#90 Rip up carpet in craft room

I thought we weren't going to finish today. I was still packing up the room (and sorting, lots of sorting) at lunchtime. I suppose the experience of taking up the carpet in the bedroom--and figuring out how to deal with the disintegrated rubber mat--paid dividends today. Armed with our dustpans (yes, the secret to taking up rubber mat that has stuck to the hardwood), we made quick work of the carpeting.

This floor is in the best condition of all the hardwood we've revealed so far. It's very exciting.

#97 Paint the shutters

Done. Man, I was smokin' this weekend!

Before:


After:

In Bed by 2:00

Yesterday, despite the release of the new Harry Potter, the dude and I went to Philadelphia to play tourist in our adopted hometown. We headed off to Rick's for cheesesteaks; it was supposed to be a farewell, but there has been a reprieve.

We headed over to the Pennsylvania Academy of Fine Arts, the first art museum in the country. They currently have The Gross Clinic, and I have now seen it twice as often as I ever saw it when it was hanging just two blocks from my office... We said we were going to start there and work our way to the door of the old building, but we got totally distracted by the wallpaper in a room filled with black lights. Virgil Marti's psychedelic "Morris-esque" wallpaper was too intriguing. Even the women who asked about the Gross Clinic, clearly having only come to see that and the special exhibit Warp Trance (um, hey, we're part of the art), got sidetracked by that room. Although the whole gallery smelled faintly of urine, (the dude assures me it was age and possibly mildew) the building itself (Furness) and the collection were incredibly interesting. We popped over to the contemporary wing--why does viewing contemporary art always make me feel like I'm going shopping?--for a bit. On our way out, we were accosted by a docent who brought us into the sculpture wing and gave us a little tour.

We then walked over to DiBruno Brothers to spend the dude's birthday gift certificate. We ended up with a cheddar, an aged gouda, and a washed rind cheese--the stinkiest ever. Our fridge currently stinks of old socks mixed with poo. Yum! The stinky cheese is Drunk Monk, just in case that description was too much for you to resist.

We arrived home at 4:00 to find my copy of Deathly Hallows sticking out of the mailbox. When I only had just over 150 pages to read at 11:30, I determined to stay up and finish. And I did.

But I only read it so quickly because I read it before. Must be. Pblllllllllllllllllllllllt. Unlike the New York Times, I'm not talking.

#14 Half-blood Prince

Done. I had forgotten a lot of this one. Now, I am ready for Saturday.

I really wasn't sure I was going to manage this, but I have read the whole series in 23 days.

#52 Lose 50 pounds

I have been going to Weight Watchers, though I don't talk about it much. Last Saturday, I lost three pounds (I had gained the week before, so some of that was "fake" weight loss). That brought my total to over ten pounds. In celebration, I made a ticker. I know I can stick with this, but we'll see if I remember to update the ticker. I weigh on Saturdays.

#19 Go to Camden Yards

Here is the photographic evidence of my recent visit to Camden Yards. Thanks to brave astronaut, who knows my list better than I do and is perhaps more dedicated to it, I have attended a baseball game in Baltimore (and had a delightful anniversary dinner. Thanks again, brave astronaut and best pal!). The Orioles won in extra innings--the home team has won every game I have attended this season. I should rent myself out.

As we were driving down to Baltimore, I was telling the dude that we should take a vacation to visit ballparks one year. We first thought we could have some significant fun in two weeks driving around the midwest. Then we decided fuck two weeks, when we retire, we are going to go to every park in one summer. It will be the summer of baseball.

#14 870 Pages Down

...652 to go. Finished Order of the Phoenix tonight. Maybe I'll go stitch a little as a reward.

#14 More Potter

I finished Goblet of Fire last night after the Di Bruno Brothers cheese tasting we went to for the dude's upcoming birthday. It was English beer and cheese night. Mmmmmmmm cheese.

I have plenty of time to read the Order of the Phoenix before the movie is released.

I have been made aware that I am the topic of lunchroom conversation. That feels pretty weird, but I'll cope. I told the dude of brave astronaut's complaint about the rereading (see comments below), and he agrees. The discussion devolved into how great he is because he has read loads of books--at least one every two weeks--on our commute. (He was kidding.) He does read incredibly widely: authors of classics (The Defense), international Nobel Prize winners (Master of Go and Thousand Cranes), nonfiction (Where I was From), contemporary British fiction (Brick Lane)...just in the past few months alone. But for me, the point was to get back into reading, which I had pretty much stopped all together after grad school. I was nearing illiteracy...which is pathetic for a PhD in English lit. Plus which I have this hobby which you can't do while reading, and competes for the same time in my day.

