a fantastic series. The book is very dark. Lots of battles. Lots of killings. Lots going on. I was fascinated to read some of the back stories of a few of my favorite characters. Rowling did a good job tying things up.

Now I can read Clanky’s blog. I didn’t read it while in the midst of Dementors, Death eaters, Aurors and Potters because I was afraid she’d blab something about it. Haha.
You know who I despised more than You-Know Who? That motherfucking Delores Umbridge. What a ratty old Nazi bitch she was!

The Book Seven movie will be quite interesting to pull off. Wonder what director will get that plum.

Job as Dementor

At times, work is like a Dementor just sucking my soul right out of my body.


PS: I'm almost done with HP--should finish it tonight

A Note

Please note:
I have an upset stomach this morning but I am still going to work. What a trooper I am.

"What's a sewage bill?"

Maybe Jilly can back me up, but most of the time being a landlord sucks out the ass. I showed the house yesterday to a woman. She was very overweight, not that there’s anything wrong with that, but she only could take five steps before she had to sit down. The house is empty so she sat on the fireplace ledge.

She brought with her Marilyn Manson. Well, I thought it was Marilyn Manson but I found out that it was her son. “He’s not goth,” she told me twice. “He goes to church.”
I asked who would be living in the house. Well: her, her 17 yr old son (Marilyn), her 19 yr old son and her dog and a cat. Uuh, no. This is a two-bedroom bungalow. Here is what else I learned in the twenty minutes I spent with her:

1. She doesn’t think kids are adults until the age of 20 “It’s eighTEEN. It’s nineTEEN.”
2. She has to have the air on at 60 degrees because she gets hot.
3. The doctor warned her not to have more kids after the first one because she has “back problems.”
4. She didn’t know the difference between gas and electricity”
5. She didn’t know what a sewage bill was.
6. The place she lives in now has a mold problem and “the board of health didn’t do anything about it.”
7. She likes the kitchen island.
8. She goes to three different churches.
9. Her mother will visit a lot.
10. She brought her son with her “for protection.”
11. Apparently all her son knows how to do is to stare at his shoes.
12. She was worried that she wouldn’t fit in the bathtub.
13. She didn’t want me to contact her existing landlord.
14. She told her two sons, “If you live with me until you’re 20, and mind me, you can do whatever you want with your body.”
15. She liked the big bedroom.

Need I say more?

Midnight with Harry

About 11:15 BP and I made the trek out to get Harry Potter. The Little Puddin was supposed to go with us but was too tired, but wanted us to bring him back chicken nuggets and a small Frosty from Wendy’s later. Sheesh.

We were going to Meijer’s (a Midwest type of WalMart, blu) but BP said “Let’s go to WalMart and get it.” I hate WalMart. I feel the same way about that store as Allie does (read her comment in the Sparky post about “phone machines.”)

Anyway we got there and there was a long line down the middle of the store. WalMart had a shitty set-up (but what else is new): They had people go to the head of the line and ask the woman for a bracelet. Those with bracelets could buy the book. She gave us both a red “Gryffindor” ala the Lance Armstrong LIVE bracelets. She eyed us suspiciously and snipped, “The bracelets are only for people buying books .” I told her, “We’re buying two books.” She begrudgingly handed over two bracelets and looked at us as if we were lying. She also gave us promo HP posters, promo bookmarks and flyers.

We moved away and I wanted to go stand in line, but BP said, “I hate lines (well who doesn’t?) After the Air Force I promised myself I wouldn’t stand in another long line.”

Me: “But it’s Harry!”

He wanted to look at electronics so we went to the other ended of the store and looked at electronics.

About 5 ‘til 12 I said, “Let’s go stand in line!” We went over to the line and it had grown three times longer. We were now standing near the cash registers 25 -28. Over the loud speaker, a voice came on, “Here’s how we’ll do this. People with bracelets. Starting at the bracelet table I will take three groups of ten over to registers 25, 26 and 29. You will wait in line and the cashier will ring up your book!”

Then we saw three huge skids come rolling down another aisle on way to the registers. I swear I couldn’t help myself. When a skid came rolling by I shouted, “GRYFFINDOR LIVES!!!!!” This bitch two people in front of us, turned around and glared at me. AT ME! Can you imagine? This was supposed to be a Happy Event.

Then I got a scathingly brilliant idea.

