Friday, October 30, 2009

At my house now: 67°F, Light rain, Wind S at 13 mph, Humidity 68%

Really wanted to get some pix taken outside today while there are still a few leaves on the trees and the ones on the ground aren't all dried out and brown....

If this rain lets up a bit, maybe I can snap a few....was hoping for a sunny day, as that "lights up" the colors of the leaves and makes for much prettier pictures...

Oh, well...maybe on Sunday.
Goal #46: Book 1/50 The Road, by Cormac McCarthy. I finished this book in August, and I still often think about it. Its hard not to think of it in these times of dwindling natural resources, global warming, international tensions and the stock-piling of nuclear weapons by developing nations.

Without getting really political here, the global climate begs the question "What would it really be like?" What would I do if I survived a global apocalypse? And the global event that triggers is may not even be political in origin. Perhaps a "super-volcano" might plunge the earth into a massive climate change. There are 3 known super volcanoes in the US alone, and 4 others identified across the globe.

The Road is a story about a father and son who've survived the event, only to live in a wasteland that is covered in ash and devoid of food. They are left to scavenge any abandoned house they find, while constantly working to hide from the few ravaged bandits that roam the region looking for hapless survivors who may become the next meal.

The father's actions are solely motivated by the childish optimisism of the son, and though he is beyond hope of them surviving, he cannot bring himself to use their last 2 bullets to end the misery. Starvation is their biggest enemy, and winter is looming, so they set out on the road to try and make it to the sea, all the while working to avoid the cannibalistic bandits they encounter along the way.

Their torn and meager possessions - tools for survival - are worn and failing, and as they travel, they leave a trail of broken and useless articles behind them, painting an ever-bleaker picture of the future.

The story caused me to think about faith, hope, human nature, and ethics. It caused me to think about how insignificant things can take on disproportionate meaning, if we allow our perspective to become very narrow and short-sighted. It made me recall that the most important things in the world are not inanimate objects, they are our family and friends, our feelings, our relationships.

And it made me think that we all need these kind of reminders from time to time....
Progress!! I took out the vanity, tore up the last of the old flooring and stripped the adhesive, and put down the new floor. I am WIPED! Got good compliments from the family, though. Thats always a good thing.

Tonight the new vanity/sink go in, and its off to Lowes again for the medicine cabinet/s.

When I put in the vanity, I am converting the wall heat duct to a toe-kick duct in the cabinet, so I've got some ductwork cutting and fitting to do. That should accomplish two things: keep our toes warm in the winter and help circulate the air around the bathroom more efficiently. The current set-up is that the duct comes out of the wall right by the side of the cabinet will only 3-4 inches of space. That means we always have a warm sink, but a cold floor. Not fun...

Wednesday, October 28, 2009

Since I blew my bathroom-makeover deadline of October 25th, and revised it to November 1st, it's time to get back on the bandwagon. Had a couple days off for "family night" (Monday) and school (Tuesday), so tonight its back to business.

I need to install the new light fixture and medicine cabinet. Have the light, need to go get the cabinet. I have one picked out at Lowes. It's espresso in color, and there's also a mirror to match. Its not completely what I wanted, but it seems that I am limited in options when it comes to the color and size I need. Yay. Dont'cha just hate that?!

Let's see what they end up having in stock. Off to the store tonight. I'm still holding out for a tall mirrored medicine cabinet like this one, only in espresso.




and this is the wall mounted storage cabinet w/ mirrored doors.


We need all the storage we can get in our tiny bathroom. I may have to settle for a plain mirror and the cabinet only. We'll see.....

Tuesday, October 27, 2009

So the chicken Parmesan turned out well. I improvised a bit by using bottled sauce and dried herbs instead of fresh. I did put in the onions, tomatoes, basil and bay leaves, but not the olives, and I added this to the bottled sauce.

I pounded the chicken flat, breaded & browned it in a skillet, and then put it under the broiler for a couple minutes to melt the mozzarella on top. No baking.

Everyone scooped up a serving of spaghetti, put sauce on top, and added chicken on top of that. Served it with a freshly baked loaf of Pillsbury french bread, and yum!!

____

So, how much do we love to hate Sylar? Just when we think he can't get any more evil, he kicks it up yet another notch, invading the relationship of Matt and Janice, and then kicking Matt to the consciousness curb. Can we all see where this is going? Looks like Matt, acts like Sylar. Poor Janice.

