Just bought a gorgeous chest/coffee table for my living room. I've been looking and looking for a nice piece to keep blankets in *and* use at a side or coffee table in the living room, and just as I was about to buy one of the cute (but overpriced) ones at Pier 1 (I have a coupon), I popped into the local furniture consignment shop on a whim and BAM! There was the perfect thing and at a BARGAIN price.

I was walking, so I'm taking a breather before driving back the four blocks to fetch it home. Picture later.

All this and a red velvet cream cheese cupcake from Bleeding Heart Bakery -- a perfect Saturday.

For all the congrats and good wishes. Been a lovely day. 

I woke up this morning to find out my flash short, "Beata Beatrix," has been accepted by Electric Velocipede. This is my first sale that will appear in print rather than in pixels. It will be published at some point next year.

Oh, and also: *squee!*

Gotta say. Taylor Swift's a funny lady. Also, not a bad actor.

I did not wear a costume, but I did get my hair cut on a whim at Ulta. Lovely! I meant to keep going to my old stylist after the move, but she's so far away now and her salon doesn't stay open late, so it isn't all that practical. Meanwhile, my hair was getting hopeless, and now all is well. I really like the cut and the stylist was marvelous.

I had a Halloween party I could have gone to this evening, but I wasn't really in the mood for it. I had a busy week, and I just wanted to be quiet and catch up on errands and watch some TV.

After the impromptu haircut, I went to Target for some basics and then on to Best Buy. However, when I left the mall with the Target, I made a big mistake and thought a lane I pulled into was a turn lane when it wasn't. I basically pulled into oncoming traffic (though there was none, thank goodness) but mostly it was a sort of half-median. The lines had confused me and it was an unfamiliar bit of the road (I usually turn the other way to go home and was turning this way to go to the Best Buy).

NATURALLY, there was a cop behind me somewhere who saw the whole thing, so along with scaring myself half to death, once I got back into the correct lane, I got pulled over. I managed to flail myself out of a ticket by explaining what had happened, but *nerve shattering.*  I suppose that works for a Halloween trick, so I accidentally "celebrated" the day after all.

I went on to Best Buy because the real reason I decided to go out and run errands was to get a new modem/wireless router. The separate modem and router I've had are both 3+ years old, and I'd started having a lot of connection problems involving me re-re-restarting everything multiple times.

So far so good with the new one -- it seems MUCH faster which, of course, makes me annoyed with myself for not upgrading sooner. Still, one piece of machinery vs. two and faster vs. slower and cranky all equal win.

And in the end, there was leftover Aloo Ghobi, so no traffic ticket, faster internet, *and* Indian food?  Happy Halloween! 

catherinehaines found this list via Bella who in turn found it via Neil Gaiman: it’s Borders Australia’s 100 Favourite Books Of All Time, as voted by their customers.

The meme rules are:
Books that one has read should be bolded
Books for which one has seen the movie should be italicized
Books that are on one's “to read” pile should be marked with an asterisk (*).

( Read more... )

My superpower is being able to organize and clean things that already *seem* organized and cleaned. I went out to Ikea (again!) yesterday night after other plans fell through and bought the bigger of the two versions of Gorm storage shelves (unpaid endorsement) so I could bring yet more order to my not-all-that-chaotic storage closet.

( Domestic blithering... )

It's Single Childless Adults' Day (SCAD) once again!

How are YOU going to celebrate?

After a few dreary, overcast days and even some rain, today is bright and gorgeous and cool. I slept in a bit and watched the 2nd episode of #1 Ladies' Detective Agency which I'd missed when HBO reran it a couple of weeks ago (so for me it was the last new episode -- I do hope they are making more).

I had some friends over last night to see the place and after they helped me sort out my breakers so I could label them, we went wandering around Oak Park. We had a lovely dinner at one of the two nearby Indian restaurants (even though the billing got hilariously confused and they accidentally threw out my friend's leftovers so made her up a half-order fresh to replace it) then toured around and checked out the bookstores and the independent coffee shop (where I am going to go myself in a little bit).

I still don't have a gym and I'm still having trouble with the cost of the very nearby one. I think it's just too expensive for me to justify. I have these limitations on what I"ll spend on things and this one exceeds what I think the service offered is worth about $20 which, especially when multiplied by 12, is a lot of money. In fact it's enough to buy membership to another gym for a year or almost.

