Death of a Refridgerator

It’s official. My refrigerator and freezer passed away sometime between 9 a.m. and 7 p.m. yesterday.

I’m not actually sure of the time of death but based on my rather limited CSI abilities, the fact that my food in the freezer was still cool but mostly defrosted leads me to think it had been out most of the day. Also, my fridge was still cool-ish when I got home from my parents around 7 p.m.

Either way, my fridge has hummed itself to wherever it is that fridges go when they die. It was a good fridge. It was prone to making rather odd noises at times. It buzzed very loudly most of the time. However, it kept things cold and did the job and I suppose you can’t really ask more of a fridge, can you?

Of course, while I mourn the loss of my fridge, most of the loss is born of inconvenience rather than a strong personal connection with the fridge itself. This is what happens when you move into a house and the fridge is already there. It’s useful and I was glad I had a fridge but it never felt like my fridge, per se. Also, when I moved in, it was still quite full of things the previous homeowner had left behind so I had a lot of cleaning to do. While this provided a bond of sorts with my fridge, it never felt new because it was full of half-eaten lunch meat and such when I first ‘met’ it.

I’m very lucky. I didn’t lose everything in my fridge and freezer. While I lost a lot of things, including a collection of homemade soups I’d put in the freezer, some things were salvageable. Also, I have a little chest freezer in the garage so what could be saved went in there. For the fridge’s part, I’m temporarily using my little wine fridge as a fridge-fridge. It doesn’t get super cold but it’s cold enough to keep my food safe and uncontaminated.

I’m trying to look on the bright side of all this which is a bit of a challenge because firstly, it’s Monday and I’m not fond of Mondays as my regular blog readers will know. Secondly, it’s a very, very wet Monday. The lake in my back garden has just become even lake-ier and when you walk on the grass even where there’s no puddles, there’s enough water that it seeps up over your shoes. Finally, this has been a rather cruddy month for me as a homeowner.

I tried to smile through the termites. After all, I caught them before the damage was severe and they could tell all their friends that my house was free for the eatin’. I tried to laugh at the lawnmower. After all the hot-metal-piston-thingy didn’t hit me in the head, my neighbour loaned me his mower and I was able to get a new mower with no trouble. I’m trying to smile about the fridge. On the plus side, I get a shiny new appliance out of the deal.

On the negative side, it’s adding up financially. Certainly, I’d probably want a new fridge eventually but there’s a big difference between wanting a new one and needing one. Nowadays, fridges are essential. I’m sure there are arguments against that statement but unless you’re Amish and don’t believe in electricity, it’s rather hard to live without a fridge. I’m not really sure how the Amish do it, honestly. It’s not that I even like my beverages that cold. It’s more that I like my food to be uncontaminated by bacteria and keeping it cold prevents that. Also, it’s a great money-saver for a single person- it’s hard to find single-serving portions of things and it’s usually more economical to buy a package of chicken and then split it in two or three before I freeze it.

Still, I’m fortunate that I changed jobs in October. If I’d been on my old salary without the beautiful benefit of a commission check once a month, I’d be completely and utterly panicked and stressed. Fortunately, I was raised to save rather than spend when I have a little extra cash (thanks, Mum!) and so the fridge won’t hurt as much as it would have if I was living paycheck to paycheck.

It still sucks though. I’m just saying that because it feels good to say it. It sucks. That’s all there is to it. I know it’s easily fixable and in the grand scheme of things, far worse things could happen but, well, I just want to say it. I spend much time trying not to whine and complain because friends and people I know always have it worse: sick parents, husbands, spouses….overworking, being stressed, etc. but sometimes, I just have to take five minutes and let myself feel a teeny bit sorry for myself that I have to buy a new fridge and a lawnmower and there are termite holes all over my windowsill.

I feel better already. Like I said before, my fridge situation is definitely not the end of the world. I’m not going to sit there and whine, “Why is my house against me?” when, really, it’s not. To quote “Phantom of the Opera” (the musical): “These things do ‘appen.”

Of course, just like my air conditioning woes last summer, the death of my ceiling fan and the broken kitchen sink, these things do seem to ‘appen all around the same time and I sort of wish they’d spread themselves out but, well, hopefully this will be the last ‘appening for a while.

