ikea, trim & tired randomness

i got several great things at ikea this weekend. quite pleased with the trip.


this is the metal shelving unit i got for the kitchen. doesn't it just fit that spot perfectly? i'm currently looking around for baskets to fit the shelves & function as drawers. they had some at ikea - but each basket was almost as much as they entire shelving unit. and you could only pull them off the shelf from the long side, which doesn't help on the lower shelves. regardless, the li'l metal container holding my utensils is also from ikea. now if only i hadn't forgotten to look for a paper towel holder & napkin holder to match ... :)




the bookcase. part of the billy system - the less expensive of the two i was looking at. it's taller than the other one, looks nicer & has something like 47 other pieces i can use to add on later. and i measured correctly - it did, indeed, fit easily into my car. the bottom shelf has been reserved for scrap books, photo albums & other such memory-holding tomes. i think i'm going to condense my stack of small photo albums into larger ones. weed through the photos as i go - tossing ones that i don't need/want. it's funny how when i put the photos into the album i was convinced i needed to keep all 49 pictures from so-and-so's birthday party. and now i'm really sure i can get that down to like 4 photos. i mean, it's not like so-and-so is going to care.




this the coffee table that i'm convinced will, someday, hold a tv. the boxes inside the table contain DVD holders that i'm going to put up once the tv is bought. and the boxes to the left of the table are shelves for the kitchen.

all the wood pieces i bought are in a lovely black-brown finish. i was originally thinking black for the living room ... but the black-brown was a much better choice. you can still see the woodgrain & it just looks ... well ... nicer. yeah. nicer.


it's not recommended that you judge color from this photo. the second bedroom has been painted a lovely gray-green. the picture is to show that the trim & the baseboard have been installed. yay for my dad! he's so good to me. :)

i took a good armful of duck pickles into work today. they made me happy.

sunday madlib

i found this madlib today. it was filled out by dave; we must have done it in youth group. i'll put the fill-in words in parentheses.

once upon a time, (123) years ago, in the fiendish place transylvania [which is now known as (Lowell high school)], the (brown) count dracula (render)ed. our story finds him just after he had finished his dinner, which tonight included (erin). since he was still a little hungry and a full moon was out, he decided to catch the next (unicycle) to (becca)'s house and peek into her (rec room) to see if she was (snow)ing. by chance she was, which brought a (benevolent) smile to his (tall) face. without wasting a second, he (play)ed into her (chair), starting her so much that she broke her (elmo doll). "comment-allez vous?" spake count dracula. "i have come to drink your blood!" "hallelujah" she replied, whereupon she kicked dracula in the (appendix) and fled. not to be deterred, dracula chased her as far as (mark's house) where he finally tackled her. it looked like the end for (becca), but just before dracula could sink his (broken) fangs into her (freckled) neck, (george) arrived on the scene. quickly sizing up the situation, he grabbed the nearest (cup of hot coffee) and smote dracula so hard it was heard in (france). "my hero", sighed (becca). "aw, it was nothing," replied (george) as he flexed his (tonsils) for her. "by the way," he asked. "whats a nice girl like you doing in the (cbc) high school groups?"

happy happy happy birthday!

or should that be happy birthday birthday birthday? regardless ...

happy birthday, jessica!

happy birthday, jody!

happy birthday, joanie!

today is wednesday

i got my taxes done & filed today. (yes, jonathan, e-filed.) getting just enough from the state to buy the sweeney todd dvd & microwave popcorn. thankfully the federal return will cover a good chunk of the tv so i can enjoy that dvd. :)

my kitchen is a big step closer to being organized. i've still got some small things to do ... like get my silverware back from joanie. :) but all in good time.

dave - thanks for the info on the bookcase. the billy system is one of them i want to look at while i'm there. it's so hard to tell from the photos how good "wood" really looks. so i'm looking at that & a solid wood version. the solid wood is more expensive, of course. but we'll see.

my duck pickles have almost all bloomed. that makes me happy.

i got my license plates renewed. saved $5 by doing it online. yay me.

i think the post office has gotten the forwarding of marlana's mail under control. it's been several days since i've gotten anything of hers.

speaking of mail, i need to buy stamps tomorrow ...

monday progress

we made some progress on the kitchen tonight. where in "progress" means we moved all the boxes into the living room & pulled out all the actual kitchen goodies. some things found new homes - others are waiting for a better day to organize. so progress in the kitchen means a bit more mess in the living room. but that's okay - it'll get better. :)

i think we're doing an idea trip on sunday for a bookcase. that will help the stacks of book boxes.

house photos!

alright, i can't promise these will be as exciting as you're hoping for. but here are a few house photos.