The heavy load of nonfiction is the effort to stretch myself (and you will note, I'm not making nearly the progress on that). I will turn to it soon...say, the end of July.

# 66 Visit Newport, RI

I just got word from my boss--the president said we should go!

We have a major donor who we will feature in the next issue of the alumni magazine because the building that bears her name is opening. So we have to interview her. In person. And it just so happens that she summers (c'mon, she's a major donor and she "summers") in Newport. I am going for an overnight trip for a what, one hour, interview. YAY ME. Total score, I get to do one of the things on the list, and someone else is going to pay for it. I'd never have imagined it when I wrote the list.

I hope she has one of those major houses that I want to see inside of...

#14 Potter, Etc

Finished Prisoner of Azkaban last night. Wasted no time in getting to Goblet of Fire. Things should slow down from here, since the books are doubling in size. Think I'll still be done before July 21?

Fiction: 11

#14 The Potter Books

I finished Chamber of Secrets and dragged the dude to the library so that I could pick up Prisoner of Azkaban and Goblet of Fire. I'll have to slow down eventually--things need to be done around the house!

Fiction: 10

#14 Read 16 Works of Fiction

I've decided at this late date to reread all the Harry Potters before I read the last one. I started on Tuesday, and I finished Harry Potter and the Sorcerer's Stone last night after the ball game. I started Harry Potter and the Chamber of Secrets today, but I really have to try to finish my contest entry for Craftzine's Stitch n Pitch thingy by tomorrow night. So I'll try not to read tonight until I've worked on it. And I'm in a race against the clock to get to book 5 before July 11th, well 15th, we wouldn't see the movie before the weekend anyway.

Fiction: 9

#18 Subscribe to the New Yorker and Atlantic Monthly

On magazine trends from the Chicago Tribune

INFLUENTIAL EDITORS: One of the most influential editors - and I'm not just saying this because I work for him - is [Rolling Stone founder] Jann Wenner... And secondly, I'm just going to say a name everyone else says: David Remnick. Even if you aren't reading his magazine, the New Yorker is so well-regarded that it's the only magazine where intelligent people feel deep, existential shame if they don't have a subscription.

We gave up the subscription, but I do not feel one iota of existential shame. Maybe it's because I'm not a regular "intelligent person." I'm superhuman in my intelligence. Seriously. The other day my boss introduced me to a consultant as the resident genius. I think I should get paid a whole lot more for that position--I only signed up to be the associate director of alumni and development communications.

The New Yorker didn’t give us time to breathe, to absorb, to fucking read it. Every time I got the mail there was a new one. We’re sticking with the Atlantic. We both like the extensive coverage of one topic and a whole month to look at it. And I greatly prefer Word Fugitives to coming up with captions for the world's worst cartoons.

#5 Visit Elfreth's Alley

The dude and I actually went into the city on a weekend! You'd think we lived 100 miles away instead of 9. But the traffic coming home did convince us that the surface streets--or even public transportation--was a much better way to go.

I forgot my camera, but I do have crappy camera phone evidence:

So, what's the deal with Elfreth's Alley? This National Historic Landmark is the oldest continuously inhabited street in the United States. The houses are, mostly, privately owned (one's a museum and another is a gift shop). Many of people who live there kindly open their homes twice a year, once in the summer and once around Christmas.

I thought it would be cool to see it, and I thought it would be neat to show the (English) dude that we have old stuff too. Of course, when we got to the first house, he says, "I grew up in a house older than this." Which of course could have been brought to my attention when they were still living in the house! Apparently, the kitchen cupboards were even original. I never went into the kitchen in that house. His "divorcing" parents sold it, so I will never get to really poke around in his old house.

But I did get to see some original cabinetry in these old houses. One of the most interesting things about the Alley is that it was originally inhabited by tradespeople, so it is an example of a working class neighborhood. In the late 19th/early 20th century the homes were occupied by immigrants. Now, of course, it's pretty upscale.

