It's almost the weekend!

I look forward to each weekend; they are what keep me going these days, and this weekend is no exception. Yes, I do have to work on my staff reviews this weekend (will continue to do so in a minute), but I am determined to add some fun into the mix. Tomorrow we are thinking of heading to Brimfield. We don't have anything that we want to get; we just think it will be fun. The photo to the right was taken at our trip to Brimfield last fall.That was a fun day, but tiring. It's very tiring walking around looking at (mostly) junk all day. It's funny because my sister and mother and my sister's in-laws all get together and make an annual trek to Brimfield and I always thought of it as this somewhat mystical place where the fields would be lined with valuable antiques. I imagined myself going there, buying some sort of old bowl or chest of drawers, and then discovering that it was worth tens of thousands of dollars. That may happen for people, but from what I can tell of Brimfield most of it is priced pretty high if it's worth anything, and the rest of it is junk. Still, though, I guess for a fun weekend activity I'd rather look through someone else's junk (getting an iced coffee on the way, of course) than my own junk, so we'll probably be making our way towards the middle of the state tomorrow. Sunday is supposed to rain, so whatever chores or boring, domestic-y household stuff we have to do can be done then.

However, in order for me to be able to go to Brimfield and not have panic attacks over work, I should get going to work on my reviews. It's an odd situation in which I find myself - reviewing the performance of people whom I've only known in a managerial capacity for 6 months, because before that I was just one of them. These are tough to do; it's a fine line between being constructively critical and just downright critical. I don't like walking that line.

We've become very domestic.

This weekend was a very nice weekend, despite the fact that I got about 10 hours of sleep total. Today I'm feeling the two nights in a row of 2:30am bedtimes and 7am waking times. Friday night I was doing work until 2:30am, and then last night I was doing housework until about 1, then watched TV until about 2:30. Why? Just trying to get everything done. Tonight, though, is a night for the couch. Once I get done blogging and revising my self-assessment...

Yesterday we met Jipty and Chris for dinner, and they brought along little Ely. He celebrated his 5-month birthday. Wish I had photos! He's adorable, and Jipty and Chris are doing well. After that I came home and was planning on catching up on some of my Cash in the Attic viewing (I believe we have a month's worth of the show saved on DVR, and considering it plays about two or three times a day, that's quite a lot of show to watch), but Doug decided that we should forge ahead with chores, so he started to set up the new steamer that we bought earlier in the day. Have I mentioned before that I hate ironing? Well, I do, and I was faced with this pile of ironing to do this weekend: I thought maybe the vertical steamer would help me get through the pile, and it did, but it steamed the varnish off the beams on the ceiling in the living room in the process. What happens is that I stand there in the living room steaming the clothes, like this: and the steamer is producing so much heat and so much steam that condensation collects not only directly above the steamer but all around it as well. After using it for about 25 minutes I felt water dropping onto my head, which is a pretty freaky feeling when you're standing in your otherwise dry living room. I steamed for about 3 hours last night (yes, a long, long time... while the steamer saves space and allows you to just roll it around with you so you don't have to lug out the ironing board and plug in the iron, it does not really save any time doing the actual ironing), so that means there was three hours worth of steam and condensation collecting on the ceiling. When Doug went to wipe the ceiling off he got some of the varnish off of the beams... didn't make him too happy. Needless to say, I'll be steaming in the basement from now on.

Today was a lovely, slow day. After getting the rest of my steaming done in the early hours of the morning (in the basement, of course) I sat down to a very nice breakfast of a scone and some cookbook reading. I've grown to like reading cookbooks, but I rarely make the recipes. Tonight, though, we did make one of them - BBQ chicken sandwiches with avocado and cheddar cheese. Doug got the grill going (love this shot of him starting the fire... look at the smoke! )and we had a nice, home-cooked meal. I also read some cookie recipes and found two that would have been good to make today, but one I needed a pastry bag for, and the other I needed quick-cooking rolled oats. We went to two supermarkets today and you'd think that I would have remembered the oats, but no, I didn't, so I made neither recipe. Oh well - maybe next weekend.