If nothing else, April is almost over. I’m christening it “Anti-Homeowner Month.” Fingers crossed that May will be better.

At the very least, I’ll begin the month with a new fridge.

Rest in Peace fridge that belonged to the nice old lady who sold me my house. Thanks for keeping things cold and making a lot of noise while doing so. It was only when the silence of your hum was deafeningly loud that I realized I had lost you for good. May you enjoy your days of never having to cool anything again.

Happy Tuesday and thanks for reading (and letting me vent)!

Home Improvement Freedom

It's another Sunday evening after a fun weekend and, as always, I'm wishing I had an extra day off.

I even had a long weekend this time around. I took Friday off to just have a day off. I ended up spending a large portion of it at the car dealership getting my car serviced and also finding out that I desperately needed new tires but, even so, it was nice to have the day off.

The pups and I headed up to my parents for the weekend after the car dealership finally released me. We hadn't been up to Indiana for a while and I thought it'd be nice to have a low-key weekend with my parents. It turned out to be a fun weekend. We went to the Home and Garden Show which I thought was fun. It was a little crowded but it was the first time I've been to a show like that since I've owned a house. It's fun to realize that if I wanted new windows, I could get them someday or if I wanted to re-landscape my garden, I have the freedom to do that.

It was an interesting exposition. I didn't buy much although I did snag some Blue Spruce trees for a very good price. My dad purchased two rubber brooms which he likes to use to clean the snow off his and my mother's car in the winter. He gave one to me to carry around the show so I felt much like that man in the American Gothic painting who's standing next to his wife holding the rake. I held the broom like the rake in that picture. My dad and I got a lot of comments about our broom. Apparently, not everyone carries rubber brooms around an entire Home and Garden show. To make matters more amusing, my mother bought one of those microfiber broom/mop things so by the time we were finished, all three of us had a broom of some sort. I feel like we should have done some type of Mary Poppins "Chim Chimeree" dance or something.

After the show, I had the luxury of spending the evening with my sister. We decided to have a girls night out, something we literally haven't done in years. We've gone to dinner a couple of times but never really out to do more than that. We decided to do dinner and a movie. We saw "Just Go With It"- the Adam Sandler/Jennifer Aniston romantic comedy. It turned out to be much more amusing and sweet than I thought.

It's nice to get to hang out with my sister. She recently graduated from nursing school and she has a four-year-old daughter so she hasn't had a lot of time to be social. Thus, it was nice to be able to liberate her for the evening.

All in all, it was a nice, relaxing, family-filled weekend. The dogs, of course, had the greatest time at their 'grandparents'. Sookie and Rory adore their garden- it's huge and there's a ton of nooks and crannies to explore. They're also very fond of my parents so it's nice to be able to reunite dog and human once in a while.

It was also a productive weekend. I've decided exactly how to redecorate my hideous 1970's style family room in Tuscan Villa style and, in addition, I had a rather productive trip to Lowe's with my dad who helped me figure out the mysteries of bathroom remodeling. I think if I do it slowly, I can get my bathroom looking just how I like.

It's so nice to be able to have the freedom to redecorate and remodel. I dwelt in apartments long enough to feel the frustration of not being able to change the minor little annoyance and the big ones. My last apartment in L.A. had an absolutely terrible water leakage problem when it rained. Most of the time in L.A., it doesn't rain so it wasn't too much of a problem for a while. Then, when the rainy season hit and we had torrential rain, I began to notice my bedroom carpet was getting rather wet. It turned out that the water was seeping up through the ground and by the time it was done, my closet and bedroom became very mildewed, smelly and disgusting. Our landlord's solution was to throw a few sandbags in front of the leak and put some Killz mildew killer on the walls.

Also, in the same apartment, the ceiling above my roommate's shower ended up caving in, The landlord never did finish patching it up. We were glad it didn't happen while my roommate was in the shower.

The same apartment had terrible ant infestations when it got hot. You can see why it got annoying. We fixed as many of the small things that went wrong as we could but unfortunately, we had to rely on the landlord for many repairs.

So, having my own home seems like quite a lovely thing. Granted, it means I'm financially responsible for everything that goes wrong/needs to be replaced/needs an upgrade but it also means it's mine to fix/replace/upgrade. I like that feeling. I like to be able to paint the walls, get rid of the mustard yellow carpet and change the faucets.

