I go sleepy sleeps? Yes? Pwease?
Things are starting to shape up. I’ve got a little glass o’gin & tonic in mah belly, and I’m starting to calm down a little. Jay’s doing the shopping, I’m doing the cleaning. It’s nappy time, then more cleaning, then cooking, then shooshie and then wheeeeeeeeeeeeee! some of my most wonderfulicious friends in the world come to ring in another new year!
We may or may not post some pictures as the evening progresses – but either way, hope you have a WONDERFUL and SAFE kickoff to an amazing and fresh new year!

Is it too early to start drinking?
Trying to redo two rooms in less than 48 hours wasn’t exactly the brightest idea we’ve had. Hell, it wasn’t even a particularly good idea. But the room are 3/4 of the way done (who knew the pedestal sink wouldn’t cover the pipes? Jay’s off getting a new cabinet-sink thingy as I write this) – and they’re going to look boooooooootiful! So what if we’ve had six hours of sleep between us over the last two nights – who needs sleep? It’s not like I need to stay up until midnight or anything tonight…
So that gives us about 8 hours until all our guests arrive. I haven’t even gone food shopping yet – hell, I don’t even know what we’re making! I don’t even know what I’m wearing – but I’m sure whatever it is involves doing laundry, which I’ll realize somewhere around 6:15 – after I’ve crashed and burned. Just wake me when the guests get here, ok?
So – you didn’t answer. Is it too early to start drinking? I could use a good gin and tonic right about now, and it’s noon somewhere in the world, right?

When we first moved in, we talked briefly with the neighbors that border our backyard. The couple who had the house before us were older, and he was really sick. You could see the glimmer in the neighbors’ eyes – they had told us, “Nice people, but they really didn’t do much with the house.” You could tell that they were really excited that a young couple was moving in – a young couple who would hopefully clean the place up (and bring the value of their property up).
After clearing out the bathroom yesterday, this is what our back porch currently looks like:

You know their hopes dropped and they’re cursing us as just another white trash couple. Heh. Whatever – our other neighbors just got rid of the car in their backyard. What’s an old toilet between neighbors anyway?

Ugh.
Next time I say something ridiculous, such as “Painting will be fun!” or “Let’s tear up the floor!” – beat me silly over the head with a short, blunt (yet preferably soft) object, will ya?
We’re about halfway through the downstairs bathroom painting, and maybe three-quarters through the kitchen. I’ve taken a couple of pictures along the way – not much, but hopefully there will be more, with finished products, by Wednesday morning. Wanna see ‘em? And ignore the disaster of a dining room – everything from the kitchen and downstairs bathroom is piled in there.

Never did I expect the day to come where I would get excited to hear “Shakedown Street” – ala Grateful Dead.
We dropped insane cash at the Deep (as we affectionately call Home Depot in the house these days). Luckily, we had some gift cards – so we’ve dubbed the new toilet “Jessie’s throne” – since her housewarming present helped pay for it, and well, naturally, we put little Miss Dragonfly on a pedestal.
Not sure how she’s going to feel having a toilet named after her – but we got nothing but mad love for her. (This is where I make the peace sign, thump it against my chest, kiss it and raise it to the sky.)
Recent addictions: Lucinda Williams. Susan Tedeschi. Jack Johnson.
Jay and I have this silly joke – when one of us is all infatuated silly-like over something (even a guitar or an awesome sweater), we say, “You love that. You want to have all its babies.” Yesterday, he told me I love Angelina Jolie and that I want to have all her babies. I told him, “Not all – just a couple.” I hear giving birth’s a lot of work, and I only love her a little bit. Three kids, max.
Welp, overalls are donned and I’ve got a non-SB-friendly Mike’s Hard Cranberry Lemonade. Looks like it’s time to prime the kitchen walls for this little snazzykat. Yummy Phase 2 recipe to follow (our tasty dinner). Posting it at Next Stop, South Beach as well.

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A little more insight – even though you didn’t ask for it.
Book
That changed my life: The Waves by Virginia Woolf. I read it as an undergrad, and finally all the world fell together – it finally clicked that science doesn’t stand on its own, literature is influenced by culture, and so forth. Everything – everyone – is linked, and though we had been taught things separately, they truly don’t exist as separate entities – everything is intertwined.
That I couldn’t live without: My collected Shakespeare. I could spend the rest of my life reading good ol’ Bill.
That I could do without: Hrm. I know there’s one, but I just can’t think of it.
Guilty pleasure: Hello? Have you been paying attention at all? The Harry Potter series, of course.
Movie
That changed my life: The English Patient.
That I couldn’t live without: The Princess Bride.
That I could do without: Time Bandits. I saw it as a little girl, and it ruined me – I was terrified. Years later, I came across it in Blockbuster – in the comedy section. I still swear it’s a horror film – that’s how much it screwed me up.
Guilty pleasure: Overboard. I watch the whole thing just for the last line – “A little girl…” I’m such a cheese. Or Fools Rush In, with Matthew Perry & Salma Hayek. Good stuff.
Event/Memory
That changed my life: Moving to Binghamton by myself. It forced me to grow up and realize that I am capable of doing things on my own. Of course, it was a process that took well over a year, and it was painful – but it was huge, and necessary.
That I couldn’t live without: The cheesy giddiness I felt the day we got married.
That I could do without: There are a bunch – ones that make me cringe inside. One – when I was about ten, we had gotten a lot of snow. I wanted to play outside with my Dad, but it was a Saturday and he wanted to rest – rightfully so. I trekked outside, and ran into a friend’s father, and I invited him to build a fort with us. I went inside to get something, and mentioned to my Dad that Mr. So&So was outside with us. Shortly after, my Dad came trudging out. It sounds stupid, but I can’t help but feel like I made him feel guilty for not playing with his daughter. He probably doesn’t even remember it, but it still makes me feel so unbelievably bad.
Guilty pleasure: I love reveling in a recent memory – the ALCS Game 4 at Fenway with the Reilly’s.
Music
That changed my life: The Everly Brothers’ “Wake Up Little Susie.” I was about four, and they were sitting on tall stools on Donahue – it was the first time I remember “waking up” to music – realizing that music existed.
That I couldn’t live without: Crosby, Stills, Nash & Young. Many of my happiest childhood memories involve my Dad singing along.
That I could do without: Led Zepplin. Jethro Tull. Sharon listened to lots of Led Zepplin when she was pregnant with me – I blame it on her!
Guilty pleasure: Def Leppard. Cheesy 80s/90s – Tone Loc. Dj Jazzy Jeff & The Fresh Prince. Robert Palmer. I could go on.
Person
Who changed my life: I think Jay would kill me if he wasn’t the answer to this one.
Whom I couldn’t live without: My parents.
Whom I could do without: There’s one person who manages to weave her way in and out of my life, and sometimes I think I’d be better off if she were out of it. Sadly, I keep inviting her in – I’ve never been good at just letting go.
Guilty pleasure: Alisa. Susannah. Jessie. My girlies!
And you?