But today was too nice a day to be inside making cookies, anyway, right? We did some more yard stuff today... I mowed the grass in the front (Doug and I have a system - he grows the grass, I mow it), and then surveyed the flowers to see how they're doing. We've gotten plenty of rain these past couple of weeks, which is good because this means that I don't have to try to remember to water the flowers. Doug still waters his grass, though, and it looks like all that watering is working because his grass is actually growing! Look, we have evidence: Not only is the grass nice and green and beginning to grow nicely, but the lilac trees in the front of the house are blooming and smell wonderfully. I was worried that these wouldn't come back after the hard winter, but they're here! What a testament to the strength of Mother Nature. The grow box is also a testament to Mother Nature, because there's stuff growing in it and it's certainly through no handiwork of mine. I don't know if this is a broccoli or a spinach (I'm guessing spinach), but whatever it is it's sprouting, green, and looking like some kind of plant. The broccoli is not growing, or at least not that I can tell. I'm wondering if the grow box is too wet. Not only is there a massive pool of water on the inside of the grow box (just following the directions on that one), but it gets watered from the rain and from Doug's sprinkler every single day. Plants can have too much water, can't they? It would be very ironic if my spinach and broccoli didn't work out because of over-watering. That would be a first indeed.

Let's see. What else. We took a short bike ride, but I don't have photos of that. It's difficult to ride and take photos at the same time. After the ride and after mowing the lawn I installed some hooks in our little vestibule area at the back door of the house. That area had been bothering us for a while as an inefficient use of space, and since I'm on a hook kick I thought we'd add some in there, too. So far so good. We're hanging up our grilling tools, our bike helmets and safety vests (dorky, yes, but safety first when riding/walking at night!), and then anything else that might need hanging. I love to hang things. It's my favorite mode of storage.

So, that was our weekend. It was rather quiet, rather uneventful, but good nonetheless. I called my mom and Doug called his mom - it's Mother's Day, after all. My mom had a good day with my sister and the kids, so that was good. We didn't get to see her, which was too bad, but she's coming up in two weekends to visit and then coming up again the following weekend. We'll do lots of fun stuff then, and I'll get to tell her in person how lucky I am to have a great mom like her. In the meantime, she can read it in the card I sent her and in the blog. Thanks, Mom, and Happy Mother's Day!

Change will do you good.

You'll notice the new look of my blog. I've changed it. I like it. I've also added a Goodreads widget so that everyone in the whole entire world can see what books I've recently read. It took me all morning to figure how how to add the widget to my blog. Yes, I can admit that.

I went to bed last night (well, this morning) at 2:30am, and I woke up at 7am. It's now 9:09am. I was supposed to be getting up and doing work, and I made it down here to the computer after putting in some more laundry, but here I sit still on Blogger. The Internet just sucks me in. In order to not make a complete waste of my morning, I'll provide a little more detail on the fun activities of last weekend.

So you'll recall that on Saturday, Doug and I headed down to my niece's first communion. On Sunday we were busy little bees again, this time doing mega chores around the house, picking up our bikes from the bike shop, going to another Revs game, and then enjoying (?) a dinner at The Midway. I'll touch on a few key aspects of the day below.

First, the chores. When I moved the coat rack upstairs to the bedroom after moving the dressers around, I lost valuable coat-hanging space in the sun/cat room, which is where I tend to drop my things after I get home from work (easier access for when I leave the next morning through the front door). I had gotten myself this neat little rack of hooks and I finally got around to screwing it into the wall.I got the level out and everything this time, so I really did it right. I think it looks good, and it's actually pretty secure, though let's see how it handles heavy winter coats and hats. Score one for me.

