6 Unspectacular Quirks... (Because I Have To)

I've been tagged by fellow bloger and friend Kim and asked to name 6 unspectacular quirks of mine before passing the buck. And people say the Internet is a waste of time.

In no particular order, here are my quirks:

1. I am blind obsessive, but only in the winter. Once October hits, I close up the house every evening at dusk. However, I also open the house before the first rays of the sun. Can't stand to walk around a house with pulled blinds when the sun is up.
2. Drink coasters. God made them for a reason, people.
3. I clean the bathroom in a certain order: mirrors, sink, countertops, toilet. If I deviate from this order, the Universe may explode.
4. I can't wear my glasses when I eat. I take them off and leave them on the side of the table and then put them back on when I'm finished. Bizarre, I know.
5. My birthday is in June, but I think of myself as the next year older starting in January. So even though this January I'll be 38 for another 6 months, in my mind, I'll already be 39.
6. Cats. I can well up on the spot just thinking about how much joy they bring to my life.
   

That's my list. Now here are the rules of the tagging from Kim:

1. Link the person who tagged you.
2. Mention the rules on your blog.
3. Tell about 6 unspectacular quirks of yours.
4. Tag 6 following bloggers by linking them.
5. Leave a comment on each of the tagged blogger’s blogs letting them know they've been tagged

Sadly, I only know 4 bloggers to tag: Amy, Tamara, Pam, and Melody. So okay girls, you're on!

A New Decorating Diaries

That's right loyal blog readers... it's time for a new DECORATING DIARIES installment! DECORATING DIARIES are a long-held tradition here at Dena's blog, as I catalog the attempts of Blair and myself to decorate, upgrade, or fix... anything.

This time it's the downstairs guest bedroom. I've decided to make it my writing room. Note the term "writing room." A friend convinced me of the importance of differing my office space from writing space. It's hard to be creative in the same space you do your income taxes. (Okay, Blair does our taxes, but you get the idea.) So we're gutting the room and starting over.

Plans involve scraping and painting the ceiling (sour apple green) and painting the walls (turquoise) and the massive amount of trim (off white). The trim is always the killer.

For your entertainment purposes, we'e decided to up the ante on this room. Blair has decided he will build me a bookcase and add ceiling trim to what's already there. I'm more worried about the trim. Our home is 101 years old and most experienced contractors leave our home cursing after a job because nothing is straight, level, or straightforward. But it's a project Blair wants to tackle and here, at the beginning, he has my full support. (Compared to three weeks down the road when we both suspect I'll be screaming at him to just hire someone who know's what he/she is doing so we can finish it... finish it!)

At the moment there is talk of cat trees and built in windowseats. And of course, I want to get the fireplace operational. Six fireplaces and not one of them works. We're still trying to lcoate someone who sells the coal-burning size gas fireplace inserts and can add a liner to the chimneys. Harder than you might think.

So expect lots of fun in the next month as we follow the progress of this room. I expect the first clash tonight. This weekend was going to be spent scraping the popcorn texture off the ceiling, but Blair wants to have a bit of the ceiling checked for asbestos first. That's a good idea, but since we're not doing the ceiling, I say let's rip into the room and start doing other stuff. I suspect Blair will want to wait and follow the shedule (ceiling, walls, trim, carpet) we had planned. Luckily, I am a world champion pouter.

Have a great weekend!

An Anti-Technology Day

So okay. It's one of those days. A day when everything I come in contact with shorts out, stalls, explodes, implodes, or otherwise goes kaput.

It started with the coffee pot. When I poured my morning java, I noticed it was lukewarm even though the pot was "on." I thought maybe the pot had slipped off the burner but no, an hour later when I returned for a refill, still lukewarm. 

Next came the printers. That's right, printers. We have three of them. All of which I managed to shut down in a 7-minute time frame. First "my" printer jammed and it's a doozy. I can't even begin to get the paper out of it. I abandoned it and sent my material to the upstairs printer. Only when I went to retrieve my one page printout, the printer was spewing out sheet after sheet of blank paper. 10 pages, 20, 50... it wouldn't stop. I checked my laptop and Blair's and neither of us showed anything in the que other than my 1 page job. Still the printer kept going. I switched it off and back on which stopped the paper spewing, but which also apparently disconnected the printer from the wi-fi, as it is no longer responding to print commands from my laptop.

On to printer number three which--oh, and here's a surprise--said it was having trouble connecting to my laptop. Uh-huh. I know when I'm screwed. I am not touching jack when it comes to technology for the rest of the day. All I can do is hope whatever static-electric charge flows through my body this morning is gone by tomorrow. Otherwise I fear for the lives of our TV, cordless phone, and waffle maker.

I'm just going to go huddle in a corner for the rest of the day with a pad of paper and glass of water for sustenance. I'll see all of you tomorrow (assuming I haven't blown the house up by accident).

Dena

Finally...Rain!

My trail run is rained out this morning and I'm not complaining in the least. We've again been in drought conditions and the hard, steady rain we've had for the last 14 hours is most welcome. Yesterday in the coffeehouse, I noticed I wasn't the only one pausing in my work to turn and stare out the windows at the thick, wet sheets coming down. Everyone looked cheerful as they gazed at the gray skies.

In fact, a day spent inside writing while I listen to rain fall on the roof and puddle outside sounds perfect. Right now it's a little before 6 am and I'm sitting in a darkened living room, typing and listening to the rain hit the tin chimney covers as well as bounce off the sidewalks. Lucy is circling around my feet (Play with me! Pet me! Feed me!) and Olivia is in hiding because we put her monthly flea medicine on her last night and it will take at least 24 hours for her to fully trust us again. We'll nab Lucy tonight but poor pudgy girl is easier to catch and not much of a challenge.

It's supposed to rain all week. Fingers crossed it happens.