I also like being able to simply wander around Home and Garden Shows and Lowes and know that I have the complete freedom to do what I like to my home if I have the finances and resources.

I love that feeling and much as I love weekends and the nice thing is that even if the weekend is over, that feeling will stay.

Maybe that will help fight of the Mondays a little. We'll see.

Happy Monday!

Spontaneous Weekends...

This has been a nice weekend. It was one of those weekends where I didn't have anything planned but I managed to fill my time with a mix of relaxation and productivity.

I spent Friday night out with a friend from work. We had a nice time talking and just talking about things other than work. Normally when I go out with coworkers for a social occasion, we end up discussing the office and everything to do with the office. This time, we didn't let ourselves and it was nice to talk to my coworker as a friend rather than just as a coworker. That's always a nice surprise. Of course, when I got home, even though it wasn't late, I had two rather unhappy puppies and a cranky old chihuahua to deal with.

My puppies are a little spoiled. When I go out in the evenings after work, I usually come home, let them run around after being in their crate all afternoon and then I give them a rather nice chew treat to chomp on while I'm gone. Since I don't want to put them back in their crate, I trust them in the living room without being properly confined. They do well with it. At the moment, since The Odious One is staying, he has the family room to roam in and I gate it off so he's not chomped on by the pups.

You'd think this wouldn't be bad of an arrangement. After all, I was only gone two hours. Nevertheless, the puppies greet me as though I've been gone for months. Then they proceed to give me the cold shoulder until I've fussed over them enough that they forgive me for leaving them.

It's actually quite entertaining to see their initial reaction as excitement to see me, to realize that I am coming home and that they haven't been abandoned. Then after their 'kisses' and puppy hugs have stopped being so enthusiastic, they subcutaneously give me a hurt look as if to say, "How COULD you leave us like that," and they they run off outside and won't come near me until I've petted them to their satisfaction.

With the Odious One, he just seems pleased to have someone around. He tends to be pleased when I come home but he's not terribly enthusiastic, that one. On the plus side, he seems to be doing well. I have to confess, he's a very old chihuahua, The Odious One. When my parents left him with me, I had a disclaimer that if he, you know, keeled over or anything while they were gone, it was NOT my fault, I did not kill him.

I think Odie has some life in him yet. He gets around pretty well considering he only seems to have use of three legs. He's a bit lopsided. He also walks around panting at me all the time. Still, he seems quite able to take care of himself. He acts helpless when the puppies try to greet him with their usual enthusiasm but if I'm handing out treats, he's right there, shoulder to shoulder with them as if he's always been their very best friend.

The rest of the weekend was rather nice although I spontaneously decided to go see that new movie, "The Last Exorcism." I decided that since I'm writing a book about demons, even if it is a comedy, it never hurts to see what's going on in the fictional world of Hollywood demons. After all, I did get the idea for The Reluctant Demon from watching that "Paranormal Activity" film.

Well, let me tell you, "The Last Exorcism," was rather daft. It couldn't decide if it wanted to be a 'documentary,' like the "Blair Witch Project" or it wanted to be a horror movie like, say, "The Exorcist." As a result, we got a documentary/movie. Except it didn't make much sense. Also, it was not scary which was a disappointment. In the end, I was left wondering exactly what happened which I think was the point but it wasn't even slightly thought-provoking. Instead, I was left wondering why I paid $7 to see such a silly film. I think I'll stick with "The Exorcist," thank you.

After the movie, I did my usual Saturday errands (grocery shopping and the like) and then I came home to spend the rest of the day with the dogs.

On Sunday, I got up after having let the puppies play outside while I attempted to get a little extra sleep. I discovered that now the tool shed is off limits as far as burrowing goes, they've decided to burrow under the large propane tank I have in the back yard. This meant an impromptu trip to Lowes for some paving stones. I'm now familiar with the paving stones at Lowes. They make an excellent barricade against digging.

Of course, once I'd blocked up the burrow that the puppies have made, they were, naturally, not happy with me. I ignored them. They forgave me. It's pretty simple psychology, really.

