Category: My House


Digging around, planning, thinking…

Filed Under: My House, Projects, Week in Review by Racu — Leave a comment
August 31, 2010

First off, I’d like to say how disappointed I was to find that this lady is no longer keeping this blog smoke and ochre. Rats.  There are so many nice, nice pictures and all on it. But, you know…a kabillion, bazillion, and 93 blogs on the intarwebs and so little time.

Now that the energy devil is not sucking my aura away every day, I’m finding I have enough get up and go to get a few things done. After we decommissioned the old building on Friday, I skated.  R had the day off (LBJ’s birthday, doncha know), so he took me to work, went home, slept in, then came and picked me up. We didn’t do much..picked up Taco Bell and came home. I crashed at some point and foo…what did we do Friday evening. I don’t even remember….OH! Crap, of course! Sylvan‘s party! Oy, such a knucklehead I am. Her first novel is coming out, officially on Tuesday! I’ve read the first…second?…draft, but changes were made after it went to the publisher…anyhoo, her BFF, the self-same Laura of Pushing Furniture fame, threw a surprise party. R, W, and I went. It was fun, and we totally surprised Ms. Author. :D

Then we came home and I was kind of sick at 4 AM. Nauseous…and for awhile didn’t know which, erm…end….would be a problem (hoping that it wouldn’t be one of those, ah…double-ended things. I HATE that).  But as soon as I “went,” the nausea went away and I was able to go back to sleep. Got up about 9:40 yesterday and spent a good bit of the day washing dishes and general clean-up, then went to Lowe’s and Tar-Jay. Spent way more money than I should have. Dammit. But I had most of the $50 GC Laura’s BF gave me for my birthday left. I bought a composter thingy.  Now to get it set up.  I had made a really cool FREE composter out of hardware cloth and a hula-hoop, but the dog can knock it over too easily to eat the scraps and eggshells. I’ll use that for grass and weeds before adding to the bin.Dorky dog. I got some plastic potted plant pans, a nifty cobalt blue glass mister (on clearance for $1.62!), and some hose parts to repair hoses. At Target, I got some groceries, another pair of black leggings, and a few items of make-up. Yeah, make-up. Gotta problem with that? ;)

I also picked up a metric-ass-ton of paint chips at Lowe’s and then sat on my bed and played with kitchen design until two AM!

One of the reasons I never get anywhere is…well, it’s a many-layered thing…like an ogre. It is my decorating ogre. I can’t make up my mind…then I have no money…and I change my mind…things go out of style…I have no money….I get more craptastic hand-me-down furniture that needs “fixing” (refinishing, etc.) and just looks like early Salvation Army meanwhile….then I change my mind…and I can’t decide on a color scheme…ad nauseum.

I’ve gone from warm, earthy tones in the great room to working off the grey and charcoal palette in a print I have, back to the warmer tones.  I want a mind of Mexican feel to the kitchen and since the two rooms are, um…rather linked, to suddenly go to greys and blues would be weird. Also? I have this olive fabric, like 22 yards of it, for a slipcover for the sofa, and it wasn’t fitting in with the greys in my mind. Well, it would, but there are tones of blue, charcoal and a deep, deep red-brown in the painting. I dunno, it might still work.  Otherwise, I’m not sure what to do with that piece. Feh.

So anyway, here’s the latest grouping, sort of, of colors. It seems a bit washed out on my monitor. paint link

There’ll be more of this, but I started this post three days ago, so I’m posting now.

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On again, off again..

Filed Under: Critters, Daily Bull, Health, Stupid Shit I Do, Tip'o'the Day by Racu — Leave a comment
August 26, 2010

I was doing quite well last week, with the blogging. And then it all went pear-shaped, as they say.

I did actually make some progress with “things” over the weekend, but you know…two steps forward, 19 back…and here I am again. Still with mounds of clean clothes to be folded and put away; I’d done all the dishes and spiffed up the counters, and there it is all to do again. Damned dishes…what is it with having to be washed every day?  I mean, really?  And then I tried to do myself in this morning.

I go now?

