Owwwwl

Feed Commentary

I know all of you wanted to hear some snark today so here is a post that came through my feeds this morning.

Ha.

The utter ridiculousness of this application astounds me. Isn't this the equivalent of getting a Christmas card from your insurance company?

In other drool-worthy news: Do I have to be a celebrity to have a home library like these? I had particularly large drool puddles for Jimmy Stewart's, Julianne Moore's, & William Randolph Hearst's.

So much better

So last weekend--when it was hotter than Hades--I turned on my a/c (just enough to take out the humidity and cool down a bit) and yanked up the last of the carpet in the house*.

If you have had the courage, fortitude and perseverance to read this blog from the beginning you may remember photos of the carpet that used to be in the house:

• From the room known as the Pit (yet hoping to overcome this unfortunate moniker to become the office/guest room). The carpet in here was olive green with fluorescent green flowers--YUMMY!
  
• From the entire rest of the house (less the kitchen & bathroom which were renovated just prior to me moving in and the basement which is entirely concrete). Here is the bedroom (sort of) & the living room. I couldn't find any photos of the dining room with carpet still in it--that room's was the first to go.  It looked exactly like the living & bedroom carpet.

Tada!

Ignore the little brown splotches on the floor in the second photo.  I have no idea what they are. They are not actually on the floor.  I took this photo seconds after the first so I don't think it is the lens...

The junk, behind the chair and on the piano in the background, however is another story.  That is actually there. Not an illusion despite my utmost desire for it to be.  The stuff behind the chair is actually a disassembled futon waiting for a mattress. And the other stuff is waiting for me to clean out the Pit...again.

*This excludes the 4 foot by 4 foot patch in my entry/closet area that is currently being held down by a ton of books I have yet to process from the church library (literally...well, okay, almost a TON).

I'm so excited (and other stuff)

I finally went and ordered and eReader.  I had been waiting for one with everything I was looking for: reasonable price, eInk, long battery life, and touch screen. Then I had to make sure I wouldn't go in to debt purchasing it.

I ordered it last night and now I am spending an inordinately excessive amount of time checking the shipping status! :-P

I am also preparing for my first 4th of July picnic (x2!).  I'm having some friends over in the afternoon and my parents in the evening.  Grilling out...good food...good fellowship. 

But lots of work.

Since it is currently the hottest day of the summer so far I have decided to spend the day inside in the a/c  (I'm turning it off tomorrow night--after the heatwave!) and pulling up the last of the carpet in my house.  Hopefully.

But that will be after lunch.

Finally... some good NEWS out of Iowa

http://news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20110404/ap_on_re_us/us_eagle_cam

Baby, baby, baby

I wanted to share this.

Stream videos at Ustream

The camera is set up in a neighboring town.  I have been watching off and on for three weeks or so.  There are three eggs under there and the momma & daddy rotate warming duties.  The eggs are due to hatch any day now.

Inspired... ?

This winter, my plan is to go through my entire house and PURGE.  I want to toss, recycle, donate, and set aside for garage sale as much of my possessions as I possibly can.

There are a couple of reasons for this:

1. I'm attempting to simplify my life.  The less stuff I have the less I have to clean , to put away, to store, etc.
2. I am trying to be more frugal.  I heard somewhere that the less stuff you have (even just sitting around) the less you waste--money and time.  Which makes sense--the more you have the more you have the more time and money you spend taking care of it.
3. I want to avoid becoming a dedicated packrat.  This is one of the most difficult. I come from a line of packrats--my grampa, my dad--who tend to save any and everything.  I tend to be a saver and I want to be saving only the most important things.

I'm sure I will think other reasons but those are the major ones.  As I go through rooms I will be doing some deep cleaning. Cleaning is not one of my favorite chores.  Needless to say, the house hasn't had a really good cleaning since I moved in.  I have dusted, vacuumed, etc. but I want to wash walls and clean all the nooks and cranies that don't normally get cleaned.

I have been plotting and planning the last month or so. This is to say I have been procrastinating as much as I possibly could.  I was inspired to start by a friend's post about all the things she did this week... and I have to admit I felt a little guilty that I had been lazing around and not getting down to business.

Anyway. Operation Depurate is underway.

To commemorate the first day I took some clean photos...I'm not to the point where I can force myself to post any BEFORE photos yet.  But I started with my shower.  I wanted to start with something a little easy so as to not overwhelm myself.  I tossed a lot of extras that were just sitting around because I just hadn't gotten rid of them. Then I scrubbed everything clean.  I am trying to use all natural cleaners. As I post this my shower curtain is on the spin cycle in the washing machine and as soon as I put it back up I will have completed step one of Operation Depurate.

They aren't the best photos but they capture the moment & the cleanliness.