#23 Consult a financial advisor

So the dude, Mr I don't need no stinkin' budget, consented to come with me to the appointment with the financial advisor. He has changed his tune, fortunately. We've hired her, and we'll be changing the way money flows around here. I also believe she'll do a lot to help us with #22 (contribute additional $$ to retirement) and #24 (write a will, including all attendant documents).

So, see, #57 has really paid off!

#14 More Fiction

A couple of weeks ago, Cheryl in DC wrote to tell me about Confessions of a Teen Sleuth: A Parody by Chelsea Cain. It had been recommended by Nancy Pearl on NPR. Pearl let on that in the book Carolyn Keene had been the real Nancy Drew's roommate at my alma mater, Bryn Mawr, and that clinched it. Plus I was such a huge fan of Nancy Drew when I was a kid (Nancy Drew and Scooby Doo--I still love me a good mystery. And since Scooby Doo is my niece's favorite show, and now that she is reading chapter books, I know just what to get her for Christmas!)

This book was fun and quick. I guess I never realized how annoying those Nancy Drew books were. I loved the chapter where George, now a feminist professor, gathers the heroines of teen mysteries to discuss what kind of role models they were. Some parts of the book are really rather clever. It's entertaining, but never laugh out loud funny. Well worth reading if you read these books as a kid and wondered what happened when Nancy settled down and grew old.

Fiction: 8

#57 Have lunch with coworkers

Some days the only progress on this list I seem to make is that I eat. Today I had lunch with six coworkers. We got a "free" lunch for listening to an investment sales pitch. I am so not the sales pitch kind of girl. I tried really hard, but I had to make a comment.

Some of these people I've already had lunch with and some are so new they're not on the list. (I'm sticking with the original list because the number of people who are being added as we head into a campaign is phenomenal. I'll put them on the next 101 things list.) I'm taking MG and LA off the list because we ate together today. Going over the list, I see I should take NL off the list--we've had squid salad together at the Burmese place in Chinatown, not sure when or if I reported on it. LN was also there. You know, I've had lunch with her more since she left than I ever did while she was here.

I'm taking DG and KM off because I can't even find them on the current phone list, and I can't remember who they are!

I have twenty-one to go. I think I started with 41 or so. BC, BE, CM, DM, HB, FR, JH, JR, KW, KB, LA, LM, MG, MK, NS, PH, PM, PN, SS, SS, TM.

#64 Visit four of the following states overnight

I have been to Texas, and I stayed. The office sent me to a conference in San Antonio. The dude came and we extended our visit so that I could get out of the hotel for a while. We stayed on the Riverwalk, which is fine and totally prevents the downtown from being an armpit, but is of course totally touristy, which is where I belonged because I was the total tourist. I have been to the Alamo. I have been to El Mercado. I have been to the King William historical district, but there's really only so much you can do in a day and a couple of nights.

I did almost plow into Jeff Van Gundy when I was getting off the elevator. We had seen him on Friday night doing an ESPN talking head thing on the river in front of our hotel (the official hotel of the visiting team--I shared space with Steve Nash!). Then on Saturday night, he was planning dinner with some ESPN producers right in front of the elevator. He was pretty humble ("I'm the new guy. I'm a team player," he said as they tried to decide where to go...)

On the way out of town, our taxi driver was telling us how much house we could buy for what we paid for our tiny treasure in the burbs (two words: gated community). We were jokingly thinking about it, but since we don't have jobs in Texas, there's no point. When we got to the airport, there was an advertisement for a job opening for what my husband does.It was like a sign. Except the job was at the University of the Incarnate Word. Oh, it was a sign all right. A sign to go home to Philadelphia.

More Photos:


The ubiquitous river cruise boats.


Day of the Dead figures from El Mercado.


San Fernando Cathedral

#13 Watch AFI 100 Top Movies

I'm watching Modern Times. I am so used to stitching while I watch a movie, but I can't with this, because it's mostly silent. I feel like I'm wasting so much time! Fortunately, they are walking off into the sunset right now. "Buck up"--that's the best they can do? At any rate, I learned where Dick Van Dyke got the idea for tripping over the ottoman and where quarterbacks got the idea for writing plays on their wrist guards. Nevertheless, this felt more like penance than anything else. But then it only came in at #81.