And Jeremy?? Wow!! Never saw that coming! Gruesome! I expected him to heal himself though, didn't you? If only out of anger...hmmm. What will Tracey do now?

Stay tuned.....

Monday, October 26, 2009

So, tonight is family night at our house. We all have dinner together (not that we don't have dinner together on other days), and watch "Heroes".




I have long since given up trying to figure out where this show is going. Its just good family time and we enjoy it.


So, for dinner.....was thinking about chicken parmesan. Sound good? Here is Tyler Florence's recipe for it from the Food Network:








Ingredients
1/4 cup extra-virgin olive oil, plus 3 tablespoons
1 medium onion, chopped
2 garlic cloves, minced
2 bay leaves
1/2 cup kalamata olives, pitted
1/2 bunch fresh basil leaves
2 (28-ounce) cans whole peeled tomatoes, drained and hand-crushed
Pinch sugar
Kosher salt and freshly ground black pepper
4 skinless, boneless, chicken breasts (about 11/2 pounds)
1/2 cup all-purpose flour
2 large eggs, lightly beaten
1 tablespoon water
1 cup dried bread crumbs
1 (8-ounce) ball fresh buffalo mozzarella, water drained
Freshly grated Parmesan
1 pound spaghetti, cooked al dente

Directions
Coat a saute pan with olive oil and place over medium heat. When the oil gets hazy, add the onions, garlic, and bay leaves; cook and stir for 5 minutes until fragrant and soft. Add the olives and some hand-torn basil. Carefully add the tomatoes (nothing splashes like tomatoes), cook and stir until the liquid is cooked down and the sauce is thick, about 15 minutes; season with sugar, salt and pepper. Lower the heat, cover, and keep warm.

Preheat the oven to 450 degrees F.

Get the ingredients together for the chicken so you have a little assembly line. Put the chicken breasts side by side on a cutting board and lay a piece of plastic wrap over them. Pound the chicken breasts with a flat meat mallet, until they are about 1/2-inch thick. Put the flour in a shallow platter and season with a fair amount of salt and pepper; mix with a fork to distribute evenly. In a wide bowl, combine the eggs and water, beat until frothy. Put the bread crumbs on a plate, season with salt and pepper.

Heat 3 tablespoons of olive oil over medium-high flame in a large oven-proof skillet. Lightly dredge both sides of the chicken cutlets in the seasoned flour, and then dip them in the egg wash to coat completely, letting the excess drip off, then dredge in the bread crumbs. When the oil is nice and hot, add the cutlets and fry for 4 minutes on each side until golden and crusty, turning once.

Ladle the tomato-olive sauce over the chicken and sprinkle with mozzarella, Parmesan, and basil. Bake the Chicken Parmesan for 15 minutes or until the cheese is bubbly. Serve hot with spaghetti.


Sounds awesome! I'm hungry already...

Sunday, October 25, 2009

Sunday night, bleh! Didn't get as much done as I'd hoped. The paint is on....for what its worth. See, we have this sorta grey-ish tile on the bathroom walls...all inside the tub area up to about 6 feet, and in the rest of the bathroom to about 4.5 feet. So I go to Home Depot to pick out paint that will match the shower curtain I'd just bought at Bed, Bath & Beyond, and I'm trying to make sure that whatever color I pick will also go with the tile. So I pick up a paint swatch that is grey, thinking that it looked to be about the same as the tile. I then proceed to pick out another color that I think is about 2 shades lighter than the tile, and very slightly on the greenish side, matching the curtain.

I have the paint mixed up, bring it home and paint a test patch on the wall.

It's EXACTLY the same as the tile. Not lighter. Not greener. The same. EXACTLY THE FRIKKIN SAME!!!!

So now I have two choices. Live with it, or waste $25, and go get another gallon of paint.

I hate wasting, so on it goes. Which now makes the whole bathroom quite a bit darker than I'd hoped or expected.

And the only other thing I got done this weekend was to strip half the vinyl off the floor and remove the adhesive.

The vanity is still in the box in the back of my van.

Crap, I blew the deadline. Sooooo.......Next deadline is one week from today. November 1st.

Wish me luck......I think I'm gonna need all the help I can get.