the living room after getting all the boxes unloaded & into the house. there was a little bit of a walkway right in front of the mattresses, but what you can't see is the sofa laying on it's back blocking people from walking through the room.



progress on the living room by the end of day one of unpacking. mattresses are moved into the bedroom, sofa has legs & is sitting up properly. there's even enough room in front of the sofa to sit down & stretch out one's legs. not too shabby for one day.



i know i switched the angle of the photo - but this is the living room currently. yes, i still have a couple of boxes to move out of the way - but the room is pretty much as done as i can make it currently. because of where i'm standing you can't see the two stacks of boxes labeled "books" - but they're staying where they are until i decide what to do about bookshelves.




bedroom photos after painting, before moving in the bed. i'm absolutely pleased with the colors - spiny sea urchin and bonbon. leave it to martha stewart to have the perfect colors. the black cd tower in these photos will, i think, move into the living room eventually.



and this is the kitchen - my next area to tackle. once i get all these boxes sorted & put away i may do something crazy like go grocery shopping & actually cook something. but you know, one step at a time. :)


in non-related and non-photographed news, i got my hair cut & colored today. i think i like the cut ... we'll see tomorrow when i style it for myself. i know i like the color. i do love my red highlights. i also took the time today to print out all the pieces for my own copy of the family calendar i made folks for Christmas. now that i have a good place to hang said calendar, i plan to do just that.

catsup -2

depp hunting, day two.


the building of which my photographer friend jon l. hendricks was kicked off. not literally kicked over the edge, but told he had to get down because he was "in the shot". liars.




view from the north side of the set.




the crew making snow.




where the trailers were parked.




view from the south side of the set.

catsup - 1

alright, i have internet & i've downloaded photos from both of my cameras. and because i'm such a fan of proper order, they'll be coming to you chronologically. starting with my first day of johnny depp hunting. :)


this is the seat belt purse being carried by the gal in the purple coat at our first lunch time photo shoot. i'd seriously heard just days before about someone making such a purse and thought it sounding very interesting. and it was. i really liked it, and i'd imagine it's rugged & reliable.


this was our first stalking group. left to right, back row: beth, 'becca and julie. left to right, front row: kylie, reygann and brody. i do love relfective surfaces. :)


this was when beth, april and i went back tuesday evening. i believe this is the only photo i've ever taken of the court house. i really want to go back & shoot more sometime.


hanging out. shooting to see what kind of photos i could get in the light that was left.


hanging out. saying "hey! isn't that yuri victor smoking in front of the building?". beth & i have commissioned ourselves with starting the yuri victor fan club. and yes, that is yuri victor on the right. so now, when you go see Public Enemies, you can say "hey! i know that photographer! he's yuri victor! i LOVE yuri victor!"



it was dark. i had a camera. nothing exciting was happening on the set - so i took photos of other things.


the sunshine machines hard at work as we walked back to our car that night.

i have internet!

my internet is working now. yay! the disc they sent was defective, so i had to sit on the phone with a tech & install the modem manually. only problem now is i'm pretty sure they sent me the wrong modem. or, rather, they sent me a modem instead of a wireless gateway. but i could be wrong. i'm currently waiting for an available representative to either guide me through the wireless set up or tell me that yes, indeed, they sent me the wrong equipment. should be interesting.

yes, i promised you pictures. you'll get them. the weekend is just starting. :)

edit: yeah, they sent the wrong equipment. seriously? a defective disc and the wrong equipment?

happy tuesday!

so i spent most of yesterday unpacking boxes. i got my bed set up & the sofa is now standing upright so one can sit on it. you can not only open the front door, you can walk through the living room. yay! i have before unpacking & after unpacking photos - but i didn't bring my camera with me. so you'll just have to enjoy the suspense and wait. my internet will be working on thursday (i'm at work right now) so they'll be up by the weekend.

let's see, what else? i bought a lamp for the living room. i may go back & get another one to match. i bought a bath mat & a shower mat. some face towels (in a nice green to coordinate with the yellow, orange & blue bath towels). i planted some sunflower seeds i've had for years. i don't expect them to grow, but i figured i'd give 'em a chance. i bought some glass cleaner that made a small mess when it opened the car (ten points to target for not having holes in the bottom of their plastic bags. the mess was contained nicely.). i may have found a quilt for my bed. yes, i know, buying a quilt instead of making one. it's a pretty brown silk at target. they actually have two i like. but we'll see. i'm not sold yet.

now i'm off to eat a hotdog with the girls & get the water bill transferred to my name. can't spend too much time in the office - someone will want me to do work. :)