the minutia of my life

Spamalopes
Originally uploaded by wahoo1265

On this, my day off, I thought I would introduce you to the things on my desk: a touch lamp (one of the greatest inventions EVER), a small frame with a pic of Shannon in it (world's greatest dog), a spamalope cartoon, a London water globe, calculator man, a basket filled with scrap pieces of writing paper, an Air Force mug rug, cell phone, a squeezy ball shaped like the globe, a pocket-sized calendar with my paydays highlighted, a picture of a bucktoothed squirrel, the latest Smithsonian magazine, a little 3-drawer thing that holds address labels and stamps, and various computer stuffs.

My day off has been spent washing things. Washing the dishes, some rugs, and the towels. I've also been waiting for the mailman to bring my new book on Elizabeth I. So far, no mail. Is this some kind of postal holiday or something? With all the recent cutbacks, has the government decided to do away with mail or is my mailman just taking his sweet ass time getting here today? I really want that book.

I also went to the grocery store and bought a tomato and a head of lettuce in anticipation of eating BLTs later when Vic gets home. Curiously, I don't like tomatoes and I actually prefer lettuce shreds to lettuce pieces.

I wonder if I'll like working 12-hour shifts more in the Winter. Right now, my days off are spent catching up on housework and watching the dog sleep all day.

my busy days

I wish I had a really good reason for not blogging more lately...but I don't. It just seems like I've been busy with the normal everyday boring-type of things that fill my days. I only work three days a week, but they're all 12-hour days; when I get home I am totally exhausted. Sometimes I struggle to stay up an hour or two and then pour myself into bed. And my days off are usually spent running all over the place getting chores done. The one luxury I've afforded myself recently has been trying to devote more time to reading. As a matter of fact, I just ordered a book on Queen Elizabeth I and hope to get it sometime this week. When the cool weather starts back up, I'll be spending more time inside and I'll get back to scrapbooking again. So I guess my blog has suffered a bit lately. But I wonder if the people who would normally read this are all too busy with their lives to spend some time here. So maybe we can all get together on a more regular basis in the next couple of months.

today

Today is my day off. I told myself I wasn't going to do any work-type thing today, just read and relax. But I think I'll cut the grass. (I've already read and relaxed.) It's hard not to do something around a house that is filled with so many "to do" projects. Most of them are too big for just one person, so I have to wait for Vic. Others of them are just extremely tedious and I just keep avoiding them. I really don't mind cutting the grass, though. When I was a teenager I absolutely hated mowing and would bitch and whine about it endlessly. But that was then and now it's different. This is my grass. (Well, actually it's the bank's grass, but they let me borrow it for about 30 years.)

It seems like yardwork is the only exercise I get these days. On workdays, I'm on my feet for 12 hours, so I don't feel much like doing anything more strenuous than crawling into a nice warm bubble bath. And on my days off, I'm just not motivated to do anything. That's not really true. I am motivated, but I don't have anyone to go walking or cycling with, so I just stay home and do little stuff around the house instead...like cutting the grass. So off I go ~ the back yard awaits me!

experimenting with the tripod

Here are a few pics of the previously blogged blue chair. She's a beut, no?




And here is a lovely picture of me sitting in the beautiful blue chair. As you can see, I've started using my tripod a bit.



I tried several times to get a shot of me and Meg, but every time the camera's timer started beeping, she'd run off. This was the best I could do. I think heads in photos are overrated.

july in review

This was a pretty busy day~my day off from work. Vic continued applying Kilz to our hallway and upstairs bedroom (a project we've talked about doing for about 4 years now!), I pained our old dark green adirondack chair a charming shade of Caribbean Blue (I'll include a pic when it's done drying), and then I cut the grass and am now doing laundry. These 12-hr shifts are going to kill me! On workdays, I'll be on my feet for at least 11 hours, and on off days I'll bust my butt doing stuff around the house!

July seemed like a nice calm month. Vic & I hit a lot of garage sales and went to the city's farmer's market a few Sundays. We got lots of stuff we really didn't need at both venues. We took a trip to visit my brother in Cleveland and got to attend the Irish Festival there ~ both very enjoyable. This was the month I found out I was officially certified as a surgical technologist, a test I studied months for. And I finished the new Maeve Binchy book Heart and Soul. I've only read 6 books so far this year. I know that a large portion of the year was spent studying my school books, but still, 6 seems like such a small number! I've also been busy working on a hookrug (something I haven't done for years!) and my cross stitch. Can't wait to see what August will bring!