Friday, October 23, 2009

My 10/25 deadline for the bathroom is rapidly approaching!! AAACCKK!! Today we get the fan/install it, and prime the walls, maybe prep the floor if I can talk hubby into taking out the old vanity. Pleaseohpleaseohplease let this be a productive weekend!!!
So, anyone have some suggestions/recommendations for number 84: read a feminist blog...?

Thursday, October 22, 2009

Tell me how using a one pound box of plaster (actually only using about half of it) can produce 10 pounds of plaster dust that invade every **possible** nook and crannie in an entire 2 story house?!?

Despite using the exhaust fan while sanding all the miscellaneous patches on the bathroom walls, in preparation for the "paint the bathroom project", and also having the door closed most of the time, my house is now covered in a white layer of dust.

I looked totally ready for Halloween, ghostly white appearance, scary mascara smears....

Spent the better part of 3 hours sanding it all down, but its DONE!! Now we move on to primer!!
YAY!!!

The deadline is rapidly approaching: October 25th. Can we do it?

Items left for project: prime, paint, remove vanity, remove old vinyl floor & prep, install new flooring, install new vanity, new towel bar, new mirror and new medicine cabinet, re-install shower rod, new shower curtain.

Wish me luck!

Wednesday, October 21, 2009

So, I'm a complete newb at blogging. Up to this point, my roamings across the web have been fairly limited to research for school, shopping, news... and just generally looking for information about "specific" topics. I haven't spent much time on the web in the realm of "connecting with others". Don't have a myspace page or facebook page. Haven't tweeted.

Yep, total newb.

But hey, I'm here, I'm trying it, I'm learning. That's what life's all about....right?

So I stumbled across the Day Zero project a couple months ago and decided that I loved the idea. Not only making a list, but putting it out there and feeling a sense of accountability to it. Hey, I told the world I was going to do these things.....now I feel like I have to live up to it.

I read through quite a few other lists. Lots of good stuff out there!! I borrowed a few ideas, pulled a few out from the waaaaay back burner and decided to give it a go. I made my list, but then chickened out and just kept it private until last week. Then I thought, why not? Why not just get over the apprehension and share my progress.

If you see anything interesting, let me know. My plan is to update at least a couple times a week, maybe more. What I'm really hoping for is that putting this out there will help me stick to the plan.

Monday, October 19, 2009

#35: The Movies.... From the American Film Institute's Top 100 Greatest Movies of All Time
(Queued up in Blockbuster, Watched it)
(58/100 so far)

Citizen Kane (1941)
The Godfather (1972)
Casablanca (1942)
Raging Bull (1980)
Singin' in the Rain (1952)
Gone with the Wind (1939)
Lawrence of Arabia (1962)Schindler's List (1993)
Vertigo (1958)
The Wizard of Oz (1939)
City Lights (1931)
The Searchers (1956)
Star Wars (1977)
Psycho (1960)
2001: A Space Odyssey (1968)
Sunset Blvd. (1950)
The Graduate (1967)
The General (1927)
On the Waterfront (1954)
It's a Wonderful Life (1946)
Chinatown (1974)
Some Like It Hot (1959)
The Grapes of Wrath (1940)
E.T. The Extra-Terrestrial (1982)
To Kill A Mockingbird (1962)
Mr. Smith Goes to Washington (1939)
High Noon (1952)
All About Eve (1950)
Double Indemnity (1944)
Apocalypse Now (1979)
The Maltese Falcon (1941)
The Godfather Part II (1974)
One Flew Over the Cuckoo's Nest (1975)
Snow White and the Seven Dwarfs (1937)
Annie Hall (1977)
The Bridge on the River Kwai (1957)
The Best Years of Our Lives (1946)
The Treasure of the Sierra Madre (1948)
Dr. Strangelove (1964)
The Sound of Music (1965)King Kong (1933)
Bonnie and Clyde (1967)
Midnight Cowboy (1969)
The Philadelphia Story (1940)
Shane (1953)
It Happened One Night (1934)
A Streetcar Named Desire (1951)
Rear Window (1954)
Intolerance (1916)
The Lord of the Rings: The Fellowship of the Ring (2001)
West Side Story (1961)
Taxi Driver (1976)
The Deer Hunter (1978)
M*a*s*h (1970)
North By Northwest (1959)
Jaws (1977)
Rocky (1976)