All in all, we had a pretty nice weekend. There's just something nice about weekends where you don't plan on doing anything but you end up doing something anyway. Next weekend is a three day one. The puppies and I are escorting "Uncle Odie" home and we'll stay at my parents for the weekend. I'm planning on having a mini writing retreat so I can do some work on my novel. It should be nice. Hopefully it won't rain.

And, if it does, we'll deal with that as it comes.

Happy Monday!

Flanges and Merges....

Today was a rather muddled day at work. It began with doughnuts. Lately in the office, we've been having a lot of 'mystery' snacks. They just show up and no-one says why they're there or who brought them in. This makes it a little awkward because you know you're supposed to eat them but without knowing the origin, you don't know who to thank. Also, it's a bit weird to eat someone's food without truly knowing whether it was for an occasion and thus deserves a 'happy birthday' or someone just felt like bringing in doughnuts.

I usually don't eat doughnuts. I'm not opposed to them, per se. I just don't really enjoy them much. They're just...there. Today, I forgot my morning banana and so I was hungry. I ended up eating a doughnut that looked like it was a jelly-filled one. It also happened to have the added bonus of fluorescent pink icing. This would put most adults off, most likely. Not me, I'm a sucker for weird coloured things like that. Yes, it's unnatural but it's fun.

When I bit into my doughnut, I was very disappointed. I'm a firm believer that a jelly doughnut should have jelly. These days, most bakeries cheat and use that strawberry pie filling crap. I may have vented about this before. If I have, I apologize. Anyway, the pie filling is runny and smooth. I like my jelly with seeds in it. This doughnut was NOT the doughnut I had expected. I take my doughnuts quite seriously and I felt slightly betrayed. It looked like a jelly doughnut. It pretended to be a jelly doughnut but it wasn't.

Anyway, shortly after the mystery doughnuts showed up, a second batch of identical doughnuts from the same bakery arrived. These, at least, were not mystery doughnuts. It was our tech support person's birthday. I think he felt bad that he doubled the doughnuts but our company never wastes such things and managed to get through quite a lot of them, even though there were about 50 doughnuts in the office this morning for 23 of us.


After the doughnuts, us non-conference attendees were left out in the cold while the conference attendees met to discuss the conference. I would quite like to have heard how it went but we weren't invited. During this time, we found out that our slightly impromptu staff meeting was going to be attended by the head of our 'sister company.'


Long story short, this means we're merging with our sister company. I know it means a lot but it doesn't seem to be affecting us much. We have to change our company name which means new logos and all that stuff. We're being 'rehired' by the merged company. This means yet another tax season next year with more than one W-2. As far as I can see, for now, it doesn't mean much to us. I'm sure in the long run, it will. Some people are worried, mostly the new folks who weren't here for the scary dark period last year where we were being sold and thought we were going to all lose our jobs. Those who were here tend to feel a little like veterans and this, compared to last year, feels like nothing.

To me, the only major question I had was: Were we going to keep our jobs. The answer is yes. We also keep our benefits. That's good enough for me.

Of course, all this was coupled with the fact that today was the day my kind parents were driving down so my dad could do the home repairs in my house that I was unable to do. This means I had to make sure I was available if they had questions and stuff. It also meant they were puppy-sitting. I got to run home and lunch and feed my parents and say hello. My dad had already replaced my ceiling fan/light in the kitchen.

When I came home from work this evening, I discovered that even though I had only expected a new faucet in my kitchen, my father had decided I needed a new sink. My dad's not the type to think, "oh, wait, maybe she doesn't want a new sink." When he decides something is needed, that's it.

I'm not complaining, naturally. The sink is nice. It's very, uh, sinky. Also, it has nice new taps and it doesn't gurgle like my old one. It's lovely to have a new sink so I was glad. I wasn't glad that when I got home, dad needed a new pipe for under the sink so he sent my mum and I off to Lowe's. We asked one of the Lowes employees for help because, let's face it, mum and I are not plumbers and know nothing about pipes. Unfortunately, it seems, neither did the Lowe's employee. For one thing, he was incredibly rude. He snatched the old pipe literally out of my hand and tried to match it. He was clueless even though, technically, he was working in the plumbing department. It's rather sad when I had to be the one to identify the fact that since the pld pipes were joined with a connector in a perpendicular fashion, perhaps the new pipes ought to be also. Needless to say, we were sent home with the wrong thing. This meant my dad and I had to return to Lowes to get the right thing. So, back to Lowes I went, this time with my dad while mum stayed at my place and puppy-sat.

