4 Seconds A Day: March 2015

maybe our most boring month yet

A Place For Sticks And Twine

Today I spent most of my time setting up Susie's new iPod, which I'm pissed about already because when I bought a new iPod back like five years ago the biggest one they had was the 120GB. I was told that was as big as they came now and I had no other option. But Susie got the 160GB the other day, so that little turd at the Apple store either lied to me or somebody's got some explaining to do. Add to that the fact that Susie listens to questionable 90's music (Will Smith, Blaque, Ginuwine) and genre-defying chart toppers (Ricky Martin, Dixie Chicks, Marc Anthony). At least she's got some classics in there (CSNY, Joplin, Hendrix, Gaye) to balance it all out. Hi Susie. I'm gonna get you some new music.

Then we spent the rest of the day moving Christmas decor out of the house and finally making space to walk. Laura's is having some severe nesting syndrome (SNS) but the poor bird can't find a tree to put her sticks and twine. I'm working on it. 

Priorities. Music THEN new baby.

Changing Decors

Today was strange and sad. Working, in between dismantling the Christmas cheer about the house. It never stays up quite long enough. We only added three more totes worth of decor this year. I don't know if that's better or worse. I know we now have to make two separate trips to the storage unit because it doesn't all fit in the van at the same time. So today was phase one. Now the house feels naked.

We took the stuff downtown and then Laura wanted to "run past" the fabric store. That turned into a debacle, of course, but cooler heads prevailed and we came home with three distinct patterns for two separate projects. And Yuula got to stick her hands in the button jars.

Apparently she's excited about their completion because it's 11:19pm and she's downstairs sewing right now. But I don't mind the quiet night. Woody Allen's Manhattan is on and it really does deserve my full attention just this once.

I'm thirsty

Friday Night's Alright!

I don't know when Friday nights lost their luster. Maybe 7th grade. Maybe they never had any. But I do that last night, after once again purging the house of temporary undesirables and making a late night run to the storage facility, we sat down for a scintillating meal of leftovers. Laura had day old mac & cheese, I ate a golden goat salad that may have been a day or six past its prime, and Yuula picked at an avocado and a tortilla shell. She ate all the way to the storage facility and back so... maybe she wasn't too hungry.

I'm getting pretty bored with this Strawberry Shortcake DVD. Time to switch it out.

But I guess any evening, as dull as it's been, can be salvaged. A little playtime dancing always seems to to the trick. No new moves tonight, but at least she has on a new tutu.

She was feeling orange.

And then we mixed in a little slide time, which lately is more about her tossing her toys down instead of going down herself.

To each her own.

She got in a few, don't worry.

She went to bed around 8:30, at which point Laura and I flipped around the magnificent television a Friday night has to offer, a little Kirk Cameron on Piers Morgan, a studio performance by Andrew Bird, and finally ending up where most nights nowadays do... watching Arrested Development.

It's even better the 8th time around.

Eyes: dirtgirlworld
Ears: Keith Fullerton Whitman - Generators

A Corner Formerly Known As Useless

Living in an A-frame by way of barn style house has presented some challenges in the ways of maximizing wall space. Yesterday I think we finally made something out the strange slanted cubby corner next to my side of the bed when I transformed it into a 3 foot deep closet that rendered useless an entire dresser and wall of chicken coops worth of clothes.

Victory.

It was wasted space that had guitars collecting dust and a dumping site for my unmentionables and while there's still some construction to be done to make it look less utilitarian (like a nice 7'x3' piece of wainscoating to cover it and a curtain to hide it), this month has seen a real purging of the unwanted unnecessities in this house. Spring is coming folks. We need to make room.

Wrap Mind Warped

I can't just lay in bed with something pressing on my mind like an elephant sitting on a grapefruit. Mmmm I love grapefruit. I woke up and saw the clock say 3:38. That is dumb, to be awake at that time. For some reason I couldn't stop thinking about the stack of Christmas wrapping paper we have stacked up in the spare bedroom upstairs, among many other things, but for some reason the wrapping paper was really bugging me. I couldn't get past it. I tried to search online, on my phone, from bed (love modern) for a storage box big enough to house them all. You see we somehow acquired the mythological 42" roll of wrapping paper that they sell no bin big enough to hold, so it's been an ongoing battle. Ebay has been no luck. A generic google search brings up many stylish ways to stow away your holiday papers, some for $80, but none over 37". I gave up and bought this instead.



We need it. The one we have isn't spatially compatible with our new van and Laura's left knee. Only $8.99. Not bad. Coming from Fairfield NJ. May have it by the weekend. Only I couldn't pay for it in bed. Wouldn't bring me to paypal. So now I'm up. Tea brewing. I think I'll go take a shower. Leaving at 6. Laura to work. Me to EWR. Aunt Danielle is coming to town.

A Guitar, Kittens & Korma At Least

Today we filled the storage space. There's very little room left in there, but there's much more room upstairs and in the shed so... win/win. We also went on a hunt for a daybed for the continuing transformation of the laundry room into guest bedroom. So far we have curtains. We hit up a few places, trying not to pay full price of course and struck out, but at the third yardsale I picked myself up a little consolation prize...



And for only $9! The youngest daughter was manning the shop at the time and since she seemed to have no idea and blurted out the first number that came to mind I said "Deal!" before she could reneg. But we did pick up the pace down the driveway when we heard the Dad come out and say "You sold the guitar for $9?!". Oh well.

I sweat about twelve gallons of fierce strawberry gatorade today, between all the loading and unloading and reshaping of rooms. The back room is now the baby's room and the office is now the front room. These names have meaning. And we moved Gabuk up to the front room, along with her 5 kittens, and she seems more than content. Much nicer accommodations than the old doghouse outside. And Fawsja's are roaming the house nowadays, entering that sickeningly cute phase of hopping about and chasing feet. Couple more weeks for them.



Add to that, I went to a record store today and for the first time made money. I met a west coast man there, made a few suggestions, and felt good about helping him in his aimless search. Poor guy. I should've given him my number. He's gonna need help again. And then Laura made chicken korma and we watched The Imaginarium of Doctor Parnassusm which was... interesting. The Mets are down by 6, two innings away from being swept. Good way to start off the second half. I think it's time for bed....

Oh, Ike Davis just hit a two run homerun. It's something.

Furnishing Frenzy

We've hit a bit of an impediment on the homefront. We've got all this stuff, decorative in nature, and no place to put any of it. We've banished most of our old shelving units and bookcases to the shed for storage purposes which has left the house interior counter-less. So last Friday we decided we needed some new furnishings. We headed for town and hit the Big Lots, Home Depot & the Target (where we made out like bandits). Four carts and one broken register later we were headed home, the car literally stuffed to the roof with boxes. Sexy Bird* was weighed down.



I spent all weekend assembling these pieces so we can finally unpack our suitcases and get at our clothes and towels and et ceteras and maybe walk in the downstairs bedroom.

Bedroom/Closet




Bathroom



Office



Kitchen/Dining Room



On the way home we found this on the road so we unloaded the car and went back and got it.


It doesn't have a home yet but we figured we'd go for a record of "Most Furniture Acquired In 1 Day". Is that in Guinness? It should be.

We also bought a new kitchen table and chairs but they won't be delivered til this Friday so... mark it on your calendars! Something to look forward to.

*see preceeding post for explanation