The Gold Rush (1925)
Nashville (1975)
Duck Soup (1933)
Sullivan's Travels (1958)
American Graffiti (1973)
Cabaret (1972)
Network (1976)
The African Queen (1951)
Raiders of the Lost Ark (1981)
Who's Afraid of Virginia Woolf? (1966)
Unforgiven (1992)Tootsie (1982)
A Clockwork Orange (1971)
Saving Private Ryan (1998)
The Shawshank Redemption (1994)
Butch Cassidy and the Sundance Kid (1969)
The Silence of the Lambs (1991)
In the Heat of the Night (1967)
Forrest Gump (1994)
All the President's Men (1976)
Modern Times (1936)
The Wild Bunch (1969)
The Apartment (1960)
Spartacus (1960)
Sunrise (1927)
Titanic (1997)
Easy Rider (1969)
A Night at the Opera (1935)
Platoon (1986)
12 Angry Men (1957)
Bringing Up Baby (1938)
The Sixth Sense (1999)
Swing Time (1936)
Sophie's Choice (1982)
Goodfellas (1990)
The French Connection (1971)
Pulp Fiction (1994)
The Last Picture Show (1971)
Do the Right Thing (1989)
Blade Runner (1982)
Yankee Doodle Dandy (1942)
Toy Story (1995)
Ben-Hur (1959)
Painting the bathroom: update. Well, we're still on for the October 25th deadline, although we didn't get as far along as I'd hoped. All the old paint is gone, the holes are patched, .......and we managed to permanently etch the tub. Oops!! Not that anyone would notice, since the finish on the procelain is so worn anyway.....but we'll have to figure out something to seal those areas where the glaze is gone. Hubby wants to have the tub reglazed. I thought you needed to remove the tub to do that......have to look into it.

Meanwhile, we also did some repair work on the window. Turns out that the window sill leaked **quite a bit** and the wood underneath was totally shot. Had to tear out the window and replace the rotted wood. That actually went better than I'd hoped. We wrapped it up in a couple hours. Thankfully, we didn't need to remove the tile to do it!!!

So tonight it will be sanding, sanding, sanding. And any additional plaster patching to touch up the areas I worked on yesterday. Hopefully not too many, since I want to be priming by Wednesday or Thursday.

Oh yeah, need to go get that new fan! The whole purpose for doing this is to try to eliminate all that moisture in the first place!!

Is it time for a beer yet?

Friday, October 16, 2009

6. paint the bathroom. In Progress: due to be finished by 10/25

So, we live in this house built in the 1950's. Tiny bathroom, and only one in the house. The exhaust fan is as old as the house, hence, the shower steam is never-ending for our family of 5. Last week my husband was up on a ladder for the gagillionth time, bleaching the ceiling mildew. We've done that so many times the paint is peeling.

Oh, joy.

So, I couldn't stand it any longer and decided to run to ACO and get "something" to take that retched paint off the walls! Of course that means many layers......nearly 60 years worth.

Oh, joy.

So began my latest impulsive project. I've managed to drip paint stripper on the floor (crappy, ugly vinyl that someone installed over the ceramic floor tile) in several places. It's quite ruined now......but I'm not heartbroken. So now the bathroom paint job has expanded to include fixing the floor.

But wait! That means I'll have to take out the vanity in order to install the new flooring. I always did hate that vanity. Now's a good time to replace it. Sink too.

12 trips to Home Depot and Lowes, and I've finally decided that the bathroom paint job includes the following: remove old paint; prep surface; prime; new paint; remove old vinyl floor; remove vanity/sink; prep floor surface; install new floor; install new vanity/sink (reuse faucette, since this one is only 6 months old); replace towel bar; install new mirror; install new medicine cabinet; install new light fixture; install new exhausat fan; re-install shower rod; install new shower curtain. Oh, and new throw rug, too.

Talk about scope-creep!

And so goes my list of things to do....for every added task, there are a dozen that go with it.

I need a nap....

Wednesday, October 14, 2009

The complete list of 101....

