Pictures and Weekend Recap

Happy Monday morning! I didn't come through with pictures over the weekend. Sorry, I suck. But! I have them now, and better late than never, right? I thought so.

First up is our adorable, newly shorn McDuff (AKA Dufferdoodle, AKA Dufferoo).


Isn't he cute? I heart him. Also, please ignore the hideous 1970s brown linoleum floor. It's on the list of future home improvements, but it's way down below the important stuff, like windows and roof and porch. And probably it's below a lot of other interior stuff, too. I don't spend too much time looking at the floor, after all. Anyway, Duff is adorable, and I LOVE his new haircut.

Next is my darling Lucy cat, who was sleeping on the back of the living room recliner (cat chair), with her head tucked into her paws.

I know, you could just die from the cuteness. I love that cat.

Here's a picture that J took of his two dogs at the top of the stairs, looking down at him. There is a bit of a red eye (yellow eye) problem, but it's cute nonetheless, don't you think?

And the last cute picture I have for the day - I have a picture window in my dining room, which looks out over the pool and the backyard. I have a dining room chair placed in front of the window because the cats love to look out that window, and Saturday when I was going out to cook dinner, I saw why. There were two birds on the ground, and this little guy was in the pine tree on the left side of the window:

Of course, he had gotten out of the tree by the time I got my camera, so the picture isn't the greatest, but it's a little chipmunk! That window is like National Geographic for cats. Also, please note the horrible grape vines. This is only a very small section of them. Sigh. If anyone in the area wants to help cut and pull them out, we're accepting volunteers! They're kind of choking out any potential use of the pool (if we get it opened - that's not a sure thing, what with the porch/roof repairs, and my current lack of any additional income and the large amount of bills that I have right now). Stupid grape vines. :)

Anyway, so that's my picture sharing for the day. I took some before pictures of the porch, to show the truly horrible state it is currently in, but I think I'll wait and share those when the porch is done, so you can see the hopefully truly remarkable difference. The person we hired to do the roof/porch is supposed to start working today, so soon we'll have a new porch and a new roof and new soffits/fascias and the house will look a whole lot better. One more repair/update done, only about a bazillion to go. I've got to start playing the lottery.

So, I had a pretty quiet weekend. J had to work all day Saturday (like, until Midnight), so I was alone all that day, and he had pulled a muscle in his side on Friday, so he laid down most of Sunday, so it was very quiet. I posted a new chapter to my Sims legacy Friday night. There are four chapters up now - here is a link to my story upload page, in case you're interested in reading. I know two of you are reading, so thanks for that, and I hope you continue to like them.

Anyway, so I pretty much played the Sims and watched TV all weekend. And J and I went to get groceries yesterday and we went to Denny's for lunch (for me, breakfast for him), which was fun.

I hope you all had good weekends! Now I'm off to eat pizza in celebration of a staff member who is leaving for a different job. Later!

Friday Rambling

Hello!

My week has been going pretty well. I've written about the fact that we're getting the roof replaced over the living room extension and the front porch, and that we're replacing the porch itself. Well, the work is set to being Monday! I'm very excited. I can't wait to have a nice looking front porch. My current porch is really sad looking. I took some before pictures of it yesterday, so when it's done, I'll show you the difference.

I also took an adorable picture of my cat, Lucy, sleeping with her nose tucked down in her paw, but I forgot to bring my camera with me, so I'll have to share it another time. :( Sorry.

Oh! And I have to post a picture of our little McDuff dog, too. He got a haircut yesterday, and he's so adorable now that I can't even stand it. Of course, he was adorable before, too, but somehow, although it seemed impossible, he's even cuter now. I heart that little dog.

Tonight I'll be finishing up chapter four of my Sims legacy story, because J has to work until 6:00, and then he's going to his sister's house for her dog's second birthday party. The dog is having a Tonka truck themed party. Hee. J's sister is even more of an animal nut than I am, and I seriously thought that was impossible. But then, I've never thrown a birthday party for my dogs, so it seems to be true.

