3/1/07

Edited to add, 5:30 pm central time: We’re fine. The tornado that hit was a couple of hours south of us, and last I heard, the really bad weather’s expected to go around us. I hope it does! Edited to add, 9:00 pm central time: Still no bad weather – just wind and rain – and it looks like the bad weather’s done for the night. I’m amazed that Survivor wasn’t pre-empted by the weather coverage, because I swear to god, every time we have bad weather it’s on a Thursday and Survivor gets fucked up!

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New month, new logo! This one was created by talented reader Aly. Every time I look at it, it makes me giggle. Thanks, Aly!!!
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This page cracked me UP. Thanks for sharing, Andrea!
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I watched Shut Up and Sing the other day (Monday, in fact, while I spent the entire day cooking dinners so I’d not have to cook again this week. I’m an excellent multi-tasker, and got lots of TV watching in while I was cooking.). I actually liked the movie, enough that I might want to watch it again in the future. I’ve always liked the Dixie Chicks’ music, and I LOVE Not Ready to Make Nice. Natalie Maines could use some wardrobe advice, though, and I hope I’m not trampling all over her Right to Freely Dress Like a Bag Lady when I say that. (“Robyn,” you are saying right now. “Just what exactly are YOU wearing, that you feel secure in putting down the way Natalie Maines dresses?” And to you I say: “Shaddup.”*) One of the weirdly interesting parts of the movie was when the husbands would show up for a minute or two. Natalie’s married to Adrian Pasdar (the guy from Heroes – but don’t ask me what role he plays in the show, I haven’t watched it since the first episode, which is something we might remedy when it comes out on DVD this Summer/ Fall) and he was around a few different times. Emily’s married to Charlie Robison, who sings El Cerrito Place, which is a song I adore (Emily is, correct me if I’m wrong, the one who’s got the dark hair) and he was in there a couple of times. Martie’s married to some guy I don’t know, and he showed up a couple of times, but since he’s not anyone I’ve ever heard of, I have nothing to say about him. He seemed nice, though, how’s that? Anyway, good movie, I liked it, check it out. *Gray cotton pants, a gray long-sleeved Myrtle Beach t-shirt, and very warm blue socks. Did I mention “Shaddup”?
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I spent all day Tuesday and all day Wednesday out at the house, puttying and caulking*. I hate caulking**. Cannot stand the caulk***. Don’t ever want to see any more caulk**** again, as long as I live. At least it’s mostly done. Not only did I caulk, I found that a couple of pieces of quarter-round hadn’t been nailed down (Fred measures for the quarter round, cuts the quarter-round, then nails down all but the end pieces of the quarter-round so I can paint the ends), so I got me the nail gun and nailed those suckers down. I can guarantee you, back before we closed on this house it never would have occurred to me that I could use the nail gun my own self to nail down quarter-round. I would have waited for Fred to do it. I’ve done a lot of things in this house I couldn’t have imagined last Fall: painting the entire upstairs bathroom, painted the majority of the trim in the house, caulked*****, puttied, switched out outlets and switches, created a brush pile and helped burn it down, kept a fire going in the big fireplace, tried to convince Fred we need a pellet stove, burned piles and piles of leaves, cleaned out an entire overgrown ditch. I’m sure there are other things, I’m just too damn tired to try to think of them. What else did I do? Oh, right – I stained the ends of the quarter-round for the stairs, then worried that the ends looked too dark, so instead of putting polyurethane on them, I left them so Fred could inspect them (he decided they looked fine, so I polyurethaned them before I left), and caulked***** my closet so now all that needs to be done in there, is the trim around the doorway needs to be painted, and a couple of shelves hung. I had no idea the closet was going to take so damn long to get done, but it’s a FINE looking closet and one I’m happy with, and considering I’m going from a walk-in closet to a much smaller one, that’s an amazing thing. We are so very close to being done with the house, which means of course that the worst weather ever is headed our way. I’m sure that when I head out to the house tomorrow morning for another all-day work session, I’ll find that the huge-ass tree we love so much has landed on the house, crushing the holy hell out of it, and rendering the house a complete and utter loss. Good times! *Hee! **::giggle:: ***::snort:: ****::smirk:: ****::g r i n:: *****::snicker::
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Pictures from around the house: The gum trees that are dropping gum balls all over the place. Someone said that pruning back the trees would result in less gum balls, but I don’t know that that’s an option for us, since they’re so big. They’re pretty, but the gum balls are a little bit on my nerves. Between the shed and garage. Behind the garage. One of the things I love about our new house is that there are random daffodils growing all over the place. Daffodils being my favorite flower, I think this is a good sign. I cannot recommend enough the lovely, citrusy scent of winter honeysuckle. I love to sit on the porch and sniff the air. This stuff smells amazing.
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“Hey, lady! How many times you going to flash that thing at me?” Smackdown Stage 1: The Taunting. (ie, “Newt’s mouth writes a check his butt can’t back up.”) Smackdown Stage 2: The Butt-Kicking. (ie,”Momma always was stronger, faster, and meaner than Newt realized.”) Smackdown Stage 3: Confusion. (ie, “Wha’ happa’?”) Previously 2006: It was so friggin’ cute I made Fred listen to it, too. 2005: I have my finger on the pulse of pop culture, apparently. 2004: A day in the life. 2003: What makes me crazy. 2002: No entry. 2001: No entry. 2000: Okay, enough of the wallowing.]]>

30 thoughts on “3/1/07”

  1. I think I’m officially the last person to not get the caulk joke. Have mercy on me and explain, please! I wanna laugh, too!!