We got home only to discover that the pipes we'd bought weren't equipped with a flange. My dad said flange a lot. Flange was the word of the day. I kept singing it, "Flange! Flange! Flange" as we drove, yes, you've guessed it, back to Lowes. I think I drove my dad a little potty but soon he was saying "flange" in every other word.

We were successful with finding pipes that had flanges. I made dad buy and extra one, just in case since I did not want to return to Lowes a fourth time in an hour. Turned out he needed the extra one so I'm glad I made him buy it.

Finally, the pipes fit. We didn't have to go back to Lowes. I'm glad. I'm a bit tired of Lowes, actually.

I now have a working sink, a working ceiling fan and the word 'flange' stuck in my head. Also, big things happened at work but I'm a bit over worrying about it. There's no point. I'm actually sort of enjoying my job at the moment and I get to keep it for now so why worry? I might have to do that later but for now, there seems to be no point.

In the meantime, tomorrow is Friday which is always welcome. Also, there'll probably be doughnuts tomorrow though they'll be stale. We also have to have meetings to talk about the change at work. I have a lot of meetings tomorrow, unfortunately. Still, if they get too boring, I can always yell "FLANGE".

FLANGE!

Happy Friday!

Of Toilet Seats and Spiders....

It's Guy Fawkes' Day today across the Atlantic in England. I won't go into detail as to what that means and what it is because I did that last year and I try not to repeat myself terribly often. I haven't really celebrated the occasion in many years, mostly because when you live in an apartment in Los Angeles, it's not acceptable to light a bonfire and burn an effigy of Guy Fawkes on the flames. Nor is it acceptable to set off fireworks in the beginning of November. Last year, when I moved back to the Midwest, I still lived in an apartment and I didn't do much to honour it, other than to blog about it and remember that it actually was Bonfire Night in the UK.

This year, I had sort of hoped that maybe I could at least have a fire but it turns out that unless it's a firepit type of fire, it's not allowed in the limits of my city. I contemplated buying a firepit and every time I go to Lowes, I admire them lovingly but, alas, as a newish homeowner, I have quickly learned that there are far more useful, far more necessary things to do with the $100 I could spend on a firepit. Thus, while I continue to stare at them lovingly in Lowe's, I don't make the move to purchase one. Also, they've started adding a new item to the price tag- a $10 assembly fee. I looked quite closely to see what that meant but couldn't figure it out. On some of them, it seemed to imply that you just got the pit- the actual place to hold the fire was sold separately which is....odd. Still, on my weekly trips to Lowe's, I shall continue to try to solve the mystery of the assembly fee. I do go to Lowe's fairly frequently. Last week, it was for a new toilet seat. That was an adventure. When you think about buying a house, the idea of buying a toilet seat is something that doesn't really cross your mind, at least not for me. There are a lot of things that don't cross your mind until you realize you need something. For example, for me, a toilet seat is something you sit on...on the toilet. Who knew that there were so many options? There are wood ones, anti-microbial ones, foamy ones that are soft to sit on, economy ones, wood grain ones....there's an entire area of Lowes just dedicated to toilet seats.

These are the things I have learned over the past few months; the insignificant things in my house are not so insignificant that there isn't at least two or three options to choose from. Take my bathtub. I needed a new plug so I could take a bath. It seemed like a normal sized drain hole so I innocently thought I'd be able to find a plug at Lowe's fairly easily. Oh, silly Captain Monkeypants! There is a huge supply of bathtub plugs at Lowe's. They're all different sizes. No matter how confident you are that you know the size of your drain hole, when you start staring at all the plugs, you quickly forget and the self-doubt creeps in. Fortunately, since the plugs were less than $1 each, I did the smart thing: I bought three that looked about the right size and hoped for the best. The one I thought would be the candidate to most likely NOT fit turned out to be the one that fit.

