Don't Let Me Near Anything Sharp

Do you ever have those days where everything you touch goes "Ker-plooey?"  I have to wonder if my body is giving off some unusual electromagnetic charge this morning that is causing everything within my vicinity to stop working.

It started with the computer.  Trouble printing led to trouble with my storage device which led to trouble with back-up files.  Add in slow load time for the Internet and the warning message "Low storage space on Drive C" and it makes me think I better not chance trying to use the phone or driving anywhere today.  I wouldn't want to endanger the lives of others.

Right now I'm waiting for the "lamp-post people" to show up.  This is a quick "Decorating Diaries" fix.  We're finally--after ten years--installing a light post at the end of our walkway.  I say finally because we've been flirting with the possibility of broken limbs and lawsuits for years.  We have a walkway that leads from our house to some stairs that lead to the sidewalk.  This is a pitch black area. We manage to maneuver up and down the stairs at night simply by rote memorization.  Every Halloween we put out massive amounts of candles and lights on the stairs so we don't have a pile-up of kids and parents who fell over trying to find their way up the stairs.

Of course, the lamp-post people were supposed to be here at 10 and it's now 10:03.  But after all these years, I understand contractor time.  10 am means "I'll try to be there before two, but no promises."

My only concern is the light be installed before Trick-or-Treat.  Ooh!  We can put orange or red lights in it for "super-scary" effect.  Cool!

What Else Can I Say About Me?

In my never-ending quest for book promotion I've sent queries and press releases to newspapers and magazines, asking if they might be interested in doing a story on me as the "cat lady" with the Lessons In Stalking & Chicken Soup for the Cat Lover's Soul books coming out at the same time.

Interesting bit of journalism trivia: Several of the places I contacted about running an author profile said, "Sure, great, we'd love to spotlight you.  How about you write the article?"

This has resulted in way too many hours spent of me writing about, well, me.  Sounds fun, but it's harder than you might think. 

As I informed Blair over dinner last night, I have reached an early saturation level and I don't want to write about me, I don't to hear about me, and I don't want to cobble together any more funny but hopefully moving personal stories about me (as relates to cats).  In a phrase, I am sick of me.

Tongue in cheek, of course.  I'm extremely grateful for the chance at book promotion and writing a Q&A article for a cat magazine was actually quite fun.  Makes me wonder though, how many of the "author profiles" we read in other (small) magazines are written by the authors as well?

I do feel like I'm regurgitating the same bits of information over and over though.  I looked at Lucy lazing in the sun today and told her she better get on the ball and do something cute sometime soon because I needed some new material.  (Naturally, she completely ignored me).

And good things continue to happen.  I've got a growing list of places my book is now available (take THAT Barnes & Nobles who won't look at me without a distributor) and am starting to line up things up for my book launch on December 1st at The Green Bean in downtown GSO.  More details on that to follow.

One other bright note.  My sister is working it for me.  She works at a small college outside Chicago and their bookstore is going to carry my book.  THANKS sis!

My Winter Shearing: A Haircut

Here's a fascinating (or appalling--depends on your sensibility) behind-the-scenes look at a recurring conversation in the Harris household over the past 6 weeks.

Dena:  Do you think I should get my hair cut?

Blair:   Sure, do whatever you like.

Dena:  So you hate my hair?

Blair:  No! I love your hair.

Dena:  Then why do you want me to cut it?

Blair:  I didn't say I wanted you to get it cut.

Dena: Then you think I should leave it the length it is?

Blair:  Okay.

Dena:  That wasn't a yes.  You do hate my hair.

Blair:  No!  I just want you to be happy.

Dena:  But do you like it better long or short?

Blair:  I like it both ways.

Dena:  But which one do you like better?

Blair:  I think you're beautiful no matter what you do.

Dena:  Coward.

Blair:  I'm no fool.

This ridiculous conversation took place more times than I care to mention.  Today I bit the bullet and went in and had the back chopped off, leaving the front still somewhat long.  I LOVE it.  I am just a short-hair chick.  The best part is I'm back to only taking about 6 minutes to style it, blow-drying included. 

So now that issue is resolved, we'll need to find a new topic of conversation.  Hey, I've got one!  How's this for an opener?

Dena:  So.  Do you think I'm fat?

Cheers!

Decorating Diaries - Bathroom Update

Some of you have been so kind as to ask how the redecorating of the master bath is going so I thought I'd post a quick update.

The bathroom is...gone.  All gone.  Bye-bye.  It's been gutted.  No sink, shower, cabinet, or toilet remains.  All that is there is a plywood floor with paper stuffed down the connecting tube where the toilet used to sit.  I know this, because my clothes closet is through the master bath, so I have to pull on flip-flops (loose nails/staples) every time I cross the floor or decide I want to put on a different pair of jeans.

We have made no headway on the heated floor.  Here's where we stand:

Our floor person couldn't get in the tile we wanted and said he wouldn't do the tile if he didn't order it.  So he's out.  Next we tried the cabinet people we are ordering the tile from. They WILL do the tile, but don't do heated floors and prefer not to do tile showers.  I have in a call to a heated floor guy she recommended, but they aren't calling me back.

My contractor has a tile guy he prefers to use, but the tile guy also doesn't do heated floors.  He does, however, do showers.  So should be do all the tile?  You'd think so, except I already told the cabinet people that sure, they could do the tile floor.  So now, it's apparently a breach of etiquette to ask the actual tile man to come in and just do the shower tile when we haven't asked him to do the floor tile.

About this time I usually start holding my head and screaming. This just seems way, way more complicated than it needs to be.  I'm about one phone call away from telling Blair I'm out, and handing all the phone numbers over to him.

On the bright side, we got most of the wallpaper removed Sunday afternoon.  Glue remnants still cling to the drywall, so we'll have to go back and give it one last soaking/scraping, but we're close. 

In other news, we ordered sheets from Overstock.com and are very happy with them.  400 TC, so not silky, but still very soft and comfy. We also ordered lamps online (with the help of our decorator.  We're not that brave on our own) and are happy with those as well.  Slowly, slowly, it's coming together.

And that's where we stand.  Tune in next week (actually, Friday) for more decorating adventures.  We're having a lamppost installed Friday.  There's sure to be blog-worthy material there.

Cheers,

Dena