Oops!

Why do all of the fun things always happen on the same night?


A few months ago, my dear, dear friend Marishell told me that she was having a Purse Party. I was super excited! So right then and there I vowed that I would do whatever I could to be there for the party! When she set a date, I immediately cleared my calender to drive down, spend the evening in ATL, then Ellis and I would spend the following day at IKEA or some other grand Atlanta mecca.



THEN I found out that Here Come The Mummies (the greatest Funk music from beyond the grave) were going to be in Chatty the same night! We have seen them like 5 times....but this time they are supposed to have some new music and I am sure it would be awesome, as usual.

THEN I found out that there is a DZT alumni ceremony for the new tap tonight in Cleveland. I haven't been around much for DZT, but it still sounds like a good, nice thing. (Check out the Lovely Ladies in my sidebar. Ah, the fun and the memories.)

So, on behalf of the Purse Party, "Schmooney and Burke Abides!"

On behalf of Here Come The Mummies, "Tip Toe Down the the Basement and Funk Shui!"

On behalf of DZT, "Shun Blue!"





Shhhhhhhh!

Please don't tell the DZT girls that I am hanging with some old Sigma gals tonight. I don't think that would go over so well.

My Second Love

Ellis will always be my first love. But I realized my second love this morning.

Imagine, two tall, shaggy guys who smell like cigarette smoke. They are wearing their work shirts, shorts, and those yellow-ish boots. They have tools and a ladder. And a van. And I think one of them has a mullet.

And they told Ellis that they don't have to cut down any trees to install our new Dish Network! This means that we will have our beloved Dish DVR again! No more annoying Charter that can't skip ahead in 30 second intervals. We will have 200 + hours of recording time IN TWO ROOMS!

We had Dish at our old house. And actually, in the spring we had them come out to the new house twice and both times they said there was no way they could put it in without interference because of the trees. And one of the problems was that one of the trees was on the edge of the side drive of the rental property next door. Since my parents moved to their new house and took Charter with them, we decided to give it one more try. My dad even took the day off so he could help cut down some trees if that was needed. But, when the two installers arrived, Ellis told them, "I will buy your dinner tonight if can install this without me having to cut down any trees." And TA-DA! I will have Dish at our house when I get home from work tonight!

I am ecstatic!

I told Ellis, "This is the best day of my life.... well, of the year... well, of the month? Oh, I had a lot of fun last Friday night.... This is the best moment of the morning!"

I love Dish! But not as much as I love Ellis!

First Day of School

It is that time again. Wal-mart aisles are clogged with parents with school lists and screaming children. Morning traffic is about to pick back up again, mamas are driving their kiddies to school. And our parking lot is going to be packed. Our office is adjacent to two schools and we share the parking lot with one of the schools. So, the teachers' cars take up most of the space that was empty all summer long. And this morning, since it was registration day, was full of parents. Every spot was taken. The excitement was in the air. Moms rushing around, meeting teachers, putting their best foot forward. And looking forward to having someone else take care of the kids during the day.

I am sure that there is a lot of joy in motherhood. That is what everyone says, anyway. But, after sending them to school for an entire 10 months, then having them mope around the house for 9 weeks of summer....it has to be a relief to get them back into a routine. Especially a routine that someone else is responsible for.

Ellis and I talk about having kids. He is totally ready for them. I, on the other hand, am not. The change to our lifestyle, the extra laundry, the baby food, shopping for clothes for someone else besides me! I am selfish! I know it! It scares the hell out of me thinking about losing that.

I sometimes think that the best thing for me would be to accidentally get preggers. That way I have no choice. "Oops! Oh well, I guess we are going to have a baby." We are actually aligning our lives to be ready for a child. We just bought a bigger house in a good school district. We have a four door car in addition to our little 2 door Mercedes. The back yard is fenced in. My credit card is nearly paid off (well, "nearly" may not be the right word..."significant progress" or "JUST 9 more months!").

All that to say, one day, I, too, might be one of those moms. Crowding the aisles, buying supplies, new shoes, checking off the list, setting up the car pool. Every now and then I think, "Is this it? Is this all there is?" Then, I think that if I really needed a change, to mix my life up a little bit, all I need to do is not be careful. Oops.

This is not my story....

But I am going to tell it anyway.

Last week, I was at home talking to Ellis and I said a word....with this fun little inflection. "Delicious!" I said. And it was so familiar. I knew that there was some story about that word but I couldn't remember what it was.

I thought about it a lot. Finally realizing that there was some story from the three months I spent in England. But I still couldn't remember.