The toilet seat was easier. I opted for a wooden anti-microbial one. I hate the foamy ones. They feel vile when you sink into them. You're not supposed to sink into a toilet seat. It's just....not right. Of course, because my toilet is a rather unpleasant shade of mustard yellow, I thought white might look a bit odd so I opted for a 'biscuit' coloured one. The one I was replacing was one of those nasty wood grain ones. I think now I have my biscuit-coloured seat on my toilet that I understand why there was a wood grain one on there. The biscuit and the mustard clash just enough that it gives the impression that the toilet hasn't been flushed. Also, I tightened the seat as much as I could and yet when you sit on it, you take the teensiest little trip to the right as the seat swings away from under you. Until I really tightened the nuts on the seat, the trip to the right was much more severe and a little alarming.

How did I get on this bizarre topic? Umm....oh, right! Sorry- Lowe's. It's amazing how easy it is to digress.

So, back to the original topic, firepits for Guy Fawkes' Day. I didn't get one. So I won't be having a bonfire. Which I probably could have said way earlier without talking about toilet seats...

Still, the nice thing is that I could have a firepit if I wanted. That's the lovely thing about owning my own house. I can do whatever I want. For example, I noticed that my bathroom ceiling is vile and I'd never noticed. Thus, I can fix it.

There are some things I'm learning about having a house though. I used to live on a second floor apartment. My house is one story. Thus...I'm closer to the ground. This means that on these chilly nights, the warmth of my home is appealing to outdoor types such as Herbert 2.0 who I met last night.

Herbert 2.0 is a rather large spider. He's version 2.0 because the original Herbert lives in my cubicle here at work somewhere. He comes out to visit once in a while. He's quite large and the first time I saw him, I was a little worried and almost squished him with my stapler. Then I realized that it wasn't his fault he was a spider and I put down the stapler and decided sharing is caring and if he wants to make his home in my cubicle, then so be it. We made our peace. As long as I don't find the Original Herbert on my being anywhere, crawling on my skin, in my jeans or anywhere spiders shouldn't be, I think we can both share my cubicle.

Herbert 2.0, however, is not as welcome. Not when he moves towards me as though he's coming to sit on my lap. I was on my settee last night, talking to my friend on the phone when I saw this rather large lump moving on my couch. Naturally, I did the traditional thing. I squealed like a pig. Quite loudly. In my friend's ear. Once I had finished my mini panic moment, I gathered my wits and investigated nervously. Herbert 2.0 was a VERY large spider. He was at least the size of a quarter and he had big yellow eyes. Also, he kept inching towards me. Even though they make me a little nervous, I still don't like to kill spiders because, as I keep saying, it's not their fault they're born creepy. So, thanks to the sane presence of my friend on the phone, I managed to scoop up Herbert 2.0 and put him outside while trying not to squeal again. I made my friend promise not to hang up until Herbert 2.o had been removed just in case he grew even bigger and ate me.

Of course, in retrospect, I realize that there is no possible way Herbert 2.0 could really have grown. Nor could he have eaten me. Yet when you're being faced down by a large, hairy spider with beady little eyes, anything seems possible. I even managed to not squish him accidentally as I tried to liberate him. I hope he doesn't hold it against me that I put him out into the cold when all he probably wanted to do was come and say hi and thank me for my hospitality. Spiders don't hold grudges, do they?

Then again, maybe I shouldn't talk about grudges. We British still apparently hold a grudge against poor old Guy Fawkes who committed his crime over four hundred years ago. If Herbert 2.0 hunts me down, I'll let you know. He probably has a right. For all I know, he's been living in my house longer than I have and I just evicted him.

Oh dear.

Happy Thursday!

Apartmentalization, Comic-Con and Overcoming Paint-Fear...

This week is going by both quickly and slowly, if that makes any sense. Work-wise, it's dragging. Free-time wise...it's whizzing by. I suppose that's the way it always is, really, but I just seem to be noticing it more.

I painted again last night. I decided it was time to conquer my Post Traumatic Paint Disorder. I'm happy to report that the "Mulling Spices" colour seems to be behaving far better than the "Cranberry." For one thing, it's actually covering the walls without needing a primer. For another, it's dark enough that I can see exactly which spots I missed unlike my "Meadow" colour which looks deceptively like it's covering the walls but when it dries, reveals all manner of 'missed' areas.