I’m still here, I swear!
We have the next few days off, so it’s mad-rush renovation time. On the list to do:

paint the front hallway

paint the kitchen

install new fixtures (sink, toilet, shelving, mirror) in the downstairs bathroom

replace all the handles on the horrors that are our kitchen cabinets

paint and refloor the downstairs bathroom

buy and hang new curtains in kitchen

figure out how to cover up (paint?) the horrible drop ceilings until we can put up real ones

shop for and decorate downstairs bathroom

hang the new pieces around the house – painting in the living room, mirror in the front hallway, paintings in the dining room, pieces in the kitchen
Did I mention that we’re actually shooting to have this done before we have guests for New Year’s Eve? I don’t expect to get much sleep the next few nights.
Yeah. So if we’re quiet, that’s why. Expect pictures!
Home Depot is going to luuuuuuuuurv us.

Merry Christmas (for those of you who celebrate)! Happy holidays – happy solstice and so forth. I prefer, like I’ve said, to celebrate the season – not so much the actually Christmas day.
But the rest of family celebrates Christmas, so we’re visiting them, doting on baby Jonah, eating way too much and bringing up those family stories that pop up everytime we’re all together. Jay made a dessert his mom always made – fried pound cake with peppermint stick ice cream, and my mom made testaturk – an italian pudding. I am in full-blown sugar shock, and good goddess, it was worth every little twitch of it.
Getting gifts always makes me very uncomfortable – but I’m handling it ok this year… especially since Jay spoiled me with The Magical Worlds of Harry Potter, The Sorcerer’s Companion: A Guide to the Magical World of Harry Potter, Harry Potter’s World: Multidisciplinary Critical Perspectives. I am in Harry Potter heaven!
Another day here, and then we’re off to spend some time with Jay’s mom. I’ve left the house and cats in the good care of one of the girls from the center – here’s hoping it’s still in one piece when we get back! (I know, Amber – I trust you – NO PARTIES! )
Hope you had a great holiday filled with the true things of the season – family, love, community – and way too much flucking food!

Growing up, my mom would separate our gifts into rooms and send each of us off – me, my sister, my brother – into our respective rooms to wrap the piles of gifts. Naturally, we would all peek at what our parents bought each of us and then proceed to trade hints – “I’ll tell you TWO of the little ones if you tell me what’s in the big one with my name in the corner over there.” Of course, we’d never peek in our own gifts – that would have been cheating!
Christmas Eve, without fail, my dad would come in, fresh from the mall, with a new pile of gifts for my mom. Dad, we would learn, had some strange affliction that prevented him from being able to touch wrapping paper, and without fail, I would trek upstairs, like the good little girl, and spend the evening making the last strips of paper fit over the latest pile of gifts.
Is it any wonder detest wrapping presents?
You’d think all those years of practice would have served me well. Nope – I inevitably lose the tape fifteen times, cut the paper just short enough so a strip of the box shows, get a paper cut (or ten) in that little flap of skin between my thumb and pointer finger — and the kneeling, standing, sitting routine is only rivaled by Easter Sunday at your local Roman Catholic church.
Grrrr. And I still leave it all to 10pm the night before, then have a hissy fit because there’s just too much to do. I will never learn.

You know you’re a tad too addicted to Harry Potter when: You’ve already cleared your schedule for June 4th.
7) A normal conversation with your mother often revolves around the rules of Quidditch.
6) You attempt to engage your husband in a deep conversation about the origins of the characters’ names. (Voldemort is French for flight of death or thief of death.)
5) Your husband says, “I’m serious” and you hear, “I’m Sirius.”
4) You pass Care Cleaners and misread it as “Care of Magical Creatures.”
3) You contemplate whether or not you could manage a dissertation on Order of the Phoenix.
2) You scan the Sorcerer’s Stone DVD in the store just to watch the preview, even though you’ve watched the movie every morning for the past two months.
and the number 1 sign?
1) You’ve been known to mutter, “Stupid muggle” under your breath – though you would never, ever consider calling someone a mudblood, no matter how much they’ve pissed you off.