  2. ChristineQ: Unless you’re very careful to pronounce that l, “caulk” sounds just like “c0ck”, and those of us who are still in junior high think it’s far too funny. πŸ™‚

  3. I absolutely loved, “Shut Up and Sing”. Natalie’s my favorite but I love them all. I wasn’t even a huge Dixie Chick fan until I saw them on the Grammy’s and watched the movie. I never had anything against them though either. πŸ™‚

  4. Hey Robyn, When my husband and I renovated our old farmhouse, I did stuff I’d never done before: sanding, caulking, painting like a fend. Lots of other stuff too, which I couldn’t have imagined doing — especially at my age of 50+! Those skills have come in handy now that I’m alone (husband died), but I’m still learning a few more.
    One thing I hate about caulking, mostly in bathrooms/kitchens/windows, it has to be redone occasionally. I don’t care how pricey the caulk, eventually it either starts cracking and/or peeling or shrinking. I just caulked around my bathtub the other day, even though it is ceramic tile. Go figure.
    Can’t wait for your posts after you’re living at Smallville!

  5. Oh noes!!! You don’t watch Heroes? You have to watch Heroes! You’ll really like it, I just know it. πŸ™‚
    It looks gorgeous in Smallville!

  6. um, “the one with dark hair” doesn’t exactly narrow it down, ya know. They change their hair color about as often as they change underwear. I refer to them as the fiddle player, the one on the left and the one with a big mouth.

  7. The pictures with the gumballs? Our property looks like that every fall, except with acorns. By spring, our yard looks like someone drove over it with a very large aerator.
    Stupid squirrels.

  8. β€œNewt’s mouth writes a check his ass can’t back up.”
    You’re cute when you mix metaphors.

  9. Barb in KS: Martie’s the one who usually has short blond hair (she tends not to have it long); Emily’s the one who sometimes has long hair, it’s currently dark, and I think of her as the one with the long face. (Martie and Emily are sisters)
    And Natalie’s the short one with the big mouth, the lead singer. Heh.

  10. Jane: My brain’s on vacation this morning. I couldn’t for the life of me remember the correct “writes a check” saying, so I shrugged and said “Fuck it.” πŸ™‚

  11. My mother has one of those trees that drops those “balls” as well and it’s a major thorn in her side! She says she rakes and rakes and they just keep comin. Also, they feel really good on bare feet!

  12. she’s married to Adrian Pasdar? Cool – he’s Nathan Petrelli on Heroes for anyone keeping track at home.
    Heroes is a pretty good show – watching it on DVD would be a good idea. The commercials really get to me. I’m one of those poor souls that doesn’t have TiVo.

  13. Every year I’m jealous when your daffodils come up before mine do–mine are just sending up shoots now. They’re my favorite, too. And honeysuckle! Nothing smells better than honeysuckle. (Though I don’t know what winter honeysuckle is, I suspect it’s what we see up here around April or so up here.)

  14. So when exactly are you going to add those Cats That Aren’t Yours to the cat page? Hmm? πŸ˜‰
    Kathy W. – You just made me giggle like a ten year old boy. πŸ™‚

  15. Ever watch the Stephen King movie “The Langoliers”? If you have, think of that movie, then look at the things in your yard and see if you get the reference. If you haven’t seen it, I can try to explain it if you want.

  16. What you call gum balls look a lot like what we called “prickle-bombs” as kids. Excellent ammunition for sibling wars! I still cringe as I remember the sensation of puncturing the bottom of my foot. Never wore shoes in the summer, but somehow never developed the callouses to withstand the bombs…

  17. I would also like to know what all the caulk is for. I’m worried that I’m missing out on caulk that I didn’t know I needed.

  18. what’s up with Newt’s bottom lip?
    All I know is that mowing over those balls with a regular push-mower is a dangerous affair. I’ve caught many a spike ball in the shin.

  19. One of the reasons I bought my house is because there were lots of daffodils and lilys of the valley which reminded me of my grandma’s gardens and I took that as a sign she was smiling down at me from heaven. Of course, now, the damned ferns have completely overgrown everything and choked them pretty much all to death. Anyone know how to kill ferns really dead so that they won’t keep coming back?

  20. Guess what was in my email today???
    We’ve shipped Penn & Teller: Bullshit! – Disc 3 to you. You can expect to receive it on or around Saturday, March 3, 2007.
    Yee-haw! I’m so excited!

  21. Hey Robyn,
    I was wondering if you ever got that song you wanted from Keith and the Girl cause I figured out how to do it in iTunes. Let me know if you still need it.
    Aloha,
    Flo

  22. I noticed Newt’s bottom lip looks very swollen too.
    Those gumballs would drive me nuts
    I am jealous that you have all those flowers blooming.
    It is still in the 30s here

  23. Adrian Pasdar was on a show called “Mysterious Ways” years ago. I LOVED that show. He was also on “Judging Amy”. I think he is totally HOT!
    Yeah, what is up with Newt’s lip and his left ear?
    -Nancy

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