Also, I want to let you know that spring is finally here for sure! The crocuses came up and bloomed once the snow was gone - they were a little crushed from the heavy snow, but they still managed to put on a show. And now the daffodils are blossoming, so I cut some and brought them in last night. I love daffodils. And the lilacs are starting to get their leaves, and the huge spider is back in the outside of my bathroom window (shudder), so winter is officially over at last. Woo! I love that.

I don't love that spider, though, so J has already been put on the case to kill it. And J, if you're reading this - don't be afraid to leave spider guts on my window. I want it dead, not just evicted. Yuck. I truly hate spiders.

And that seems to be enough of an entry for today, I guess. Check back this weekend, because I just may shock you by posting some pictures!

Have a great Friday, and an even better weekend!

Weekend recap, plus warm!

In a complete turnaround from last week, today is sunny and warm - it's supposed to get into the high 70s, low 80s today. And last week we had snow. Crazy! I'm glad to be on the warm end of the spectrum today, though. My toes are making their debut appearance for the year today - I'm wearing flip-flops. And I'm very happy about it, too.

So, I had a great weekend with J. Saturday marked the six month anniversary of our first date. I called it our six month first date-iversary. Cuz I'm clever like that. Or weird like that, take your pick. We were going to go out to dinner and a movie to celebrate, but there weren't any movies out that we wanted to see, and I was really just in the mood for Chinese food, so we went out and picked that up Saturday night. Sesame chicken for me, Hunan beef for him, and all was good. I love Chinese food. I could eat it every week and not get sick of it. And in place of the movie we were going to go out and see, we stayed in and watched Casino Royale. I had never seen a Bond movie before, so I was a total newbie. I liked it. I had to suspend one particular bit of belief, though. This was supposed to be a prequel to all the others, right? So it seems like it should have taken place in the 60s, because that's when the movies started. So when the first cell phone showed up, I was a little thrown. But then I accepted that it was current day, prequel or not, and it was all fine. The movie was pretty good. I like action movies, and the story was good, but overall I didn't like it as much as J did. I guess I'm just not a spy movie type of person. I might watch some more with him, though, especially the old Sean Connery ones.

It was a busy weekend for us in more ways than just our first date-iversary, though. Saturday morning I took Bernie to get his rabies shot at a clinic that was being held close by, and he was such a good boy! There were quite a few people there with their dogs, and he was so nice to everyone - dog and person alike. He really is a big sweetheart. I love him.

Then we went and got groceries, and we checked out the local Aldi's for the first time. It is a lot cheaper on the stuff that they have, so that was nice. It's always good to save money where you can, especially when you're as broke as I am. When we got done getting groceries, J started cleaning out the garage while I stayed inside and did laundry/played the Sims/watched TV. I have it so rough. :) He's going to claim the garage as his, as all men should. So he started gathering up all the crap I had thrown out there over the years and piling it up, so that we can take it to the dump when we can borrow my brother-in-law's truck to do so. Eventually he's going to have the garage all cleaned out (and de-spiderfied) so that we can park out there and walk in and out the back door, as all good country folk should. He's also claiming the two empty rooms upstairs, which makes me very happy. I love having him live with me, and I want him to have his stuff spread around, and I want him to have the rooms upstairs so that he can go there and do his music stuff (he's a bass player) and his sports stuff and be comfortable and feel at home. We're going to be sharing our lives together, which means sharing the house too, and I'm glad that he's going to finally take some of it as his.

Anyway. On Sunday we mostly just hung out and veged in front of the TV and computer. He did start clearing out the vegetation around the pool, in hopes of getting it opened this summer. I haven't been able to afford to get it open, and I'm afraid that because of that, I've just ignored the growth back there, and it's been taken over by these horrible grape vines. They're everywhere, and they're tangled around everything, and they're nasty. I hate them. He's going to bring a pair of work gloves for me to wear, and we're going to go out there together and hack the shit out of those grape vines. I love cutting stuff up like that - it gives me great satisfaction. And hopefully with both of us working on it, we can get it cleared fairly quickly. Then the next hurdle will be getting enough money to buy the chemicals to shock the heck out of that nasty, dirty pool water. A pool that hasn't been opened for a few years is not a pretty sight, let me tell you. Yuck.