I'm still not happy with Lowes and their signature paint. I sniff at it. Next time, I'm going to Sherwin-Williams. I have a friend who can get me a 40% discount there. I thought compared to Lowes' paint, it'd be much more expensive but by the time I'm done actually COVERING my walls and ceiling, it would have worked out cheaper to go to Sherwin-Williams. However, we live and learn, right?

Aside from painting, my life is terribly unexciting at the present moment. I do need to mow my lawn yet again. I bought a lawnmower last week and let me tell you, that thing is hard work. It was a bit of a nightmare to get it running. With my piddly upper-body strength, pulling that start cord thingy is rather a challenge. Given that the lawnmower kept dying because the grass was so long and it couldn't handle the load, I had to pull that cord a lot. I got my workout even before I started mowing the grass. Naturally, the bag thing on the back of the mower doesn't do a good job of catching the grass. One lane of grass and the thing is full. This means most likely I will have to rake up the grass clippings. I HATE raking. I find it tedious and rather dull. While I mowed, I did notice that there's also a family of bunnies living under my tool shed. Or, at least, they stay there from time to time.

This poses a wee bit of a problem. You see, I had planned on retrieving Sausage from my parent's house to live with me permanently. But...well...how do I put this nicely...Sausage is a dachshund. His ancestors were bred to go down rabbit holes to hunt, hence their long thin bodies. Sausage is very loyal to his ancestors. Let's just say there might have been an incident last week at my parent's where Sausage found a nest of baby bunnies and decided to honour his hunter's blood. He might have have shaken several of those baby bunnies in his teeth and accidentally-on-purpose killed them.

Bad Sausage. I know it's his nature but...they were baby bunnies. You can see why I'm a little worried about letting him near another family of bunnies, can't you? I'll have to give that some thought.

I do enjoy watching the rabbits though. There's a vacant house right behind me and the rabbits like to bask in the sun on the lawn and the deck of that house. I think there's four of them altogether.

I move in permanently next Saturday. That's when my furniture moves and thus, I do too. To complicate matters, I'm going on holiday to San Diego the following Tuesday evening. I'm actually going to Comic-con, the big comic-book/TV/Move convention. Now is the time on Sprockets when you laugh at me for being a nerd/geek. I've been before. This will be the first year when I go for more than a day. In my defense, I'm going with a friend who has always wanted to go but never been able to find anyone to go with. I'm actually looking forward to it since there's going to be some good panels this year. I know "True Blood" is having a panel as is "Dexter" and "Dollhouse." These are all TV shows I love. There's always a chance to meet/listen to authors I love. As a writer, it's a very good place to go to see other writers and learn from them.

It's also a great place to go to watch people. Seriously...there are some weird people there. I mean, obviously...it is a comic-book convention. Though, the days of it just being "Star Trek" people are long gone. Nowadays, there's everyone from the Twilight crowd to shows like "Lost", movies like the new "Sherlock Holmes" and video games. It's an overwhelming place but it's pretty amazing. Of course, they're doing a panel for the new Twilight movie on Thursday from what I've heard. This means that the place will be packed with teeny-boppers and their mothers, all straining for a view of Robert Pattinson and stalking the poor boy until he has to run and hide. From what I read, he does a lot of running and hiding from insane fans. I don't think he knew what he was getting himself into when he agreed to play Edward Cullen. I feel bad for him because those Twilight fans are quite insane. So are their mothers.

I'll be blogging more about my Adventures at Comic-Con after I've been. It's only two weeks away. I'm excited though I wish the timing were a little better. The week right after I move is going to be a bit hectic. Still, I'll have the following weeks to settle down, unpack and really enjoy the fact that I live in a house. I'm already appreciating that while I have neighbours who seem really nice and they may be next door, they're not directly above, below and beside me in their dwellings. I cannot hear their sado-masochistic sex-sounds from my house. Granted, I haven't tried sleeping in their with the windows open but given that my future-bedroom faces my neighbours who have an eight-year-old, I'm not too worried. Of course, I haven't heard those sounds in my apartment for a while due to the fact that my upstairs neighbour moved out. I'm not too disappointed by that although there was a certain entertainment value that came from that, no matter how disturbing.

I also have my own washer and dryer. You know it's sad when you go to do your laundry for the first time and you actually look for the slot to put the quarters. Yes, blog readers, I have been apartmentalized.

Happy Wednesday