Complete; In progress;

1. marry S in Ireland
2. build L-D
3. build N-L
4. build DLD
5. generate $4000 of passive income
6. paint the bathroom. In Progress: due to be finished by 10/25
7. paint the kitchen
8. tile the kitchen backsplash
9. read "Mathematics From The Birth of Numbers"
10. go to Ireland
11. go camping 4 times
12. finish my BSME degree: target date is April 2010. Almost done! 3 classes now, one left!!
13. organize my schoolbooks & notes: digitize the notes
14. finish the bedroom
15. organize my books
16. learn wordpress thesis theme. In progress.
17. lose 25 lbs using the Insanity Videos: starting weight = 148
18. get a pedicure
19. change our diet
20. get the A/C fixed in my car
21. get the brakes fixed in my car. Done

22. do yoga….more than once
23. make a motivational playlist. Done, but more can be added...
24. organize all my printed photos & scan
25. update my moms digital photo frame
26. plant a tree
27. learn InDesign
28. learn CS3
29. grow my nails, suitable for nailpolish
30. replant the houseplants - get some new containers
31. meet C (B-mom), J & family. Scheduled for Nov 6-8!!
32. stretch till I can do the splits
33. run a 10k
34. donate $5 for each goal I DO complete
35
. watch all the movies on the "AFI top 100 movies of all time" list . So far: 27/100
36. take a course/read a book in etymology
37. go rock climbing
38.
join geocaching and get the gang to go with me
39. (****) (3X)/Wk
40.
learn to speak another language: gaelic, french, russian, hindi
41. Become a member of Mensa
42. Read A Brief History of Time
43. be able to do 100 push ups and 200 situps
44. organize a girls night sleepover
45. get my scar "fixed"
46. read 50 books: document what and when. So far: 9/50
47. throw a "star wars" party
48. watch all the lotr movies….in one day
49. determine what my purpose is in life
50. go to Spain
51. pack a bag (with S) and head to the airport and pick one random, cheap place to visit for the
weekend (no planning other than one bag)
52. write a journal to my dad (in remembrance)
53. Watch Amelie. Done
54. stop procrastinating
55. research/build a motorcycle w/ sidecar
56. win at "cashflow"
57. digitize all my favorite recipes & organize so I can find them when I need them
58. make a scrapbook of my goals (thanks to Fle at http://asimplethanksgiving.blogspot.com/)
59. build an outdoor "gazebo-type" lounge/bed with cushions, curtains and a roof.
60. Visit M & R in Pittsburg
61. find family photo of M & R's family & enlarge/frame and take with on visit
62. ride my bike at least once a week from April to October. So far:
63. read or watch the news at least twice a week for 6 months
64. finish my vision board……finally
65. pay off credit cards, achieve credit score of over 800
66. get a family portrait taken of the 5 of us
67. re-do the front flower beds
68. spend one month taking pictures every day all day
69. have my t-shirt logo printed at café press
70. replace the vanity and flooring in the bathroom. In progress: due to finish 10/25
71. spend one weekend per room in the house cleaning, purging, recycling, donating, organizing, repairing. Rooms completed:
72. time myself on the tasks I do regularly and determine how long it "ACTUALLY" takes me to get things done; then schedule appropriate amounts of time to do them
73. eat veg for a month
74. of the 50 books, read 15 from Time's top 100 novels. So far: 6/15
75. finish T's quilt: In progress
76. use my "green" bags 50 times
77. journal every day for one week
78. if I succeed at (77), repeat 4 more times
79. make home-made pasta
80. Put away $25 for every goal completed: So far:
81. build a coffee cup shelf to display my hand-made souvenier cups
82. find a legitimate book on druidism & read it
83. wear a skirt once a month (will have to buy a couple!)
84. read a feminist blog twice a month
85. do 5 things to save energy/reduce carbon foot print; post it
86. study 6 different cultures per year; have a themed weekend for each with food, music, culture and geographical info for the family.
87. get rid of dying apricot tree in the yard. Replace with a new one in a different spot
88. paint the living room
89. pay down half of my student loans ahead of time
90. post my list in 3 places where I can see it daily and be reminded
91. trim raspberries bushes and thin canes; remove rocks and install trellis; install border; mulch In Progress
92. landscape the yard to resemble "T's m.e."
93. surprise S 25 times: random & exciting
94. keep a daily to-do list and use it at least 5 days/week
95. read a book each, written in gaelic, russian and french
96. learn to belly-dance
97. keep track of every penny I spend for 2 months; then write out a budget
98. celebrate the spring and autumn equinox; fall 2009 = 22 Sept
99. get 7 hours sleep per night for 2 weeks in a row (never been done!)
100. build "Y-B-T"
101. Celebrate my accomplishments!