I also can't find my cookbooks and recipes and I'm worried they ended up in the wrong box and got donated. Probably not; I'm probably panicking over nothing and just need to sort through the few bins in my storage closet, but I'm still fretting.

Not sure taking the kickboxing class as my first workout in over a month was a good idea, but it was a good class. And yet I am sore and can feel the even-more-soreness coming on.

I'm trying-out gyms now, and this one seems pretty expensive to me but is just over two blocks away, and it is not a busy facility (it actually is a tennis center with a fitness center, too, but the emphasis is on the tennis and that part is busier). Not being busy is a plus. Towel service and a pretty sweet locker room are pluses, too. Proximity is a HUGE plus -- hard to not go when it's so close.

I must mull, though, because it is more expensive than my last two gyms were... but not that much more expensive than my last gym in Fort Wayne was. I'm going to visit at least one more and maybe two before I decide for sure. I definitely need a gym, though, to balance my way-sedentery workdays.

I'm for-real all settled in now. I brought home the gorgeous picture I had professionally framed (I'm not sure I ever had that done before -- it looks fantastic), and Nuala immediately went on an unrelated spazzy tear, ran into it, and knocked it flat on the floor with a loud bang (it was leaning out of the way against the counter, but she somehow managed to bounce off of it and send it smacking down onto the hardwood). I was horrified. I'd already bumped it into the wall a couple of times carrying it up the stairs and was worried about that (it's kind of big), and I hadn't even gotten it unwrapped yet to check on it, and if it got broken, that's a LOT of money right down the drain, so she got totally yelled at and went and hid under the file cart for a few minutes until I babytalked her back out and apologized. She can't help it if she's a spazz.

Meanwhile, the new Roomba arrived today -- the day after I ordered it. Shockingly fast, but I suppose they have a center here in Chicago? Dunno, but dang! Fast. It's really cool and shiny and didn't get stuck on anything. It also "goes home" when it's done as this one came with the home base (which was considerably extra back when I bought Pangur Ban so I never had one before). When it's done cleaning, it goes back home and locks into its charger. Amazing. I need to come up with a name, but after the confusion over Pangur's name, I'm going to wait a bit and see what fits.

Pangur is not dead or trashed. I cleaned him, packed him back up in his box, and put him down in the storage closet. I'm thinking I might try to Craigslist him when I put the portable clothes washer up for sale. We'll see. No hurry just now, but I do need to get some things out of that storage closet as there really isn't any room left which is a bit tragic for a non-packrat.

A lot of it is, I'll admit, boxfuls of empty original-packaging boxes, though, so not as bad as it seems.

Want to see more pix of Nuala and Liffey, before and after the move? CLICK HERE!

The last box is down by the recycling (I have at-curb recycling! No more hauling stuff to the recycling center -- just down the stairs to the dumpster area!); the last item is stowed in my storage closet.

I've replaced the desk leg damaged in the move; I've bought new storage solutions for the office. I've purchased new rugs and curtains to fit the new space. I've bought more hangers because the new closet allows me to hang up so much more stuff. The new bed is awesome and the old dresser is back to being the dresser and looks lovely with the rest of the items. I've donated yet another carload of stuff to charity.

A few pictures, posters, and things are hung up but there is a lot less wall space to adorn here, so most of my pictures and posters are down in the storage closet. I also have two new pictures I want to have matted and framed which will take up the remaining wall spots once that's done.

I have a plastic bin-ful of stuff I plan to eBay and some of the posters will get sold that way, too. Some will be kept and stored. (the new Priority Mail shipping rates have made me ready to eBay again -- flat rates for the win!)

A friend is on her way here, and the plan is to wander the town this afternoon. Tomorrow I have one last day off to just kick back and enjoy the new place without any need to do anything to it. Though maybe I'll take the pictures to be framed ;) Michael's is having a sale...

I love this place. I love this town. I'm glad I did this.