#95 Buy a new front door

Our new front door goes in today. The guy who's putting it in called last night to give us the head's up because he's also bringing over the quarter round that we'll have to paint tonight. So this morning he calls and says, "Where are the locks?" Um...locks? Doesn't that come with the door? Why didn't he tell me this yesterday, when I could have used the information? D'oh. Instead, I am standing in 69th Street Station freaking out about what to do about locks. Fortunately, the dude came up with a plan that didn't involve me taking off the whole day. I went online, found this, and told him to get me something like it. Brushed nickle first, black second. Do not get brass. Spend under $200. Not ideal, but we'll have a new door when we get home tonight! Screen door goes in tomorrow. No more stupid Amish buggies. (We're more than an hour from Lancaster, for goodness sake!)

#89 Shelving for dining room

Okay, so it doesn't look much like shelving, but it does take up much of that wall--we decided we didn't really need to add the storage the shelves would provide. (It was that ubiquitous Pottery Barn hanging bar sort of thing. Very chichi, too expensive.)

This is much more us anyway.

And, just because I can, a gratuitous shot of the $60 chandelier I got from Home Decorator's Outlet.

#14 Honey, Don't

Fiction: 7

#14 Read 16 Works of Fiction

Jennifer Government
By Max Barry

In this post-punk dystopia, corporations literally rule the world which has shriveled in size to three markets: USA (“free market”) countries, non-US economic blocs, and fragmented (ie emerging and hostile) markets. This book takes the reasoning of free trade to a logical but horrifying conclusion: a world where kids attend school funded by Mattel and learn about Barbie releases; where employers names their employees; where identity is supplanted by consumer goods.

I enjoyed this book. I thought it was a pointed critique of cultural and economic dominance of the US. Critics seemed to dislike the “one dimensional characters” but I think it adds to the atmosphere—where people are judged by their things, how on earth can we expect depth? Others complained about the choppiness, but clearly they didn’t see the sort of ad campaign vibe the author was creating.

Oddly, John Nike—the boss John Nike, not his underling John Nike—totally reminded me of this Wharton asshat I dated in college. I wish Jennifer Government had shot him.

Fiction: 6

Not On the List

This is how I spent my Sunday:


The dude and I put up the map in the study. And we did it without any arguments or fights. It came in eight parts, and we had to line up all the parts, so that was downright miraculous. The first photo shows the suede paint we did a few months ago. This room is really shaping up!

#78 Floored!

Here's the new floor. Clean. Pretty black and white. And did I mention clean? Slowly but surely, the kitchen is being turned into a room we want to have.

The dude took this picture on Sunday, but we're still working on putting things away--we've had to clean everything in the cabinets because of the dust that was raised in the making of this new kitchen.

#14 Read 16 works of fiction

Well, I found a mystery recommended by Nancy Pearl. (She recommends quite a few actually.) I have always enjoyed the A&E (Maury Chaykin and Timothy Hutton) Nero Wolfe, so it's about time I read the originals. Of course, it's very difficult to imagine anyone but Chaykin as Wolfe and Hutton as Archie, but I enjoyed reading it. Now I only have 72 more in the series. (I'm a huge fan of serial mysteries!)

Fiction: 5

More reading

Part of my dissertation examined the work of Margaret Atwood. She published this book after I completed that project, just when I had given up reading--taking a sort of well-deserved rest. I've read all the rest of her novels, and I usually quite enjoy them, so I wanted to complete the task she has set. And now I find out about the Penelopiad. Nevertheless...

I didn't enjoy Oryx and Crake as much as her other dystopia, The Handmaid's Tale. But O&C did make me think about something--in the end, when you have no need for language, what bits and pieces will be caught in your head? What stories will you remember how to tell? What words will keep you company? Me, I'll probably remember totally useless things about cooking with an oven and all the episodes of Seinfeld and The Simpsons.


I know I said the rest of the books had to be recommended in Nancy Pearl's Book Lust books, but I broke the rule already. I read A History of the African-American People [Proposed] by Strom Thurmond. I know Jim Kincaid, and I wanted to read it. It was funny, but the scary crazy character who proposed the book reminded me of my old boss, so there was a lot of dis-ease as I read. Some laughter. How come there aren't as many good satires as there ought to be? We all love Jon Stewart and Steven Colbert so why don't we have those types of voices on paper? Writers? Get to work!