Me: Don, the registers are right there. (By this time the groups of ten had been escorted.) The people have no other identification except the same bracelets WE have. Let’s just nonchalantly get out of line and go over in a register line. We won’t have to wait more than a few minutes!

BP: (looks around) Nah.

Me: Come on. Or else we’ll be here until 2 am!

BP: Nah. Let’s just wait. The line looks like it’s moving fast.

Me: (disgusted) What’s the worst that can happen? An eighty year old Greeter comes over and kicks our assses out? If that happens you throw him to the floor and I’ll kick him in the nuts.

BP: Puddin! No! Let’s just wait in line like good lil soldiers.

Me: Damn, Don. You told me such stories about your wild escapades when you were younger and now you’re all conventional and afraid of a WalMart Greeter.

BP: (laughs) I didn’t realize you were such a rebel.

Me: God, we’re such old farts.


Well, we waited in line and it did move fairly fast. At the winding ‘round part of the line, a kept seeing a huge bearded young man wearing a red shirt with a picture of the Buddha on it. The writing said, “RUB MY TUMMY FOR LUCK.” I really considered doing it.



Long story short. We bought two regular books and the special big dollar illustrated book set in a box. We got out of there about 10 til 1, and Wendy’s was closed, so LP had to settle for two plain cheeseburgers, fries and a Sprite. I was in bed at two, and I’m up now because I promised a friend I’d go to Panera Bread and to garage sales with her this morning. Why did I do that?

Harry

My hometown of Crawfordsville, Indiana has a Harry Potter connection.

Story

My brother-in-law works for Donnelly's and he said that during the printing of all the Harry Potter books security was tighter than Fort Knox.

My sister Connie called last night (she and her oldest son are WILD about Harry):

"A friend who works in a bookstore just called and said in a conspiratorial voice, 'Guess what we got into the store today? HARRY!!! But my manager put a big black curtain around the boxes with a sign that read: WARNING! LOOK AWAY! EMPLOYEES CAUGHT EVEN LOOKING AT THE BOXES WILL BE SENT TO AZKABAN.' " haha

Home

I got home at 11:30 pm yesterday—that wasn’t bad but our meetings ended at 3 so one of the attendees and I walked around downtown Pittsburgh for a few hours the went back to the hotel to hang out until 6 when we headed for the airport. To occupy ourselves, I bought a copy of Real Simple magazine, and my friend bought a Stephen King book . . Lilse something or other, which she pronounced “crap” after reading the first three chapters.

Back to Pittsburgh . . . the parts we saw were actually lovely. The view from the ball park of the skyline was very spectacular. There’s one building that looks kind of glassy and castle-y.

I actually enjoyed the Pittsburgh Pirates game! (they lost--the final score was 8-10, and the Rockies got FIVE runs in the first innings alone) It was a beautiful night, we had excellent, excellent seats and I had a foot long hotdog with peppers and onions, a beer, cotton candy, some of some guy’s nachos and a $3.00 bottle of water! They also gave us free baseball caps which I gave to LP when I got home. Sitting in back of us was this all-American family: mother, father and two cute little boys who were kept very busy recording the stats of every player and every move of the game. On our row, people were continually standing up, leaving to go pee, get food, stretch, etc. and the littlest kid—probably aged seven—once said under his breath, but loud enough for me to hear—“aw, c’mon, sit down and enjoy the game whys don’t cha.” I glanced back and winked at him and he turned red. So cute he was!

I hotel was nice, and I loved the mattress and told BP that we have to buy one for our bed at home. I had to share a room, which I hate to do but it was only for one night and I held in a fart until I couldn’t do it anymore so I went into the bathroom and cut loose. I’m sure you wanted to know that.

If you ever want to have a pleasant flight, fly from Indianapolis to Pittsburgh and back. Not one child on either flight. Not one obnoxious person, no one even trying to engage you in conversation—just a quiet, relaxing short flight.

By the way, the meeting itself sucked and was so boring and unnecessary and I sat through the whole thing thinking about all I could have gotten accomplished had I stayed home and worked in the office. I did, however, meet a new York dude by the name of “Rocco” who regaled us all with stories growing up and getting chased around the house by a hockey stick-wielding mother. Funny stories. Thanks, Rocco, for bringing fun into a boring ass meeting.