This cat, Valentino, who is very prone to urinary issues, has decided that even the soft wheat cat litter is not to his liking, so he’s been peeing on the garage floor next to the box, instead of in the box. *headdesk*  So, this morning, he’d done it again, so I grabbed what I thought was the hydrogen-peroxide kitty destinkum gallon jug. The stuff foamed up like it was supposed to and it usually has an odor, so I wasn’t too horribly concerned over the odd smell and the burning, tingling eye-thing.

Do you know what the major ingredient in urine is?  That’s right, Baby Bop, it’s ammonia!

Do you know what was in the white gallon jug?  That’s RIGHT, chlorine bleach!

Now…who knows what happens when you mix chlorine and ammonia?

Are we going to read the label first from now on?  You betcha, Red Rider!

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Pain, Crabs, and Assorted Crap (from my Live Journal)

Filed Under: Critters by Racu — Leave a comment
August 16, 2010

lj-music: Shuuush of the dryer

My hands have been killing me lately…sometimes making me yelp in the middle of conversations…just deep aching, in the big thumb muscle, the joints and the bones between the joints.  And the left hand is numb on top of it all.  I have so much to do and no one else to do it. And before you ask, no it’s not carpal tunnel. It’s arthritis and the numbness is due to thoracic outlet syndrome. I’ve had arthroscopy on both shoulders and I don’t get the numbness in the right side nearly as bad as in the left. But the pain…in the hands and shoulders, and the grip weakness…oh.my.goddess.  Anyway…not sure there’s much I can do about it.  My take home pay is going down because UT’s not giving raises* but our insurance premiums are going up. At the same time the deductibles and out of pocket cap are going up…so I’m paying out the fucking wazoo for insurance I can’t use.  Nice.  Goddamned Republicans.  GOP=Grand Obstructionist Party.

Several years ago, one of the NCOs at work had gotten her son a pair of hermit crabs.

He wouldn’t take care of them, so she gave them to me.  The poor things were in the little clear plastic Kritter Keeper they came in, with an inch of *growls* aquarium gravel, and she was giving them TAP water.  GAH!  So I did a bunch of research and spent about a 100 bucks getting a crabitat set up. Little guys were most appreciative and showed me by almost immediately moulting. The bigger one moulted several times and then went down and didn’t come up.  Spikey had “disrobed” over the tank heater and dried out.  So he’s buried with Caldwell, the Betta Fish, under the Texas Mountain Laurel in the front yard.  So…that left Tiny, who is now way bigger than the larger one was when we got them (he was itty bitty at first, hence the name).

I’ve been keeping Tiny in a Kritter Keeper, with the proper bedding, water, and a sheet of cling wrap to hold in the humidity, so he’s doing okay. But hermies are social critters.  He needs friends.  So I’m going to get one or two more crabs and set the terrarium back up. Scorpionis (Thank you!!) gave me another 10-gallon tank. I have this little wooden typing table—so very, very ubiquitous at UT. I think the furniture shop must’ve made a kabillion of them over the years. I took it and peeled the fake wood Formica off the top and painted it. It’s kind of a pale yellowish now, but I think some nice dark green or blue will be a better color for a crabitat. One tank on top and one underneath, then get some of this…

…which is 4” in diameter (it’ll take the crabbies a long time to get too big to get through it)

and connect them…like this

And see if hermies like crabitrails…hee hee hee

I started this post on Friday and now can’t remember what the “associated crap” was.  *facepalm*

*We are getting a one-time 2% payment, not a raise.  It’ll be in time for Yule and for me, after taxes, etc. will be about $450…better than a sharp stick in the eye, and just in time for presents, but geeze…really?

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Things needing done around the house

Filed Under: Garden, Lists, My House, Projects by Racu — Leave a comment
August 15, 2010

Each one of these is a project–and a story–unto itself, and will engender a list, or lists, of its own.

