Shelf

Wow, it has been an insane couple of weeks.

I've had a few spare moments to post an update, but I haven't because. . . well, I'm lazy.

Here's what we accomplished last weekend:

First, since the weather was gorgeous and not so stinkin' hot, we headed outside and attacked the insane bush that was trying to take over our front yard. Like, literally.

[I hear Sheldon's voice saying to me, "Literally? Literally?" Yes. Literally.]

Imagine the branches extending to cover the grassless areas on all sides and that's how huge this thing got. Also, you can see my bro & sis-in-law's house through the trees over there. Hiiiiii!

There are still a bunch of roots we need to dig out but this is a HUGE improvement over the way it looked previously. I'm pretty sure it will come back just as big as ever next year.

Then we took our exhausted selves inside and I started cleaning the mantle that I got several weeks back.

You can see the left crevasse is "cleaned" out and the right one is still dirty. This is even with using my cleaning toothbrush to get in the corners.

Someone (a man, I'm sure) had used wood putty to fill in some of the nail holes and cracks. But they got the putty everywhere and never sanded it off. So I had to use quite a bit more elbow grease than I thought to get it off.
Once it was cleaned as well as it ever could be, I let it set and dry off for a few minutes.

Then my hubs got to measuring. And making pencil marks on the wall. And drilling. And drilling and drilling and drilling.

Ta da!

It's up! The color stands out a little more in person. Our walls are Mourning Dove by Olympic.

Here's how I decided to decorate it. For now.

 After all that, we were quite tired and pretty much collapsed for the rest of the day.

I had spray painted our new light for the breakfast area earlier in the day, allowing it to dry while we were puttering outside. We just need to purchase a new rewiring kit and it'll be ready to hang.

This coming weekend I have set aside to paint the chair I got in PA. Hopefully.

We're also counting down the days until vacation. After the past couple of weeks I've had at work, I sincerely need one.

. . . . . . . . . . .

In other news, our little guy is getting so big! He's over 4 months old now and weighs almost 5 pounds! This is significant because occasionally he still forgets himself and attempts to claw his way up my leg when he wants attention.

I'll leave you with this bit of cuteness: this is his post-dinner snuggle habit.

My First Bullets

Not bullets that you shoot with, bullets that you use in documents. Why? Because I haven't posted in a couple weeks and my thoughts are so scattered that I'm not sure I can compose material for just one blog.

So here goes.

• How do I say that I get irritated easily without sounding like a mega-grouch? Maybe I am. But I've been letting little things irritated me when I should just forget about them. Like at work, when my boss can't bother to remember which accounts are mine and asks me every. single. day. They aren't random, small accounts either. Or when other drivers do something that makes absolutely no sense and have no consideration for anyone else around them? That's not actually a "little" thing, that's big--a public safety thing, as far as I'm concerned.
• I considered taking a pod break on this trip we have coming up. It involves airport security and a cruise--including swimming pools, hot tubs, beaches, and lots of walking. But then I realized how much I love this thing, even if I am running out of real estate to stick it. I have about a 10" x 3" section on my upper stomach where it won't fall off. The backs of my arms work ok, but after the other day, when I went through 3 pods in like, 48 hours, I got frustrated and moved it back to my stomach. It won't build up too much scar tissue if I use the same spots for just a month, right? Right??
• Clothing has me very frustrated lately. I know beyond a shadow of a doubt that a lot of my winter clothes are not going to fit me. Ok, MOST aren't going to fit me and the ones that do are probably the ones I don't like. But for one thing, it's too hot to start buying long sleeves and sweaters (I'm sweating just thinking about it) and for another, HELLO prices!! They're so ridiculous anymore!
• Clothing Part Deux: I just emailed this to one of my customers (we email back and forth about random topics all day--don't worry, we still get our work done, it's called multitasking!). What is it with clothing manufacturers having a hard time understanding how the human body is built? I mean, like real humans--woman with more than a B-chest. We have small (don't get me started on the x-small sizes--that's so stupid and they don't count), medium, large and extra large. Great. Then when we get to the "larger" sizes things start to fall apart. In my experience, a shirt that is a size 2xl will either be: A. the same length as an XL but WIDER or B. the same width as a XL but LONGER. Now I ask you, how does that help us? If you need a visual of how this does not work, please visit peopleofwalmart.com.
• Clothing Part. . . Three: Ok, I get how manufacturers make clothing the cheapest way possible so that they will fit the "most" people as possible. If you can't fit into it, tough, buy another brand. I was looking at a size chart for something just the other day. . . a dress or a swimsuit cover up, I can't remember. Based on the bust size, I was a medium. HAHAHA! Women who actually WEAR a medium only WISH my bust size was considered a medium. Still laughing over that one. Then on the same chart, for hip size, I was. . . well, let's just say it was several removed from a size medium. But really? Really?? Which size do I go by? The helpfully-provided size chart did not help at all and only caused more confusion.
• I guess the only solution is to get rich and have all my clothes tailor made. Don't even get me started on the colors and patterns out there. 
• Changing topics finally, I am SO excited about our trip coming up in 32 days. Yes, I have a countdown app on the homescreen of my phone. I'm excited to have a "real" vacation for the first time in five-ish years. "Real" meaning there is a beach involved. Honeymoon did not count as a typical vacation because a. it was a honeymoon and b. even though we had a great time, there was no beach. There are so many plans I want to make and places I want to go. . . but then I remember that I don't want to be crazy-busy, I want to sit and relax and not think about anything except when to apply more sunscreen.
 

Now this is a nice sized post that's turned into more of a rant. Sorry about that. Sometimes you just have to get things out, you know?