Fiction: 4 down

Reading

I have read a couple of mysteries, and I think I've said this before: I don't know if I should count them toward my quota of fiction. They are fiction, but it takes me so much less time and brainpower to read mysteries than to read more highbrow stuff. I read Deadhead, a Dalziel and Pascoe mystery by Reginald Hill and Mrs. Malory and Death in Practice by Hazel Holt. I am also reading Margaret Atwood's Oryx and Crake; I'll probably finish that tonight, unless I decide to work on some crafts. Maybe I should make some sort of random qualification about what counts toward the fiction list, like the book has to be recommended in Book Lust. I hereby amend the list.

I also finished Mother Tongue from the Bryson list. It's very similar to Made in America, except there's more information on British English and English-around-the-world. It was okay. I have started looking for the other books, and even though I've checked several university libraries, I can't find Palace Under the Alps. I'm not buying it for $60 off amazon.

Well, there are some disorganized thoughts for you. The kitchen floor will be ready Monday. Big excitement!

Say Goodbye to My Ugly Floor

#78 Replace kitchen floor

Two weeks ago we popped into a local tile store, met a salesman when we were halfway in, and practically had the tile bought by the time we hit the back of the store--a very tiny store. But I knew what I wanted and there's no sense in hemming and hawing once they show you what there is. I could have gone all over hell and highwater searching for other things, but why?

Today, our contractor comes to take up the old lino. See how dirty it is? I have been on my hands and knees cleaning that floor. Nothing in the world was going to erase the years of ground in dirt.

To facilitate this job, we had to pull up the carpet in the hallway--we want him to be able to put in a nice marble threshhold. The hardwood threshhold is pretty beat up, so better to have him cover it, than have to deal with it later. So we are one room away from having the carpet pulled up in the whole downstairs (#76).

And we've placed an order for a new door (#95)! It should be up next week.

#28 Meet up with blogging stitching friends

Cathy invited some of us 'round to stitch; Jenna was there, and my new best friend, Karen. Karen asked me, if I was still in my 20s when I told her I wasn't in my 30s, and exclaimed that she was always the oldest when Cathy had people over. Heehee! What a delightful woman. Of course, she is sleep deprived, so maybe her vision is compromised. More here.

#16 Read the Bill Bryson oeuvre

I had never heard of Bill Bryson when the dude's bro sent him two books for Christmas in the mid-to-late-90s: Made in America and Notes from a Small Island. One evening, during my second year-long bout of hives, after the books had rested comfortably on our shelves for a few years, I climbed into the tub with the linguistic history, which had been conveniently located near the study door. I was enraptured. I read it quickly--as you can because, while interesting, the substance is fairly easy--and then picked up Small Island. Like me, Bryson is an American married to a Brit. Like me he finds the country at once familiar and completely incomprehensible. Unlike me, he actually dares to live there. (Oddly enough, he's ended up in the dude's hometown of Durham.)

When I had time, I continued to read Bryson's work, laughing hysterically at his attempt to negotiate the Appalachain Trail (which I used to want to walk when I was a kid) and admiring the haphazard nature of scientific discovery in the part of A Short History I managed to read; apparently it wasn't short enough. But then I stopped reading. Reading on my commute makes me nauseous.

This is the background to putting reading Bryson's work to my list of things to do. And since I went to the library last week and picked up I'm a Stranger Here Myself, Lost Continent, and In a Sunburned Country, I have been reading them.

I really enjoyed Sunburned Country, but first I had to have a crisis of confidence while reading Lost Continent, which I finished on Tuesday, but haven't had time to write about. I took lots of notes, scrupulously, and I will write those up eventually. But I loved Sunburned Country not because I thought it told me all I need it know about Australia, but because it told me anything at all about Australia. The dude and I were trying to think of things we knew about Australia and what we came up with was this: Greg Norman, Crocodile Dundee, and the Crocodile Hunter--the last two made a living selling Australia to Americans, so we're not prepared to go by them. Oh, and Evonne Goolagong. And Bryson's central thesis that we know nothing about Australia is true. We're very bad for neglecting it.

I liked the section about stromatolites best. It reminded me of a trip I had taken to Death Valley and the fascination with which we watched Cyprinodon salinus salinus, Death Valley Pupfish, a fish whose survival is incredibly unlikely. I recognized Bryson's attempt to explain to the American tourist what was so fascinating about stromatolites, as I have often had these conversations with my family. Recently, I was telling Sissy and my cousin about our planned trip to Montana, where we will see unusual things in nature, and was met with much the same response.