Finally, in the shower a few days later (if it is important, I will always find the time to remember it while I am in the shower!), I remembered the story. And now, my dear friends, I am going to tell it to you.

There was a little girl named Lindy. She was cute with wavy hair. One day Lindy was helping her dad wash the car. (She was just a little girl, maybe 3 or so.) I am sure she was playing the suds and with the water hose and having a grand time. At some point, her dad was on the other side of the car, washing away. And then he heard this little raspy voice say, "Delicious!"

He ran around the car and found Lindy with a bottle of Armour All, squirting it into her mouth. Big eyes, big smile. He promptly grabbed her up and rinsed her mouth out with the water hose.

The entire winter/spring of 1999, we all said "Delicious!" in that funny little way that only Lindy could really do. After eating fish and chips, after eating Yorkshire pudding, after eating toad in a hole, after pretty much every meal. Except Haggis. Not that I ever tried haggis, but if I did, I would NOT be saying "delicious!"

Birthday Adventure

I really wish I had charged my camera for our adventure yesterday. But then, how was I supposed to know it would turn in to an adventure?

Here is the background: It was Ellis's birthday. July 23. I have been thinking for MONTHS about this awesome gift for him. And recent events solidified the idea in my mind. Ellis is totally into electronics and technology. But what most people may not know is that he is also in to fixing things, tools, and making and designing things.

(Check out his cameo on the Make Magazine Website: http://blog.makezine.com/archive/2006/05/hammock_made_with_sketchup.html)

So, when he realized that he would have his own garage and utility room in the new house, we was pretty excited. One day in early July I was unpacking some kitchen stuff and he was helping me. After a little while, he asked, "Can I go to my room?" He promptly went to the utility room and was in there for HOURS! Looking though the stuff my dad was leaving. I guess he was envisioning the wonder of his own space to fill with his tools and gadgets. Thinking of the things he would build. And wondering what the hell my dad was thinking by keeping 4 drills that didn't work, the box to a 1974 purchase of some obsolete part to his old jeep, and the Four Wheelin Magazines from 1982 - 1987.

Anyway, I decided that Ellis needed a tool box. Actually, a few years ago I bought him a Craftsman Rally Box. I don't exactly know what that is, but it was a four drawer, black tool box. And he has out grown it. He has LOTS of stuff! And it is all Craftsman. From drill bits to wrenches to tiny screw drivers to who knows what else. Then man loves Craftsman. So, I decided that he needed a tool CHEST. And I knew he would love it!

I found the chest I wanted. It was econmical but had 9 drawers! A great starter chest! But, they didn't have one in our town. As a matter of fact, the closest one was 30 miles away. I decided that since Ellis has about an hour commute home every day that if I left at 5, I could be back around the time he would get home from work. In my mind I envisioned him pulling into the driveway and opening the garage door. Then this wonderful red chest would be sitting in the garage with a huge bow on it! And there would be spotlights and music and dancers....well, maybe not dancers. It was going to be great!

So, on Wednesday morning, I e-mailed AKB to see if she wanted to ride with me to pick it up. She is always up for a reason to leave work on time (bless her! She has been working late a lot this summer!). So she said yes! I filled up my gas tank and was in her work parking lot 10 minutes before 5. It was all going so smoothly! Then, our friend Mel met us, we loaded up in the Acura and hit the road! As we were pulling out, AKB said something like, "Did you want me to drive? I have more room in my Liberty?" And Mel said, "I can take my van, too. It has lots of room!" And I was so totally on my game, I said, "Nah! We can fit it in here! There is a lot of room!"

I had called Sears earlier in the day and they said that my order was ready. I actually paid for it on line, so all we had to do was pull up in front of the door, tell them we were there, get our stuff, and head back to town. Easy enough, right?

We arrive at Sears and these two young guys (high school, maybe freshmen in college) wheel out two large boxes. I am still optimistic. We put the smaller one in the trunk. AKB made fun of me since I didn't clean out my trunk before we started the trip. There was a box of painting supplies in there. And a stereo that Ellis acquired when he installed someone's new sound system....the stereo is circa 1981. Knobs and everything! But, we did manage to get the smaller box in!