I finally broke down and rebooked my useless ticket to Dragon*Con. With fees, etc., since this was a lowest-of-the-low ticket (no refunds, etc.) meant that it put me up only $60 on the tickets for Norwescon in April, but at least I wasn't out the entire ticket price. The flight prices had gone done for April in the meantime of my dithering, so it ended up being right about where I was thinking it "ought" to be.

So I am now booked for Norwescon in April 2010, and I will not be that irritating never-shows-up passenger they call as they're trying to board the plane today.

From packing/carrying/moving/unpacking so much stuff, but we're all in the new digs now. I'm about 60% unpacked, and today I go back to Skokie to clean the old place and hand in the keys. (And get my deposit back -- yay!)

I finally got to go grocery shopping last night, and my new Trader Joe's is shiny and spacious. On the way home, I stopped for Indian carryout, so there's leftover Aloo Ghobi for later. The Kashmiri naan was good and a happy find.

The cats aren't fully settled yet but are nearly back to default settings. After starting them in the bedroom closet (small room with a window where they can feel enclosed and safe), their stuff is now moved to where it'll be permanently (cat box in the corner by the back door; food and water in the kitchen).

I still don't have the computers unpacked, but the old laptop is sitting here so I've been able to check my email.

My new bed comes on Wednesday morning, so no sleeping-in that day! Also, I'll need to have the boxes in there unpacked by then.

I've been packing for weeks; I think I started a month ago at least, and now I'm at that stage where almost everything is packed but there's still enough stuff I'm using that there's more to pack. For a bit there, I thought I had too many boxes, but now I think I either have just enough or that I might need another (very) few. I do need more paper, but the leftover box from my last move has held out really well.

I took my little 2-door Echo packed FULL -- and I mean really full -- of stuff to the Salvation Army yesterday. I went in to find out if there was a manned drop-off -- there wasn't exactly but they sent a guy back to the loading dock to take my stuff, and I felt *so* much better with that all gone. Saturday, the bedroom furniture goes at last. My much-discussed and loved and only recently-purchased (December) credenza was first to go -- sold for a bit more than 2/3rds what I paid for it, so fare-thee-well. I think the new owner really will love it, too.

There is still a shelf and a battered and eternal coffee table that I probably should keep until I replace it but which I'm pretty determined not to as I feel it has bashed my shins in quite enough over the years, and it is wobbly and I would just like to say good-bye to it, though we have been through much together.

The gym membership is cancelled and more than half of the year's fee refunded; my first year's insurance on the condo is paid in full; the broken TV is gone, too, replaced with a lovely, portable flat-screen TV I adore (after buying The Wrong One first and having to take it back).

The beautiful, beloved red microwave is gone to my niece to take with her to college as the condo has a  nice built-in one and there was no need for my shiny red darling. My brother (her father) also took away a couple of small wall shelves and two folding camp chairs to give to my parents. Several small odds and ends of other shelves and storage helpers have been donated. The storage room and all the dresser drawers are emptied.

I have a parking space reserved, the movers scheduled, the TV/internet/phone installation scheduled, the box to return my current TV equipment sitting by the TV. I even found the name of a really good and reasonably priced petsitting service in the area for my future needs.

I spoke to an electrician who thought the work I wanted done would be extensive and expensive, so I'll probably wait to see what I really want done after I've lived with the current set up for a bit before I get an estimate for that. I've lived with only 2 breakers here with not too much trouble (only a bit in winter), so this way I can evaluate what really needs to be done before haring off and spending too much. I have little fix-it things do to and items to buy for at the condo when I move ithat I'll want to spend money on up front .

All the paperwork is done and now we just wait on the closing date at the end of this month. I'm tired but happy and eager to move but glad for the extra time to get everything organized.

It's down to what I'm using, what I might use, and wall decorations now. Meanwhile, I'm out of decaf coffee and I'm starving, so I'm off on a quest of another kind.

Then you're riding the Crazy Train with this woman.

She started this whole thing, just so you know whose star you've hitched your wagon to.

Also? Karl Rove and Ann Coulter think she's crazy.

Just sayin'

Also? A Living Will is NOT a tricky government way to kill old people.

Oh, and the people behind the "grass-roots" anti-health reform protests at town hall meetings this month? Y'know, the ones interrupting, screaming at, and talking over their representatives who are trying to field constituents' questions?

Organized and funded by healthcare industry lobbyists.