Because I haven't written a sublist in a while, here's one--the books in Bryson's oeuvre with the ones I have read marked:

1. The Palace Under the Alps (1985)
2. The Lost Continent: Travels in Small-Town America (1989)
3. The Mother Tongue (1990)
4. Neither Here nor There: Travels in Europe (1991)
5. Made in America (1994)
6. Notes from a Small Island (1995)
7. A Walk in the Woods (1998)
8. I’m a Stranger Here Myself (1998)
9. In a Sunburned Country (2000)
10. Bryson’s Dictionary of Troublesome Words (2002)
11. Bill Bryson’s African Diary (2002)
12. A Short History of Nearly Everything (2003)
13. The Life and Times of the Thunderbolt Kid: A Memoir (2006)

#2 Get a Library Card

Today was such a lovely day. If I could walk, I would have insisted on going on a hike. Instead, we went for a drive, and while we were out, we went looking for the library. And found it. We got our library cards and took out some books. In fact, I'm two pages from completing my first book, Bill Bryson's I'm a Stranger Here Myself. I've been laughing like a deranged idiot. There was one article that nearly provoked an asthma attack; as I neared the end of the book, I tried to find that earlier article and couldn't. I couldn't even remember what it was about. So I guess the joys of the book are fleeting. But there's nothing like getting a good laugh every now and then. I have The Lost Continent and In A Sunburned Country, so I look forward to more Albuterol highs in the coming days.

And I Thought I was Making a Christmas Present

I was reviewing my to-do list, and I saw that I had listed "finish two FUFOs as flatfolds." This, of course, means nothing to you unless you're a stitcher. (Translation: finish two objects I have completed the stitching on as a stand up piece.) One of the projects I had planned to finish this way was Mill Hill's Renaissance Angel. Those who know me as Stitchbitch know that at the last minute, I decided to finish this as a gift for my aunt. And here it is in all its splendor:

Lunch with somebody new

Two of my coworkers sat a table over from me today so it was pretty necessary to have lunch with them. I had lunch with one of the young girls I never would have had lunch with normally. She seems sweet even if she has a penchant for musicals [nose wrinkle]. Oh, I'm such a snob.

So here's where we stand: BC, BE, CM, DM, DG, HB, FR, JH, JR, KM, KW, KB, LA, LN, LM, MG, MK, MG, NL, NS, PH, PM, PN, SS, SS, TM. People keep leaving so the attrition isn't entirely due to my "efforts"--and really, what efforts have I made? I keep getting dragged into these things...

#57 Holiday Comfort Lunch

On Wednesday, the boss took the team for Christmas lunch, and included our AA, NB, with whom I've never lunched. We went to Jones where the others guilted me into getting a sandwich. I had the tuna melt which was very good and talked the others into campfire craving for dessert. No one was dissatisfied; that dessert rocked.

More Wreaths, #48

Here it is the cheapest wreath yet! $2 for the form and $2 for the small metallic boxes. (I didn't use all of them.) The bows are either recycled or ribbon I had on hand, and the paper is what I am wrapping with this season, so I'm calling it a wash. The boxes are out of the recycling bin. They look a whole lot better on the door than they do piled by the curb!

Actually, the cheapest wreath is hanging on the lamppost, but since it's not a door wreath, I'm not counting it toward my goal. That one was $2.69 for the faux evergreen and $1 for the poinsettia stem. It looks perfect, and I avoided having to make a bow. You're going to sense a theme there...

I also wrote to my grandmothers last month. Oh, she's a goody two shoes.

#14 Read 16 Works of Fiction

1. How to Be Good by Nick Hornby. I don't think this book is quite as bad as people on Amazon are making out to be. It's probably not Hornby's best, but I really liked the idea of it. I kept thinking of that Chris Rock bit where he says you haven't been in love if you haven't planned your spouse's death...if you haven't brought the rat poison...if you haven't bought the rug to roll up the dead body in. I think if you don't like that joke, you won't get this book. I think so many people have thought about their spouse changing--not in truly substantial ways, but what would happen if, say, your husband started cleaning? It sounds good but we haven't thought it through to it's logical conclusion. I do believe this book reaches the logical conclusion, even if there's not that much logic sometimes. Anyway, it made me want to read more Hornby.