Then, it was time for the larger box. I figured, from the looks of it, it would fit in the back seat beside Mel. I did not account for the small car doors that only opened a little bit. There was no way. We tried rolling down the window, but it still wouldn't fit. We tried the front seat. We scooted the seat back, laid it down, but it still wouldn't fit. After 15 minutes of this, Mel called her husband. But some stroke of fate, he was parked at a movie theater about 15 miles away....thinking it was the one we were supposed to meet at for Ellis's birthday movie. Joel and Mel were sure that it would fit in the trunk of their Jetta. The seats laid down and everything! There was room!

Just kidding.

No room.

Well, there WAS room, but the problem is that the opening to the trunk wasn't big enough. But, as luck would have it, his back doors opened a SMIDGGEN wider than mine did. So, thank the Craftsman Gods, it finally fit!

Due to traffic, stop in Ooltewah, and ordering the iPhone from AT&T, we had to push back the movie time to 8 instead of 7...but all in all, it did come together.

Well, not the music, spotlights, and dancers part.

After the movie, Ellis asked, "When do I get my gift?" And in an anticlimatic way, we walked over to Joel's car. He opened the back door and saw the lovely red of the base of the tool chest lodged into the vehicle. I had to explain that the rest of it was in his garage (I snuck it out of the trunk before the movie) and he would have to see it all together to get the full effect. He said that he liked it. I will find out how much he likes it by how many hours he spends in his utility room this weekend, filling it up, organizing it, and getting it the way he wants it. So, we'll see.

Wallpaper and Paint

Remember that sweet photo of our blue carpet from the other day (just scroll down if you need a reminder)? See that lovely wall of paper and ladder? Well, this weekend I am going to tackle the wallpaper removal from that wall. Thankfully, there is just one wall that is papered and it doesn't go all the way to the top of the ceiling (removing wallpaper from 20 foot ceilings is NOT something I am looking forward to).

I tackled our bathroom in January and it took a total of 20 hours to take down the wallpaper in that tiny room. It was disastrous! After that, it took another 8 hours to texture the wall and patch all the lovely holes that I managed to create. By the time I painted, I was ready for it to be over with. I am hoping and praying that this wall won't be so bad. I am keeping my fingers crossed that the bathroom was that bad because of 24 years of steam and humidity from the shower. Anyway, the final product turned out pretty good. Still needs a little work, but I am fairly happy with it.

So, Ellis and I have been full of discussions about the colors we want to use in our living room. Every day it has been a different discussion: Portabello brown (the same color as our bedroom)! Then "That is too much brown!" How about GREEN! No, I don't like the green. How about red?! No, I am over red. How about beige? This house is going to be all brown and boring! Add some color to your life, girl!

I have been hesitant to bring the color blue into the conversation. Mostly because of the current blue carpet and blue countertops. It kinda seems counter productive to rip out all sorts of blue just to add it back again. But, after some discussion, we did settle on a lovely blue and brown idea. Now, we have a long way to go before painting. Mostly this weekend I am going to work on the wallpaper removal. If all goes well, in a week or so we can start the painting processes then get our new carpet installed! It is all so very exciting! What do you think about the blue and brown? I think it is going to rock!

Speaking of Carpet....

There are some pretty great perks when your husband works as a sweet-ass designer for a huge carpet corporation. One is thatI get to take a day off from work and go have lunch with him at the Oakwood and have the best Mac N Cheese in the world (and I know, I am a conissour and try it everywhere)! Also, I get to look at the secret showroom that has the newest and coolest floor stuff to pick out for our new house.

Since our new house was originally built by my parents in the mid 80s, it shouldn't be a surprise that they were cutting edge and super hip with the style. So please enjoy the plush country blue carpet while we choose our new stuff! Actually, the carpet is still in good shape in some places. I mean, not neccessarily right in front of where the couch used to be. But, when you run across the room barefoot, the space UNDER where the couch used to be is super nice! And the area around where the formal dining room table was is pretty schweet. But, it is still blue. COUNTRY blue. But, fortunately for me, the kitchen countertops match perfectly! (We will get into that at a later date!)

So, my trip to the showroom yesterday helped solidify our choice for our new carpet. So, here is what we have in mind: Macabi in Bronze Door for the living room and in Khaki for the bedroom. And, by the way, it is no longer called SHAG, so get that out of your vocabulary! It is FRIEZE now, people! I think it will look good. And it will continue with my boring brown theme, at least according to Ellis. What do you think? Will shaggy brown work in our house? Do you think it is cool or crappy?


I also took a gander at some hardwood. And I fell in love with this floor! I think it is great! I think that the dark color will look great with our crown molding and windows. I think that changing the hardwood is pretty far down the list, but it is never to early to plan! Plus, I love to think about it, plan, and dream a little.