  • Repair pavilion
  • Sort, organize,purge bedroom and closet
  • Build my bed
  • Build outdoor cat run
  • Build and install catwalks, hidey-holes
  • Tear down roof over back deck
  • Demolish existing deck
  • Build new deck cover, screened in
  • New deck..patio…?
  • Landscape front yard
  • Landscape back yard
  • Repair drain in hall bath
  • Replace tub, surround in hall bath
  • Floor in hall bath
  • Repair or replace dryer….or put up permanent clotheslines?
  • Replace garage door
  • Build kitty loo
  • Finish sewing/craft/studio/office…room…space
  • R’s bedroom…paint, floors, etc.
  • Kitchen…OMG.
  • New curtains in bedroom
  • Rework wall’o'books in living room
  • Finish purple desk
  • Finish washstand
  • Finish “buffet” chest for kitchen
  • China cabinet project
  • Dining room table and chairs
  • What to do with family antique chairs?
  • Table for deck/patio
  • Coffee table madness
  • Slipcover for couch and Loveseat
  • Paint and attach plant platform to top of dog crate
  • Crabitat project
  • Tame the jungle in the kitchen
  • Finish building R’s chair (I’ve only had the wood–already cut into the proper pieces–for 11 years…ELEVEN)
  • Put a coat of wax on Big Dot’s bookcase
  • New colors for bedroom?
  • Scrape that GOD-AWFUL popcorn texture off the ceilings. Can you believe my Auntie J LIKES that shit? I’m thinking of sending it all to her in a box when I’m done.  When  they remodeled the house they’re in now, she asked for that crap, on purpose, and had sparkles added….  >.<  This is a woman with exquisite taste in everything…except, apparently, ceilings.
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Stolen from the Mistress of Wildebeests. (man, that sounds so wrong)

Filed Under: My House, Self by Racu — Leave a comment
August 12, 2010

House Beautiful‘s Color Personality Quiz

1. What’s the first color you see in the morning?

Depends which side of the bed I’m facing. Mostly though, stripey cat butt.

2. What color are your eyes?

Blue. No, green.      aaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaahhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhh!

3. What color do you wear the most?

Probably blue. I have a very boring, nondescript wardrobe (if you could even call it that).

4. What color do you never wear?

Orange! (well, except for burnt orange) and certain colors of green, yellow, and most shades of purple.

5. What color do you wear when you want to feel sexy.

Sexy? Me? Surely you jest.

6. What color gets you the most compliments?

Teals and turquoises are the best. They bring out my eyes and look very good with my redhead’s complexion. (I’m now grey, but I still have the coloring)

7. What color is your lipstick?

Lipschtick? Vot iss dis lipschtick of which you speak?

8. What color was your living room when you were growing up?

I lived at 17 different address by the time I was 17…I think I remember a gold living room, but I’d be willing to bet almost all of them were some shade of off-white, ivory, cream, ecru, oyster…

9. What color was your bedroom when you were growing up?

Again…17 places. I had a couple of favorites, though. When we first moved to Lincoln, we painted my first bedroom a robin’s egg blue.  It was light and cheery. After my brother moved down to the recroom in the basement, I got his old room and it was dark brown.  About the time my depression started…hmmm?  When we moved out to the country, I got to pick the colors in my room, and I picked a peacock blue and a bright apple green. I LOVED that room.  I’m going to try and reprise the colors in my sewing room.

10. What color are your sheets?

One set is a mellow gold and the other a deep avocado? Olive? not sure what flavor of green you’d call it.ETA: recently bought a set from IKEA that are a deep, luscious, eggplanty-purple.  Can’t wait to put them on the bed.

11. What color was your favorite crayon as a child?

“Prussian Blue”

12. What color is your car?

Black

13. What color was your prom dress?

One was black velvet, another dark blue velvet, but the one I wore to both my junior and senior proms (different cities, states, and schools) was a kind of greenish gold and white brocade…sort..of…thing.

14. What’s your favorite gemstone?

Garnet, Moss Agate, rainbow fluorite, onyx.

15. What is your favorite flower?

I have to pick one?!?!

16. What color makes you happiest?

A true, clear cobalt blue.  I can stare at cobalt glass forever. Although lately, I’ve been getting happy vibes from saturated wild colors like pink, turquoise, and purple.

17. What color depresses you?

It’s very funny, blue is my favorite color, but unless it’s dark either as an accent color or paired with lighter walls, I can’t stand it on walls anymore (except in S1ren’s bedroom, for some odd reason…). I guess I’ve lived too long or something, it just looks soooo dated it’s depressing.

18. What color calms you?

Blues, as long as they aren’t on the wall.

19. What color makes you grind your teeth?

Orange! Yellow on cars and a certain shade of purple.  *ralf*

20. What color would you like to try, but are scared to?

Bright saturated colors in decorating.  But Imma gonna do it!!

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