2. Motor Mouth by Janet Evanovich I read this in one go to take my mind off the pain (I just had bunion surgery). It's funny, but I just had the feeling that I was missing too much because I hadn't read the first book. I think there might be more of a character sketch in that book. As a series lover, I enjoy not having to read those few paragraphs where the characters are set up so that people who don't read the series can catch on. Selfish. Evanovich is a funny one so it wasn't just the percoset that made me laugh out loud while I read this one. It was a light bit of fluff, and I do think I meant books not like this when I set out to read 16 works of fiction.

#57 Part Six, Wherein, More Eatin'

I have just returned from lunch at Rangoon (Burmese) with LW, MM, LN, and NL. That's only two new people, but still it was fun. I had the North Burmese Noodles. It was supposed to be spicy, but it wasn't. I think I just don't like it there. 2 more down, 29 more to go...

#31 Write to my grandmothers monthly

I wrote to both my grandmothers in October to thank them for my birthday gifts. It shouldn't be difficult to keep this up for the next couple of months--I'll send a Thanksgiving card this month and a Christmas card in December. Maybe I should make a few cards to send them over the course of the next year. That will keep me on track!

#58 Have Lunch with 3 People Outside My Department

Yesterday I had lunch with someone from outside my department! We work together on a one of the colleges' publications. We went for dim sum. She wasn't picky. I might be on to #27 Make two new friends!

#46 Make 8 more wreaths

Here are two wreaths I have made.

The lighting is crap because, well, the days are shorter, but those flowers are purply-black, you can hardly tell. I need to take a bow-making class, clearly.

After Halloween, this one will take it's place. I also made a sunflower wreath which I forgot to photograph. It's in a box in the basement now. I have an idea for a Christmas wreath and I bought the parts for my winter wreath for January.

So far, I've spent about $25 on three wreaths. I may exceed my budget.

#57 Have lunch with each co-worker, Parts 3, 4 & 5

After my new boss started, she took the team to lunch, that's me and MM. While we were feasting at Cosi, JH plopped herself down and asked if it was okay to join us. I like her; she hates the decorating job in the bathroom too. And she's willing to say it, unlike the other girly-girls.

And did I mention that I went out with CP for salad? Well, there you go...three more down.

Today, I'm having lunch with my boss's boss. I wonder if I have to go for salad again...

The list shrinketh: BC, BE, CD, CM,DM, DG, PM, EG, FR, HB, JH, JR, KM, KW, KB, LA, LN, LM, MG, MK, MG, MG, NB, NL, NS, PH, PN, SS, SS, TM, TA. (Moved on: SS and DC, so no lunch with them.)

#61 Slovenia: From the Alps to the Mediterranean

Slovenia is a beautiful country. Here is a brief snapshot from the 200 photos we took.

Day One

Centromerkur (1903). Department store, Ljubljana.

In order to eliminate jet lag, we kept ourselves awake by taking a walking tour of the Secessionist (Art Nouveau) Buildings of Ljubljana (the capital).

Day Two

View from the grad (castle), Ljubljana.

More of Ljubljana. Today we visited the castle and the history museum in a beautiful park.

Day Three

Lake Bohinj, view of Ukanc.

We drove up to Lake Bohinj, in the Julian Alps. Hiked around the lake.

Day Four

Farmer scything grass, near Lake Bonhinj.

Hiked around Lake Bled, then took a boat tour of Lake Bohinj before riding a gondola to the top of Mt. Vogel.

Day Five

Boats in the Adriatic, the view from our hotel, Strunjan.

Started the day with a hike to Slap Savica (waterfall) before getting in the car and driving over crazy mountain passes so we could eat one of the particularly national foods, zlikrofi, in Idrija. Ended the day in Strunjan.

Day Six

Boats in Piran, view from the Maritime Museum.

Hiked from our hotel to Piran along a treacherous ocean-side path strewn with rocks and boulders. Basked in the Mediterranean glow of Piran.

Day Seven

Lipizzaner horses doing "light carriage work."

After a stop to see the Skocjan caves, we drove to Lipica to see the horses. Treated to a bunch of young women hoping to become Miss Hawaiian Tropics. They had to dress like that to show off their tans. Wondered that I was old enough to be their mother. Considered giving them a talking to about projecting the right kind of image.