So, that was our weekend, for the most part. How was yours?

On Snow, and Writing

We're still surrounded by snow here in Central New York, but the temperature right now is 54 degrees, and it's only going to get warmer, so that stuff has a very limited life span. This is such an unusual spring for us. I keep thinking back to when I first moved to New York from Virginia, 13 years ago next week. When I got here, the daffodils were up and blooming all pretty. Right now the daffodils that had started to come up before this nor'easter are buried in heavy, wet snow. I hope they still bloom once this stuff is gone.

Since I first mentioned the Sim story that I was writing on here, I've posted two more chapters, and I'm very happy to say that they are being very well received. I'm getting a lot of great comments on them, which makes me very happy. I hope they will continue to gain an audience as I write more chapters. I'm having fun with this whole thing, both with playing the game with the idea of writing it out in mind and in doing the actual writing. It's a very satisfying process, creatively.

I used to want to be a writer. It's the only thing I can ever remember wanting to do when I was a kid. I wrote short stories all the time, and remember making my friends laugh when I read the stories to them. Even when I got out of school and started my adult life, I still used to start (and not finish) story after story. Somehow in the time since then I've lost that sort of focused creative drive. I spend my time now watching TV or playing the Sims or watching movies or hanging out with J or my friends. I'm not sure why that drive went away. The odds of me ever writing anything now and getting it published are extremely low, but then, I guess that's why I'm writing in here, and now why I'm writing the Sims stories. These two mediums provide me with a way to do some writing, and get feedback from the people who stop in to read.

It's a very satisfying thing.

April Snow brings...what?

The pictures above were taken from the windows in my living room, this morning. Yes, it is April 16th, and we're in the middle of a freaking nor'easter. Lovely. There is a lot of heavy, wet snow, plus wind, and I am SO ready for this crap to be over for the year. Sigh. I just keep thinking about how it's going to be in the 50s this weekend. It's my ray of hope.

Anyway, check out the geese! They've been hanging out around the house lately, visiting with the Canadian geese who are in the area now. This morning, though, instead of spending time with their wild cousins, they were huddled up in the snow on the side of the road. I was a little worried that they would get hit by a car, but there isn't much traffic today, and they moved on after I took the picture, so I guess they're okay. Cold, but okay.

So, for the second Monday in a row, I am home today. Last week I was sick, this week I just didn't feel like risking my life driving on nasty roads to get to work. And I have time coming, so I stayed home. I went out and shoveled the driveway in front of my car earlier, and now I'm huddled up in the living room, with the kerosene heater running, trying not to get too cold. Brr.

Okay, I hope you all are having a great day - and except for the people who live around here who read this, because I know you are getting snowed on just like I am, I hope the weather where you are is sunshiny and beautiful!

Snow and other news

There is just something completely wrong with looking out the window on April 10th and seeing snow. I don't live in Alaska, people! Give me some spring here! Gah.

So I got some really great comments on boolprop about my Sim story yesterday. They love me, they really love me! :) Or at least they didn't hate it, and that made me very happy. I did, however, slip up and post it without letting J read it first. Oops. Sorry, babe. You'll be the first reader of every chapter from here on out, 'kay? Promise.

I discovered one good thing about being at home all day when it's this cold and I'm out of fuel oil - running the space heaters and kerosene heater all day long makes it actually comfortable in the house! It was up to 63 at one point yesterday evening. I haven't felt temperatures that toasty in my house in a week, at least! It was amazing.