Another chore I had been meaning to do was the semi-annual clothes transfer, where I take all the bins of spring/summer clothes out of the attic and switch up the wardrobe. I decided to be ruthless this year with my clothes weeding, and Doug joined in on the fun. We got the project pretty much done that day (not all the winter clothes washed and put away, but the summer clothes hung and folded and integrated into the system), but look at the pile of clothes we made to take to the Salvation Army!More will be added to that pile, too, because I have a giant stack of ironing to do (summer clothes that are wrinkly and that definitely need some steamy heat before wearing), and a lot of that ironing consists of clothes I probably won't wear. I absolutely hate ironing. I mean, I really, really, really, really hate it, so I know that once I start standing there in the living room with the ironing board and iron I'll be more motivated to weed down that pile. Do I stand there for 25 minutes to iron the dress I haven't worn for two years but think that maybe I'd wear this year, or do I put it in the donations pile? Donations pile, of course.

The day itself on Sunday was pretty gross weather-wise. It wasn't terribly warm and the sun was nowhere to be seen. And, as luck would have it, just as we were getting to the Revs game with Marieke and Curt, it started to drizzle. Drizzling is the kind of rain that isn't really much of a nuisance if you're walking in it - you're moving and not a whole lot gets on you to make you wet. However, when you're sitting there in a seat in a football/soccer stadium completely exposed to the elements, you get a bit wetter than you'd like. I anticipated the rain, though, so I packed along the ponchos Doug and I bought back at the San Diego Zoo in 2006. Am I glad I kept those! How do we all look? Thrilled?The real kicker to this event was that the Revs lost. It was like they shouldn't have even come out to the field that day. Nothing was working for them, including our favorite goalie. Oh well. You win some, you lose some.

And I'm not sure if we won or lost when we ate dinner at The Midway. Doug had been trying to get me to go since we moved to Dedham and I've always refused, perhaps wisely. Don't get me wrong - it wasn't a bad meal, and the atmosphere was somewhat charming in a townie kind of way, but I'm not sure I'll be going back any time soon (although it was cool that our rolls came on plates - one roll for each of us on individual plates, with one little pad of butter to go along with it). Our iceberg lettuce salads, however, came in these very thick plastic bowls that I hope are never put into the dishwasher or microwave because I can guarantee you those things aren't heat-safe, and the piece of chicken of my chicken parm was about the size of my head. The chicken extends underneath the pasta portion. Where does one buy chicken like that? Marieke and Curt took a break from eating to pose for a photo but then it was back to more eating. Marieke was asked how she wanted her steak cooked in her fajitas. Has that ever happened to you before? Does this mean that The Midway is a classy joint ahead of its time or that there's something about the beef we should know about? We enjoyed ourselves, though, and who knows, we may even go back - but this time we have to get meals noted with a cow icon. Those are The Midway classics, tried and true since 1947, things like pot roast and rump roast. Yeah, maybe not.

I went to church this weekend and ate the wafer.

My niece and goddaughter, Maddy, received her first communion this past Saturday. This is the blessed event when one is deemed old and wise enough to eat the body and drink the blood of Christ. I've noticed that at all the churches I've been to (granted not that many) I've never seen anyone but the priest drink the blood of Christ. Must be for sanitary reasons, but my nephew says that one of the boys in the fourth grade of his school can only drink the blood of Christ and can't eat his body. Perhaps this boy has a gluten allergy; will Christ become gluten-free? But I digress.

Maddy was beautiful that day. Maddy is always beautiful, but today she was practically radiant. She was very excited to be making her first communion; it's a very community event. She goes to catholic school, so her whole class was receiving communion that day. I can see how cults can be formed. Not that Catholicism is a cult, but it has that group-think mentality. Maddy and her friends are all being taught the same ideas, and are not yet wondering to themselves if what they are learning is true, if they believe it, or if they should believe it. They go to school together each day, go to church together, receive communion together... they are the picture of good Catholics, and the priest said as much. It's when this group grows up and starts to splinter and develop individual personalities that the sense of community will be lost. That is, if they grow up to develop individual personalities. But, again, I digress.

