Pencil Thin

Our house stinks. I mean it absolutely stinks of vanish. There are few smells I hate worse than the smell of vanish. It seems to hang on for days if not months. I am sure that these fumes are eating away at my brain cells. Tomorrow there is no doubt I will wake up dumber than today. This is all because I wanted pretty floors that might makes someone think this was the place they would love to call home. Now my brain is sitting here rotting away like a nasty virus chewing up all the ram on my computer. Did that make sense? I can’t really tell at this point because the fumes are making me light headed. If point in the previous post was not clear it should be now. Laminate is your friend and vanish is the work of the devil.

If you have ever thought of refinishing hardwood floors take my advice and think again. We had the smart idea to refinish our floors prior to listing our home for sale. What seemed like an easy project from first glance turned into a nightmare of uncontrollable sanding equipment, dust, and fumes. This doesn’t even begin to cover the expense of this project. As I sit here aching from head -to- toe and wishing I owned a memory foam mattress there is but one thought in my head. That thought is best summed up in one word- laminate. Do yourself a favor and don’t trust Bob Vila head straight for the laminate section of your hardware store and never look back.

I am a firm believer in the saying that beauty is in the eye of the beholder. That goes for my so-called beauty also. There are things that I will do to “take off some years” such as simply coloring my hair and putting on make-up. I have considered a tummy tuck later in life but it is not something that I have to have to feel pretty. When I see women augment their body to the point where it is hard to remember what they looked like before I get a little sad and wonder how insecure someone has to be to get the collagen treatment, orskin whitening, or something like breast augmentation. If it were for some sort of medical reason such as reducing the size of your breast to help a bad back then that I can get behind, but to do it to make yourself out to be something you are not is not for me.

The man in my life is having a rough night. As much as I would like to give him a present I can’t right now. What I can do is give him a nice big hug and remind him that tomorrow is his day off. A three day weekend is as good as getting one of those fancy new pocket watches right? Hopefully, he can rest a bit and enjoy the sunshine and forget all about the wacky people he runs across in his weekly journey’s around town. Poor guy doesn’t even have a nasty vice to help him cope throughout the week making a day off all the more relaxing.I take that sentence about the vice back because right now his arm is up to the elbow in the candy bowl!

I know someone who works a very frustrating job dealing people with mental illness. In overhearing the conversations she has with her clients I have gained a whole new appreciation for her patience. If it were me doing that particular job it would be about 6 months before I would be sending out cover letters to everyone on the planet. Between the neediness of her clients and the manipulative behaviors I would loose all patience very quickly. Give me a couple of screaming toddlers any day of the week. There is no way I could put up with it all for very long.

My healthful intentions have been put on the back burner lately and it shows. I stepped on the scale this morning and gasped at what I saw. A small weight gain can set me into a tizzy. I have had good luck with diet aids in the past and might give them a try again. I am wondering about this product called “eca stack“. Has anyone tried it? What I really need is to stop eating my meals on the run and sit down and think about what I am going to put in my mouth before I put it there.

A new office supply store is going to open next to where my husband works. They have really been promoting the grand opening like crazy and it seems like everyday he comes home with some promotional products are giving away to his employer. I think they are hoping to get a contract to provide all of the office supplies for the agency. Either way we have netted some great coffee mugs and a much needed ergonomic mouse pad. What I really could use is a new ergonomic keyboard since someone in this house gave mine a bath in iced tea! Have you ever seen a promotional keyboard? It would be a great way to keep your business name in someone’s mind day in and day out. That is the type of promotional loot I could get giddy over.

A couple weeks ago I had an MRI of my neck and shoulder. For some reason the doctor’s office never scheduled me for or called me about a follow-up appointment. I am so tired of hurting but in my gut am sure that the results won’t show anything. My dream of a nice shot of cortisone and a quick fix is just that – a dream. My nightmare is being sent instead for physical therapy. I simply don’t have the time to sit around building my muscles with strength equipment and doing stretches. I chase after a highly active and very big two year old all day and that is all the exercise I have time for right now. Please, just let me hear the words “cortisone” on Friday!

Since the weather has started to get better where I live and the snow has all but totally disappear I have started jogging again. For the past couple years I have usually taken the same route as I know my limitations and the milage seems to fit them well. For some reason I got to the end of my street and instead of heading towards the residential area away from town I went towards town. After passing a NAPA and a group of furniture stores I hit the middle of town and then some of the side streets. The whole trip was quite a bit more round about then what I am used to but easy to remember should I choose to do it again. Later I went back with my car to find out the milage and to my surprise it was almost a full two miles longer than my previous route.

Weekends are crazy around here lately. There is never a minute to sit down and relax or if there is it doesn’t come until around 11 pm at night. My mind so very much wants to curl up under the covers around 7 pm with a good book and read until I can’t hold my head up. I noticed while at the market today the The Appeal by John Grisham is now out. There is not a book that Grisham has written that I haven’t read. I almost put it in my cart and then realized that for now it would likely only collect dust.

Curb appeal has been on my mind a great deal lately. Getting a house ready to put on the market means investing a great deal of time sprucing things up. Our home currently does not have exterior shutters but I think they might give it that little extra something to catch the eye of potential buyers. I just can’t decide what color would work best. Our house is colonial blue and cream with some red accents. Do you think white cream shutters would blend in too much? I hate to spend the money and not get the most bang for my buck possible.

I am already counting the days until summer vacation. It is just about three months until I can pull out my Delsey luggage and begin packing. The sun is finally shining here and it just feels wonderful to be able to go outside and work in the yard. All the sunshine has me dreaming of lazy days by the pool and not having to pick up after myself. Vacations are truly a gift everyone should give themselves every year if not every couple of years!

My neck had been hurting for quite a while before I had decided to do something about it. I was tired of hearing my husband nag me about it so I decided to go out and buy one of those memory foam pillows, big mistake. It was gradual at first but eventually the pain started to radiate down my back and into my arms. I changed back to the original pillow and hoped for the best but the best was not to be. Tomorrow I go in to get my MRI and was given a muscle relaxer the other day from my PCP. I am actually hoping that they find something so I can get my husband to shut up.

My husband had an accident not long ago and we have recently received a check from the other drivers insurance company to pay for the damages. The strange side to this little tale is that our car insurance premiums have gone up. Knowing that we had been involved in a couple of minor fender benders I contacted our agent to confirm what I thought I already knew. We reviewed our claims over the past ten years and found that this last accident was the most severe and, more importantly, not our fault. What it did was bump us into the “high risk” category of their rating system. I asked him how this would affect us in the long run and he answered with a hint of sarcasm in his voice, “You don’t want to get into another one.”.