Day Eight

Peppers for sale at the market in Vodnik Square, Ljubljana

Drove back to Ljubljana. Shopped. Had my 40th birthday dinner.

#92 Buy filing cabinet and file patterns in craft room

I've been neglecting you over here. I have been doing things on my list but I have been keeping them secret...

I have created a database and filed my patterns in the new filing cabinet for the craft room. I also put my scrapbooking scraps in there, organized by color.

Why Slovenia?

Cheryl asked.

The long and weird answer is that when I was five, I told my parents I wanted to ride the bus for my birthday. I was fascinated by the city buses but had never ridden one. This was my big chance. My parents, completely perplexed by my desire to ride a bus, thought big. My dad took me on a Greyhound bus to Boston so I could see the Lipizzaner horses.

Well, the Lipizzaner horses are from Lipica, Slovenia. So, it's like going home again. Except I get to ride in a big plane.

Other reasons include: it is the size of New Jersey, so we can see most of it in the week we have to travel. It has beaches, mountains, and an incredible cave system (karst). And I know a woman who keeps going back to Ljubljana because she's so in love with the place. She has me swayed.

You gotta love a city whose every "L" has it's own "j." I'm a woman of simple pleasures.

Leavin' On a Jet Plane

We bought tickets! We are going to Slovenia for my 40th birthday (pause here so you can argue that I am not really 40. Go ahead, everyone else does.) We go October 6 and return October 15.

I'm too excited to sleep!

#76 Remove carpeting downstairs

Well, we put the whole gang to work! On Sunday, my sister, cousin and her husband and two kids, came and helped the dude and I rip up carpet. We decided to cut the job in half, just taking the carpet out of the living room and dining room. I thought we could do more, but it turns out the dude knew exactly how much of this we could take.When we pulled up the carpet in the living room, the pad had stuck and left color and crap everywhere. We developed an elaborate system of swiffering and scrubbing on our hands and knees to get the stuff up. Fortunately, the job was a lot easier in the dining room which had the better quality mat.

The dining room also got the treatment from my cousin. While she was occupying the kids in the dining room so we could work in the living room (the one with the TV) she painted the window trim and then hung the blinds! So that's another thing off the list, but I didn't do it. Does that mean it doesn't count??? (photo missing)

Sunday we all went to Hershey Park. I rode the carousel and nearly barfed. I haven't been on rides in ages--I think almost ten years. Then I went on the SooperDooperLooper, the Great Bear, and the Claw. So I was back on form. Before we left, I painted the trim in the living room so we can put up the drapes tonight. It's like I got a new house.And aren't the neighbors glad it's trash day. We're bringing down the property values--that pile of crap has been in front of our house since Sunday. And it's not even all of it!

#84 Paint guest room, including trim

Shakes fist at self, why "including trim?" Well because I know if we don't do it soon it will never get done. Three walls are painted. We're wallpapering the fourth wall. But it's painted. Ralph Lauren "Arrow Wood" Suede. I'd show you a picture, but it just looks like this paint sample. Because the furniture isn't going back until we've completed the wallpaper.

#86 Buy chairs for dining room

I wanted to take a picture of the new chairs in the dining room because they look so great. These came in way under budget, and the dude only had to spend a couple of hours putting them together. Even better news, my job was to break down the boxes and get them ready for recycling, which was today. So it was like the chairs have always been there. No mess waiting for trash day.

We also got the new drapes for the living room. This weekend we are painting the guest room and picking up the paint for the living room and hallways. See, the dude promised me the carpet would be out by the end of summer. And he thinks we should paint before we pull up the rug. And summer's almost over. We have a very strict schedule so that the carpet comes up over labor day weekend. And suddenly, our house is our house

#88 Hang Maps in Guest Room

I know I've done this one ass-backwards. I want to paint this room, and I went and hung the pictures first. Here's the thing. It's hot as fuck in the master bedroom (even with central a/c) so we're sleeping in the guest room. And I hate the plain white walls staring at me. So I put up the maps. And curtains (#87). It's better, but it will really be improved when we get the walls painted.

Sorry for the poor picture.

I also went crazy online yesterday and bought blinds and a filing cabinet (#79, #81, #92). Now we're cooking with gas.

#30 Catalog books

I've started a catalog at Library Thing. Cataloging would go a lot faster if we had internet access at home. Maybe I should work on that.