Here are some photos of the little lady. These are post-ceremony, as the photos of the ceremony are all blurry. You'll note that Maddy is wearing a dress. She picked out this dress herself, and I think she was the most charming of all the girls that day. The others were all wearing fancy wedding-like dresses, with long veils and elaborate up-dos. Maddy was very natural and looked very nice in her dress (though couldn't wait to get it off, and shed the little coat that went with it during the post-ceremony reception as it was "itchy").

Doug and I were eager for the post-church festivities, as these always involve donuts and apple juice. This time was no exception, so Doug and I stuffed ourselves with Munchkins (I ate the body of Christ, but I hate to say it was not very filling), as did everyone else. Frankie at one point at four or five Munchkins in his mouth at once. Here is the beginning of this feat: What a ham.

Back at my sister's house, we ate and ate and ate and ate and ate some more. In between the eating Maddy opened her gifts (several rosaries, a necklace of miraculous Mary, a crucifix, and some other holy-like gifts. Doug & I gave her a gift card to Toys-R-Us...); Maddy was thrilled with the religious swag. A couple of photos of her and her loot: Here's another photo of my dear, sweet Mads looking at her cake, which had yet another rosary on it (and then there's one of me mixing up some whipped cream with my mother looking on... we like desserts in this family):

Finally, here's a photo of me and my mother, in honor of Mother's Day this Sunday. My mother is such a trooper. She loves her grandchildren and does so much for them. She does so much for everyone. I was so happy to see her wearing to the first communion a nice new shirt that she had just bought for herself. She never gets herself anything but always gets for her family. She's very selfless, my mom. We love her! Happy Mother's Day, Mom!

Maybe the hairdryer was lined with diamonds

First, three cheers for a cancer-free kitty in Portland!

Second, I just got one of the most expensive haircuts of my life, and even though my co-worker pays $75 for her haircuts that doesn't deaden the sting of the $50 I had to shell out tonight for mine (plus $8 for tip, which is probably too much but I never know how much to tip and I don't want to be a cheapskate even though I'm essentially spending my entire food budget for the week on my haircut). Here are the photos: I had to have Doug take a couple of photos of me with this new 'do because it may be the first and last time my hair ever looks this expensive. But does it even look that good? I can't really say. I can say that I'm probably a good two inches taller after the blowdry (that I never even want, but for some reason hairdressers can never let you leave with wet hair, even though I leave my house each and every day with a head of wet hair and have no problem with it. This is another reason why my hairdresser can charge so much for a haircut!).

Why am I so surprised by the price of this haircut? After all, I got my last haircut from this woman, who works at this slightly fancy-pants salon in Dedham. The only reason why I decided to go here was because the salon was so close to my house, and at the time I was dissatisfied with my other hair salon and wanted to support local business. AND when I called and made my first appointment I was told that, Kristin, the lady who cut my hair, charged $38 for a cut. Perfect! That's what I was paying before (which is probably still too expensive, but to me there's a big difference between $38 and $50). Anyway, my first haircut was good; I was pleased. When I made the appointment this past week for the haircut I was expecting a repeat of nine weeks ago - a nice looking $38 haircut with a $6 tip. Not until I got into Kristin's chair and read the sign that was taped to her mirror did I realize that things would be different tonight. Apparently, Kristin has moved to the next level of haircutting and as of April 8th would be charging $50 for her haircuts. I asked Kristin what that meant - the next level of haircutting. She said that the salon owners every four months review each hairdresser in four categories - how many customers keep returning to her, how many new customers that she saw return to the salon (but not necessarily to her), how many retail products she sells, and one other category. If she attended any continuing ed classes or something like that (they have to attend two on cutting and two on coloring a year). Lucky for me, Kristin scored high on her test this time and has moved to the next level. I may have caused some of my own pain, though, because I returned to her, returned to the salon, and also purchased some conditioner from her last time I was there. Little did I know...