And in addition to enjoying the warmth in my house, what else did I do all day? Well, I took care of the animals, and I cleaned the toilet, but other than that? I didn't do anything constructive at all. I played the Sims, I wrote and posted my Sim story, I responded to comments about said story online, I read the end of one of the books that I had borrowed from Sarah and I watched all of the General Hospital episodes that I had built up on my DVR. It was a GREAT sick day. :)

And today I'm back to work, which is less great, but after a day like yesterday, I almost don't even mind. A sick day that doubles as a mental health day is a good thing indeed. And now I better get back to work. Later, gators!

(p.s. - if you want a taste of central NY weather - it was snowing when I started writing this update, and now it's not. Our weather is very fickle.)

Easter Update

Happy Easter! Err, Happy Day after Easter? Above you see the Easter basket that I got from J yesterday. Isn't he sweet? He put all the right stuff in it, including that adorable little dog. I love it! And I love that he used the Easter basket that my Mom used for me when I was a kid. Yes, people, that basket is about 35 years old. If not older - she may have used it for some of the older kids at some point for all I know.

We had a lovely Easter. We went to J's Aunt's house and had brunch, and saw his family, who are all great. The only down part was that my sinus thing had gotten worse - the congestion moved down to my chest. But we came home, and I took some generic Dayquil and we laid down and watched To Kill a Mockingbird (which was fabulous), so we still had a nice evening.

This morning when I got up, I was still feeling all congested and tight in my chest, so I stayed home. I've felt better as the day has gone on, so I'll be back to work tomorrow, and as for today? I've enjoyed it. It was the perfect sick day - I was sick enough to stay home legitimately, but not sick enough to have to be in bed feeling miserable all day, so I still got to watch TV and play the Sims. Which is, of course, my dream day. :)

Speaking of, I posted my Sim story on the Sims website for all to read. I don't know if that link will work for anyone who doesn't have an account on the site, and I don't know if any of you would be interested in reading anything like that anyway, but just in case, there you go.

So, To Kill a Mockingbird was a great movie. I just love the classics, you know? I don't know that I've ever seen Gregory Peck in anything before, but he was perfect as Atticus Finch. It's worth watching, if you haven't seen it.

And now I am feeling the need to relax and watch some more General Hospital, so I'm going to sign off. I hope you all had great Easter weekends!

Cold and sinuses and Easter! Also, boring

Brr, it's cold at my house. It was 46 degrees when I came home from work yesterday, up to 56 before I went to bed, but right back down to 40 when I got up this morning. Sigh. Where is our nice warm spring weather? Also, thank goodness for J's kerosene heater, which is the sole reason it was up to 56 before I went to bed last night. I love that thing.

So, I started to get a bit of a sore throat yesterday while I was at work, and I found out why this morning. My sinuses are going berserk, draining into my throat and making it sore, and clogging up my nose. Stupid sinuses. I don't know what made them go all wonky, but I hope they go back to normal soon. Please?

This weekend is Easter! Which means nothing much to me, since I'm not religious, but it does mean the possibility of chocolate, and any holiday that has the tradition of giving chocolate is all right by me. :) Oh, and Happy Easter to all of you who are religious, as well as to all of you who are only in it for the chocolate, like me!

We are going to go to J's Aunt's house for Easter brunch. His family is Polish, and they serve some weird things, but he promises that there will be ham and stuff I will eat, so it'll be fine, I'm sure. I would usually be going to my sister's house for Easter dinner, but she is having her meal on Saturday night this year, and I may not go. I don't know.

In other news, these updates are becoming awfully boring, aren't they? I want to update more regularly, but I don't want them to be this boring. Sigh. Next time I'll at least add a nice picture for you or something. :)

Happy Easter weekend!

Happy B-day, Wayne!

(There is another entry below, so go read if you haven't already. Oh, and there's one from yesterday, too.)

Today is my step-father's birthday. He would be 71 if he were still alive. Happy birthday Wayne! I love you and miss you every day.

Ramble, Ramble, Rambling

It's 10:00 a.m., I've been at work for two hours, and I feel like I'm just now waking up. I got to sleep plenty early enough last night, so I don't know what my problem is, but man - I could have slept at least another hour this morning. Also, I was having some weird, frustrating dream this morning, too. I'll spare you the details, because other people's dreams are never interesting, but I'll just say that it made me wake up very frustrated and grumpy. Sigh. I'm just not a morning person.

So, I feel like I've been ignoring this blog too much lately, so I'm going to attempt to update more regularly - I'm not promising everyday, but I'm shooting for at least three weekdays out of five. I figure I either need to start updating more often or I need to stop writing in here at all, and I don't want to do the latter, so I need to do the former. If that wasn't too convoluted of a sentence.

All right, so that being said, what's going on in my life to write about? Well, J got us tickets to go see George Thorogood in concert this summer, which should be really fun. I have only been to a few concerts in my life - ZZ Top when I was in high school, Billy Joel/Elton John at the Dome a few years ago and Cyndi Lauper with Jamie a year and a half ago. J is a big music afficionado, so I have a feeling that number is going to rise dramatically now that he's in my life. Which I'm happy about. We like the same music, for the most part, so whatever he picks I'll enjoy seeing.

We had someone come out to look at the porch/roof last weekend, and he's supposed to be calling us with a quote for fixing it up, but he hasn't yet, which kind of scares me. Well, the idea of how much it's going to cost scares me anyway, but it especially does when it takes him this long to get us a quote. Just how large is that number? Eek.

You know that I read legacy stories online (Sims 2 stuff, for those not in the know). Well, I've decided to start writing one of my own, so my Sims obsession is back in full force. Not that it ever really went away, but it's focused more closely on one family now. I'm playing them through to a point where I can write the first chapter and get it online. Man, I hope people read it. I'm okay with only having a handful of people read this blog - I know I'm never going to become the next famous blogger - but I really want people to read and like the legacy stories I write. I think the difference is that it's more of a creative type of writing, whereas here it's all just what's on my mind or what's happening in my life. The creative stuff makes me feel more vulnerable. I'll post the link here once I get the story up, for any of you who might be interested. I know at least a couple of you play the Sims, so maybe one or two of you will read. :)

J brought his kerosene heater to my house the other day, and yesterday it was cold enough that I turned it on when I got home, and I love it! It was 51 degrees in my house when I got home (I ran out of fuel oil a couple weeks ago), and by the time I went to bed, it was 62 or so. Love! It felt so nice to sit in my house and not be freezing. Oh kerosene heater, where have you been all my life?

This is Sarah's last week at her job here where I work. :( I'm very sad to be losing her, even though I'm happy that she's gotten a job that utilizes at least a few of her mad computer skills. We're having cake for her today, which is fun, but I'm going to be sad when she leaves. Work just won't be as fun anymore.

Anyway, I guess that's all I have for today. Check back often for those more recent updates, won't you? Thanks!

Obsessions

From Bitchypoo:

List five things you are obsessed with, then tag five people to do the same.

1. J. :)

2. The Sims 2. Seriously, it's on my mind all the freaking time.

3. Reading legacy stories online, mostly ones found through boolprop. Great fun.

4. How much it's going to cost to do the roof/porch.

5. How long it's going to take me to pay off the bills that have sprung up in the last couple of months - taxes and labwork. Also, how and when I'm going to squeeze out enough to take Bernie to the vet to get his shots, so that I can renew his (overdue) license.

I'm not tagging anyone else, but if you read this and want to do it, go for it. I'd love to see your answers. (Robyn also did a survey type thing that I'm thinking about doing on here, but it's so long! I'll think about it.)

And, because she's cute and you need to see her picture, here is my newest shot of Willow. :) Who, by the way, is on my LAST nerve lately. She will NOT stop growling at Rosebud, and I can't take much more of it. She needs her growler removed. The funny thing is, she's completely accepted McDuff now, because he is afraid of her. But Rosebud gives the attitude right back to her, so they hate each other. Sigh. Stupid dogs. It's a good thing they're so cute.