See ya

See you sometime on Wednesday

At the Movies

Sat through commercials for:

Coke
Fruit of the Loom underwear featuring a song by Vince Gill and the FOTL Apple man
Will Rogers Institute featuring Geena Davis
Mountain Dew
The National Guard
On the Lot TV show
Madmen HBO series
ABC Fall series called Pushing Daisies
A local college


and previews for:

Bee Movie
The Golden Compass
Steve Carell in Get Smart
Underdog
Some end-of-the-world movie whose Title I've forgotten

after all of that we got to see Harry Potter and the Order of the Phoenix. BP and I enjoyed it. LP sat behind us and said he fell asleep.
I thought it was very dark---but the book was dark too--what with all the teenaged angst. It was well directed and I thought Imelda Staunton as the sinister and sadistic Delores Umbrage was just wonderful. My only complaint: Too little of the magnificent Maggie Smith. I just adore her.

Pittsburgh

Schell’s going to the beach. Next, Tree will go on her adventure. Where do I get to go this Monday and Tuesday? Pittsburgh—that’s where. I’m going for a business meeting. I got the itinerary today and Monday night we’re going to a Pittsburgh Pirates game. Oh, yay. I don’t like sports but it’s kind of a “have to” thing. So give me reasons why to be interested in a baseball game.

(Did you notice--when I don't have a lot to post, I post it using a BIG FONT.)

Is the landlord a Christian?

On a post on the main Comments page Jilly mentioned that she was a landlord. I am too. I rent out the houseI lived in before I got married. (Jilly, it's in the rental agreement that the renter pay all utilities except Sewage Wastewater. I pay that because the city could put a lien against the house if that one isn't paid.)

My present tenant moved out--That's a long teary story and she still owes me over $200. Anyway the guy I pay to do handy work over there was on the property when a middle-ages couple came up to him and started asking about renting the house--how many bedrooms, square footage, does it have central air, etc. Here's the topper: "Is the landlord a Christian? Does she go to church?"
When the handyman relayed their question to me, I said "What the hell? You should have told them 'Yeah, she goes to church. She's the High Priestess in the local White Witch Coven'."

I wouldn't rent to them if they paid me double rent each month. This is America. I can remember when a person wouldn't think of asking another a question like that. Stuff like that is private.

Dead: Charles Lane 1905-2007

Charles Lane, character actor, dead at age 102. I blogged about him a few years ago. He's been in It's A Wonderful Life. Countless TV episodes like I Love Lucy, Petticoat Junction, The Andy Griffith Show.

Obit

Trivia:

He was born in San Francisco and was one of the last survivors of the great 1906 earthquake.

Can you imagine living that long of a life and doing something you loved for a living? What a lucky man he was! He was one of my favorite character actors.

meme, don't look!

Can you spot the new gnome?

Of Bras and Elephants

It was time. I needed new bras. I hate buying bras, but I bought three Lily of France bras yesterday. I also bought two new pairs of dress pants I can wear to work and about ten new shirts—everything was on sale. I don’t buy a lot of clothes for myself, but sometimes you gotta do what you gotta do.

I couldn’t figure out how to make bird feeders from my old bras, so I threw them in the trash.

When we had the cookout last week, my oldest sister brought me a cook book that had been put together by local people to raise money for the Special Olympics in Indiana. Although I love to cook and I like to read cook books, I rarely use the recipes in them. I’m more of a recipe inventor than a recipe follower.

Anyway, I was reading the recipes when I came upon this one:


Elephant Stew

1 elephant
1,000 tsp. salt
950 to 1,000 cups of brown gravy
2 rabbits (optional)

Cut elephant into bite size pieces, this should take about two months.
Cover with brown gravy. Cook at 450 degrees over open fire for about 4 weeks.
This will serve about 3,800 people. If more people are expected, the two rabbits may be added but do this only if necessary as most people do not want to find a hare in their stew.


You can thank a woman named Sue Crawford from Union City, Indiana for that recipe

7-07-07

It's 7-7-07.

Do you feel lucky?

Well, do you , Punk?

Me? I'm buying a Hoosier Lottery Raffle ticket. It's the best odds of winning (Austin Powers' Dr. Evil voice here) ONE MILLION DOLLARS. Only 325,000 tickets will be sold. There will be two million dollar prizes, 5 $100,000 prizes, and 770 $1000 prizes.

If anyone wants to send me good vibes, email me at emmabookshelf@aol.com sometime today, and if I win one of the million dollar prizes, you will receive a personal check from me in the amount of one thousand dollars. Yippie kaiaay. I will post the raffle number here later.