Oh well. Not much I can do about this now. It was just a bit of a shocker to read that sign. The problem is, as much as this haircut doesn't really look like a $50 haircut to me (but really, what does a $50 haircut actually look like?), I like how she cuts my hair, and I like that she's young and a little hip and is at least good enough at what she does to keep passing these little tests at the salon. I'll probably go back to her again next time (in fact, I made an appointment for another nine weeks on my way out), but maybe this next time I'll call ahead to see if she's moved on to the next level. What will she charge at that point? $65?

How does our garden grow

The first really, really beautiful weekend of the year (though a tad hot), and how do we spend it? Doing yard work. At risk of sounding like a negative Nancy, welcome to home ownership! We started the weekend on Saturday morning by getting all of our shopping out of the way - Target, Container Store, the local nursery, and, everyone's favorite, Home Depot. Doug and I went a little crazy at Home Depot, and not just with our shopping, either. That place on a nice, sunny Saturday is a mad-house! So many people! We got most of the the things that we needed for the many yard/home projects we have on our to-do list for spring, but not without burning a hole in our wallet. Doug is amazed by how much everything cost, and I'm amazed at how many carts we needed to haul away all of our stuff. I've never needed two carts at a store. Ever. I needed to document this. Once our shopping was done, we dug in, literally. Doug started on his grass project (he's determined to grow grass in the many dirt patches around our "lawn," but we fear that a) we started too late in the season this spring, and b) it was too hot this weekend for the seeds to germinate), and I set out to do more planting. I planted flowers in everything that could hold dirt, pretty much. The other window box, the decorative birdbath in the backyard garden, the hanging planter on the garage, the pot that the old ornamental grass from the fall was in that we never did anything with, and the large terracotta pot that was sitting at the side of the patio collecting leaves and other unwanted waste. I also planted the growbox that my sister and her family gave us for my birthday this year. I planted broccoli and spinach - now let's see if we get anything! I am sure that this growbox would yield a bounty (at least it looks that way in the pictures), but the growbox may have met its match in me.
Our Saturday efforts paid off, though - the grass seed in the backyard is planted, the window boxes are planted and up, and the yard is beginning to look good with the flowers I've planted and those that are coming up on their own. I say we get an A for effort.

Today was another day in the yard, or at least a partial day in the yard. We started early again. I cleaned the skylight screen in the bathroom upstairs, as it was full of leaves and schmutz from the fall/winter, vacuumed the lint from the dryer, and washed the outside of the windows. The latter was a larger project than I wanted, and because our windows are the old kind on ropes it really didn't go very well (as all I washed were the storms, basically), but still - I feel better about myself now that I've made an effort to wash the windows. I also invented a new use for the Swiffer (though someone please tell me to learn not to wear stretchy pants with those underwear): You have to be creative when you're short like me. Doug reconnected our gutter on the northwest (?) side of the house and reattached it to the rain barrel, and he also finished his grass project for the front lawn. All the grass is planted now; we just have to water it and hope that it actually grows.

What's next on the list of things to do? Plant a blueberry bush and potentially a raspberry bush in the front area we de-stumped last fall, re-mortar the steps, mulch, weed, mow the lawn, water the plants... I'm not even including the things that we have to replace or buy, like the doorbell, the front storm door, the front lights on the house, hooks for hanging things in the vestibule, shutters for the sun/cat room... Yes, it is never ending. But it's fun, in a way. Or at least different. I'm sure it will get boring at some point, but for now while we're still learning it's actually kind of invigorating. Will our house ever be featured on HGTV? Not likely, but it will look good to us. (Awwww...)

Tributes

Lulu, these are for you, our lovely gray lady:


Adam, these are for you: